Wills and Heirs

              To quote Vanguard, “very strange things really do happen in Nigeria”. This was said in reference to the recent uprising within the animals living among us; no longer content with staying behind the scenes.  It was a remarkable dawn for Nigeria when a new trend of millionaire animals crashed into our economic sector sometime in February; ranging from a mysterious “spiritual” snake swallowing N36 million from a vault in JAMB office, to monkeys carting off with N70 million belonging to Northern Senators at a “farm” in Nasarawa State. One could blame this new thirst for money on peer pressure, after all their counterparts in the western world are living large, with huge sums of money to their names; the only difference being that while the Nigerian animals are amassing their wealth through illegal means, the rich pets in these countries inherited theirs legally through bequests.   Millionaire animals are not a new concept...

It was a typical Friday evening in the city of Jos. The moon lit the star-filled sky, cool breeze whispering as usual, with friends in small groups scattered all over the courtyard sharing stories and telling the gossip of the week.    My best friend and I were seated outside right on the steps leading to our dorm room. There we were, a couple of JSS1 students getting to know more about each other, our families and bonding over things we had in common. Among the stories we shared, one told by Caroline stood out to me: ‘My father passed away when I was very young. The memories I have of him are faint. My father was a very rich man and we lived in a very big house; he loved and spoiled us with whatever we wanted. My father fell ill and passed away shortly after. After the burial, his siblings came to the house and divided his properties among themselves leaving nothing for us. They also wanted to take us away from our mother but she fought to keep us; they could have...