TRAGIC STORY: ADAMU'S CHOICES

Adamu, a young vibrate,full of life young boy. He loved life and was determined to be successful in life. He was going to be nothing like his father! he was going to be great! a king!! he would have a wonderful family, he would be faithful to his wife and never hurt his children.

I was a bit older and being a girl I matured faster and was more aware of myself and my environment,watching him as we grew up was a delight,from the days he would run around with his friends playing football and getting dirty in the sand, to when he started acting shy when saw me and my friends around and then he grew into a more confident, good looking young man- even teasing to date me.He always wore a smile and would always want to make sure you were comfortable.


Things back home for Adamu were turbulent, no one seemed to understand why his grades where bad. He had been thinking, things had become tough for him and his siblings and his mum. His Dad had been having extra-marital affairs and had been drinking a lot. He had basically abandoned them emotionally. Adamu was about 15 years old when he confronted his Dad about his unbecoming behavior, his Dad's unperturbed, almost mocking attitude towards his confrontation enraged him. Several more confrontations would prove to him that his Dad was not going to change and that things would remain the same. He got frustrated and would always leave home, hanging out on street corners trying to escape the persistent arguments and quarreling between his mum and his dad, 'the mess he called home'. Adamu always wondered what life was about and if anyone would find him or just save him. The boys he met at the street corners always seemed happy and cheerful in no time they became friends.

These boys were drug addicts, drunks and no-future-ambition kind of boys...but they were the only form of stability he knew especially because they were always there when he needed them. They grew fond of Adamu in no time and he would share his home troubles with them... they would laugh and say "Ajebo (which was the nickname they addressed him by), drink and forget your sorrow" or "smoke weed high small make you for go talk to your father!" they would say to him. For some months he refused but after a while they started dissing him, telling him he felt he was better than them, "you dey form holier than thou", they no longer wanted him around. I cannot loose my friends too, he thought to himself. So one day he took one bottle  and it be came two bottles, and one wrap of weed and it became two, three..heroine...he started stealing, lost his mind, forgot his dreams... becoming a king was no longer a priority..he lost his track...all efforts to put him back on track were to no avail he had gone too far...he lost his life in a robbery attempt to get money for more cocaine...he was just 19...

I often ask myself who is to blame for the way Adamu's life ended. Is his father to blame? Are the boys on the street corner to blame?...I have come to realize that in life you and YOU ALONE is responsible for the choices you make and you alone would bear the consequences of your actions or inaction.