{"id":1040,"date":"2026-10-25T06:16:54","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T06:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/25\/my-wife-died-two-years-ago-then-grief-opened-door-for-madness\/"},"modified":"2026-10-25T06:16:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T06:16:54","slug":"my-wife-died-two-years-ago-then-grief-opened-door-for-madness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/25\/my-wife-died-two-years-ago-then-grief-opened-door-for-madness\/","title":{"rendered":"My wife died two years ago, then grief opened door for madness"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"My<\/p>\n

My Peju Akande<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mywife died two years ago. Before then, she had been sick for a long time; the kind of sickness that drains everybody in the house. You know that saying: \u201cThe person caring for the sick is sometimes sicker than the sick person.\u201d It\u2019s true. It\u2019s painfully true.<\/p>\n

I won\u2019t stand here and claim I did all the caring. Her children, our children, carried that burden with full chest. They were her hands, her legs and her nurses. But she was still mywife. I did what I could, in my own small way. I put all my manhood on hold and accepted it as destiny.<\/p>\n

You know what I mean.<\/p>\n

When she died, the house became quiet in a way that frightens even an old man. There used to be noise, you know, the good kind. People trooping in and out.<\/p>\n

Neighbours, people from our mosque, alfas, children she helped, women she advised, men she encouraged.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Big tree<\/h4>\n

Mywife was a big tree. When she fell, the shade disappeared. People came for the burial, stayed for a while, then left one by one like leaves falling off a branch.<\/p>\n

And I was alone.<\/p>\n

My children begged me to come and stay with them, but grief is a stubborn companion. I said I wanted to be alone. I didn\u2019t realise loneliness has teeth. Not that I feared ghosts, if mywife appeared, even as a ghost, she wouldn\u2019t harm me. She would probably scold me for misplacing my glasses, or my phone or even money.<\/p>\n

Eventually, my children arranged someone to cook and clean. I was turning 80; I needed help. Even if it was someone to quarrel with. That\u2019s how I met this woman at the mosque.<\/p>\n

The \u2018eleha\u2019 who hid her evil under a burqa. She was an eleha, fully covered, soft\u2011spoken, eyes lowered. But I was fooled in my old age!<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not saying women who wear hijab or burqa are evil. No.<\/p>\n

But this particular one used that covering to hide her wickedness like a snake hiding under dry leaves.<\/p>\n

She was 45 when we met. She said her husband left her with three children. At my age, I wasn\u2019t looking for romance. I have 11 grandchildren. My prostate is enlarged \u2014 so that department is closed for renovation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Companionship<\/h4>\n

All I wanted was companionship, you know, someone to talk to. Someone to sit with, someone to keep me warm in the evenings.<\/p>\n

I told her clearly: \u201cI will help you financially. But I cannot father your children. They cannot live with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

She agreed, or she pretended to.<\/p>\n

We started \u201cseeing\u201d each other quietly. I didn\u2019t introduce her to my children, they would never accept it. But I\u2019m sure they suspected.<\/p>\n

That woman entered my life like a thief in the night and she has been stealing me blind. She stole more than Shina Rambo!<\/p>\n

Do you know Shina Rambo? Ah, you are young. Shina Rambo was the most notorious armed robber in Nigeria in the 80s and 90s.<\/p>\n

This woman? She stole more than him, without gun, without knife, without breaking the door. She would take my money and claim I gave her myself. She lies like someone who practices lying as a profession. I would put money on top of the fridge, she would take it and swear I took it myself.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have an ATM card, so I withdraw large sums at once. Before I know what is happening, fiam!\u00a0 All the money is gone. I told her I would help her financially. I didn\u2019t tell her to help herself to my money like a rat eating \u2018breadi agege\u2019.<\/p>\n

She turned me into an ATM machine, and that is what I will not accept. So I told her not to come to my house again. And I will stand by it. Because as old as I am, I have learned one bitter truth: loneliness is not enough reason to invite madness into your home!<\/p>\n

\u2022Series, first published in thisislagos.ng, was written and edited by Peju Akande and based on true stories<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

The post My wife died two years ago, then grief opened door for madness<\/a> appeared first on Vanguard News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source: <\/p>\n

Vanguard News<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My Peju Akande Mywife died two years ago. Before then, she had been sick for a long time; the kind of sickness that drains everybody in the house. You know… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1041,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}