By Sunmola Olowookere
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Fathers are important fixtures in children’s lives. They are the molders of their destinies. They are known not to spare the rod in ensuring that their children are disciplined.
They also ensured that their children are well educated and that their school fees are paid. Now what do one say to a father who failed in this responsibilities? Do they get any accolades?
Pa Amadi during his life time, lived to satisfy his whims. Like the biblical king Solomon, he never denied himself anything his heart desired; be it women or booze.
From his heydays, he had been a heavy drinker. He was a government driver so he was careful enough not to drink during office hours. However, he and his cronies drank their fill in the evenings.
He got married and had three kids in quick succession. Early enough in their marriage, his wife had lost faith in him and their marriage. He refused to be pushed to achieve anything. “There is no rush” he would say. After fifteen years, her husband could not point to any achievement outside the number of green bottles he had been able to gulp down at each sitting.
The wife after having three children had in her wisdom realized that her husband would amount to nothing. Like her forebears in her town did when they were faced with such, she began to construct a building without the knowledge of her husband.
He was busy with his bottles and had no inkling of what his wife was doing. The wife was the breadwinner, he only supported occasionally. It therefore came as a shock to him when she suddenly announced that she had finished her house and suggested that they could all move there together.
It was a sore pill for the husband to swallow and for some days he could not go out to drink with his cronies.
He was very bitter and they fought as if their lives depended on it. He would have beaten the daylight out of her had she not wisely invited some of her siblings that stood solidly by her. He couldn’t possibly beat her with her brothers present.
He spoke harshly “well, what do i expect from you? I should not have expected anything better from you. After all, women from your area have an habit of building houses without informing their husbands.
“God forbid that I would follow you to that house. Now leave my house this minute” he shouted at her.
She had packed her belongings and left in a huff along with her three children. She assumed that he would soon relent and come to them. However, the reverse was the case as he never came to them and he began to neglect his children. That was how her success proved to be deal breaker between them.
The children grew up under this circumstance and they looked up to their mother more for their needs,
The husband too acquired other women but none of them stayed with him long. They could not cope with his temperament and drinking. Also he was a poor father who was not overly concerned about taking care of his children.
This was why he was living alone in his old age. Hence when a little illness set in, he died alone in his room. Though they came to check on him periodically and bought him drugs, none of them stayed with him when he died.
They met his body on the floor in the morning when they came to check on him. He was rushed to the hospital where he was certified dead.
He was buried the next day amidst controversies, His last wife was shabbily dressed out of defiance.
His first daughter bluntly declared that there was no accolade for their father. He had lived a careless life
