It's one of my responsibilities as a man to always ensure my family's safety, and I have always stepped up to provide protection for them or any of my loved ones when the need arises, and they have done the same for me as well because I am not bigger than someone who also needs their protection. There are situations when I need protection too, and they don't hesitate to step in for me.
Just recently, my landlord's wife had a discussion with me, and while I was trying to make her see the truth about the issue, a simple discussion led to an argument. I tried to calm the situation, and she just started screaming at me. I watched her for a few minutes and was quiet because I wouldn't exchange words with her. I gently walked away from her noise when it was becoming unbearable, and she had the courage to follow me to my flat while still making noise. Unfortunately for her, my wife stepped out because she knew that I wouldn't reply, and she might take it for weakness.
This woman was definitely put in her place, and she left feeling embarrassed because the explanation she failed to listen to was what her husband gave when he came and saw everything that had happened.
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We watch over each other always, and this has helped us stay protected from different forms of harm.
I have always believed that family safety should be a family goal, which means everyone is involved. This involvement doesn't only mean that we will always protect each other; it also means that we will try as much as possible to always stay out of trouble so as not to put other members of the family in any form of danger. I have seen just one member of the family get into trouble, and while others stood to protect him, they all got into trouble with someone they were helpless against, so there is a huge need for family members to make safety a goal.
I am from a very disciplined family, and we barely have issues with people because we try as much as possible to stay out of trouble, but somehow, trouble will come looking for you, and if we don't react as we should, it will keep coming.
I won't be sharing a story about my family's protection, and what you are about to read now is something that I can't forget easily.
I once shared in a post that I had to live with another family for some time, and they were really nice to me. My guardian son got admission into the polytechnics close to where I live; it was the same polytechnic I attended, and he had to stay with me for a while. Being a jovial guy, he blended well in the environment and started doing his buying and selling of used phones. I didn't see anything bad in what he was doing, but I watched him closely because the neighborhood is a rough place and he could get into trouble easily with the bad guys in the environment.
I was asleep one night when I heard him speaking on the phone with someone. The conversation went on for over thirty minutes, and he kept saying that the phone he sold to the caller was working perfectly when he collected it. I could see fright written all over his face, and I knew he was being threatened.
I just stayed awake and paid attention to his response since I couldn't hear what the caller was saying.
"Bro, I am not a cultist and do not belong to anything."
My guardian son said at a point during the conversation, and I knew what's up. Cultism was a trend in the neighborhood, and they threatened people easily with it.
I got out of bed and requested that I speak to the caller. He tried explaining everything to me, but I told him not to worry because I had been hearing their conversation for a while.
"Na you dey give am liver to sell bad phone for me, abi?" The caller said to me immediately that he heard another voice, and instead of replying with English or Pidgin, I responded with Yoruba.
"You can't be threatening this boy when he is not guilty and you know he sold a good phone to you," I replied.
He went on blabbling and saying all sorts of rubbish. He threatened to hurt the boy, and I got pissed. The next morning, I insisted that we visit the guy's place before he went to school, and we did.
Upon my arrival there, it was one of the deepest parts of the slum here. Honestly, going there to fight was a mistake because 99% of the boys there were thugs and drug addicts who I wouldn't stand a chance against. I felt weak because we were helpless there and calling the police would be a waste of time because they won't come to such a place. I just wanted to ensure the boys's safety and didn't know it would be that difficult.
Luckily for me, I met some guys there who once worked for me as a dispatch rider, and immediately they saw me, they started praising me.
They asked why I came, and I explained everything to them. The phone buyer joined us after some time, and we thrashed things out even though it wasn't easy.
One of the guys I knew there said if we hadn't come, they would have blocked the boy on the way and dealt with him mercilessly. I wasn't surprised because we have seen lots of cases like that, and the innocent will suffer for nothing.
We settled the issue, and I was happy no one got hurt as we stepped out of the lion's den. I told him to stop the business because we didn't know what threat we would be dealing with again.
I was happy to resolve the issue because his dad and elder brother would have done the same thing for me.