Chapter 2: The Weight of Names

The victim was given the name Eniola for privacy.

That name, Eniola—meaning “person of wealth”—was just to shield her from gossip and sharp village eyes. Even the nurses at the hospital called her that; nobody dared mention her real name outside her father’s hearing.

After her surgery, she lay on her sickbed for a whole year before they discharged her. For the rest of her life, she’d likely carry a urine bag.

The pity in the nurses' voices each morning, when they cleaned her wounds, was like pouring pepper on open sore. Her father, Mr. Femi, turned to bone—no laughter, no stories, just silence and prayer beads in his hand. Sometimes, you’d hear him singing old Yoruba lullabies that could make stone weep.

The ones who did it? All under fourteen. The law no fit jail them. The chief just told their parents, "Discipline your pikin."

People grumbled that the children got off too easy. Some old women muttered, “If na our time, those pikin for chop cane well, or even carry them go swear for shrine.”

The parents only paid compensation, then hurriedly ran away from the village.

It was like they wanted to wash their hands off the shame. Compensation money passed hands like hot yam, but everyone knew it could never wipe the stain. The village head even did cleansing rites, but people said it was too small for such a big sin.

Two families moved to a town about an hour away by keke; the other two scattered to different states and cities where their people were working.

Even the driver that used to carry them to market said, “Dem no fit stay where their name don spoil. Everybody dey run comot.” The villagers talked about it like bad luck would chase whoever remained.

Apart from the victim, nobody else really suffered anything.

You could see it in how market women avoided the topic. Eniola and her father were left to carry the weight; the others vanished like smoke in harmattan.

But the consequences came sharp-sharp.

Trouble no dey sleep; na person dey go wake am. The ripple of that evil began to spread wider than anyone thought.