There was a time when people didn’t need to base their humanity on money or power. They simply did things because they wanted to impart their society with positivity. Days when you see leaders with power, meek around their subjects, where everyone lived in love and happiness. But then a whirlwind of evil passed around town and corrupted the soul of humanity, drunkingeveryone who crossed its path, with power, such power making them rule with Pomp and cruelty. But humanity forgot one fatal flaw, that the circular structure of the earth which allowed for the whirlwind of evil, also allowed for the whirlwind of good. But the choice ultimately with humans, with God standing guard, hoping that we make the right decisions. Half the time, we failed.
It was one of such times when a powerful king ruled over my town, he was so powerful that no one dared look him in the eye, whenever he spoke. The elderly bowed in his presence while he berated them, he was so full of himself that he once boasted, If I die, the dead body will continue to rule over this town. The townsfolk kept quiet, in all his braggings, because no one dared incur his wrath, which was using his thugs to threaten and beat anyone brave enough to resist him. On some occasions they kill, their victims. One of the most recent examples was when a young farmer named Kola, returned to the town after the death of his father, to inherit a piece of land that was bequeathed upon him, the land was his ancestral property, and his family had farmed on that land for generations, it was the most fertile in the land because the waterfall of the nearby mountains pass through the land, so in all seasons anything planted on the land grew into a bountiful harvest. That very piece of land was the envy and pride of the town and it was famous in other towns also. So it happens that the king had been pressuring Kola’s father to sell the land, for years but the old man was as stubborn as a rock and he wasn’t one of the old men who money can buy. So he resisted for years, till his death. But when the politician got wind of the old man’s death he finally became excited and moved to seize the opportunity to have the land for himself. On learning that Kola was to inherit the land as it was the town’s culture, the politician offered him a price, but Kola was a man just like his father, the stubbornness flowed in their genes. He resisted. Even when the price was doubled, he didn’t budge, when it was tripled he wasn’t moved. Kola wasn’t a man who could be swayed easily with money. So the king got weary and weary and wondered, how a mere commoner could say ‘No’ to him and his money. Then he decided that he was going to teach Kola a lesson, then he used his thugs, who already established themselves as an authority in the town. They intimidated Kola, day and night, sometimes destroying his crops in the process, but still, Kola wasn’t bothered, he continued living his life. The less bothered Kola was, the more bothered the king was, he wanted the land for himself and was ready to do anything to get it. After mediation by the Town’s elders, Kola agreed to give half of the land to the king to do as he wished, while he would hold on to the remaining land because it was his family’s legacy, but the king was greedy. He didn’t want half, he wanted the full land. All his advisors told him that it was the best gift he could get, but his greed already cloaked his brain, he declined. So, he ordered his thugs to intensify their intimidation of Kola.
Everyone was aware, but no one dared openly support, kola in public. One very hot afternoon, it was on a Sunday, and so it happened that only Kola was on the farm, tending his crops when the thugs came and so they tried to exhume the body of Kola’s late father and the other bodies of his ancestors buried on the land, this enraged him and a fight ensued. Kola didn’t last; several minutes into the fight a gun a shot rang out and Kola was left on the land, in his pool of blood, gasping for breathing, his assailants vanished. A few minutes later, kola was dead. His body wasn’t even cold, when the King’s people moved in and coved the land, he started building his new palace, the elders who objected to his coveting were exiled, while those who praised the king for his patient and strength were honored with juicy positions and gifts. In less than a year the palace was completed the king moved in, and did the biggest grand opening ever in the history of the town, for 7 days and 7 nights celebrations went on, everyone eating and drinking as they wished. They all forgot about Kola. So, whenever anyone tried to object whenever the king wanted something, they were warned with the story of what happened to Kola, they restrained themselves. The king continued, his impunity knowing no bounds, him and his thugs going about ruling with cruelty anything they wanted they got, including people’s wives and daughters. The elders who spoke were exiled or assassinated, the rest were silent.
Then, the thugs grew in power and couldn’t be controlled anymore. Whenever the people ran to the king for help he simply told them to exercise patience that he was on top of the situation but instead he did nothing, and the thugs continued to grow in strength and authority daily till one day on the first anniversary of the death of Kola, the thugs ousted the king. They murdered his whole family in the process and imprisoned the ex-King in a forest outside the town. Then the thugs continued to rule in impunity, the former king’s palace became their home. Gradually a number of the town’s people fleeing, to nearby towns, and when the nearby towns were also overrun by the thugs' influence they too ran. It continued like that for the next decade. But on the tenth anniversary of the death of Kola, a revolution began, it was instituted by those in exile, although most were dead, their kids born in exile joined the ranks, they were ready to take back their town from the thugs. And so they fought hard and were victorious. The final battle being the former palace, which was now a shadow of its former beauty and glory, it was in ruins and the ground was no longer fertile, the mountain had diverted the course of the waterfall to another location.
The now victorious townspeople released the prisoners caged in the forest including the former king who was now very old and was a leper. He was left alone in the forest to roam the wild because it was a curse to bring a leper into town. There he was homeless and poor, everyone who passed through the forest spat on him and spared a stone for him. He died, several years after the revolution, God sparing him to live long enough to see the town prosper again, in peace and wealth. No sooner than the time after the old palace was destroyed and the land restored to Kola’s family did, the waterfall’s course change again. This time through kola’s family land. The land symbolizing the prosperity of the town.
The town never had any king, because the people had decided to rule themselves. For it is better for the whirlwind of good and evil to take all of us, than for it to take one of us. But even till today the whirlwind of evil never visited the town, their unity wouldn’t let it thrive.
This is beautiful, fam.
My Dear Country Nigeria, this would the story soon nough 🙏🏾 inshallah. Another Top One, Master Tee 🙌