NAME: OLUTAYO IFEMIDE OLUFEMI.

TITLE: THE OLD WOMAN BY THE VILLAGE SQUARE.

In my village, Amufa village, everything is good, everyone living

in peace and harmony except from one woman. No one knew her
name so they nicknamed her ‘Ajomadu’ meaning wicked woman. She
was slim and old age stricken already because of her white hairs and
multiple wrinkles, she never talked to anyone all she does was to
mind her business which is whatever she does in her hut. In the day
time, she takes a small wooden stool and sits in front of her house
singing strange songs which many believe to be hypnosis song, till
when she goes into her house. Her life was a total mystery to everyone.

Each time I pass, she is there. I’ve heard lots of rumors about her
saying she’s a witch whose husband died under the hands of some
men in the village square that was why she decided to make her home
there or that she has seven children and only one is alive, but it was
difficult for me to believe even one of those rumors.

One day as I was going to the village market square to buy some
foodstuff, I was expecting to see the woman in her usual spot but to
my surprise she was gone and when I got back she was nowhere to be
found.

Within just a few hours of her disappearance, I just came out of

my mud house to receive some fresh air when I saw many of the
villagers moving on the road, some of the maidens dancing, some of
the men were playing instruments while the rest sang along with the
music. I went inside the hut to meet my mother and I asked her for
the reason for the sudden jubilation in the village. My told me that
Ajomadu has left Amufa to meet her doom for her wicked acts and
that she was a witch from the forbidden village of Ezinulo Ajomadu
where wicked people stayed because of their demonic powers
inherited from their forefather, Mmadi Okoro who was known for
stealing power to try and cut off the Igbo race but the gods raised a
mighty man who defeated him victoriously. I asked my mother where
she got the information from and she said an old elder told the
village the story after being passed on in his generation.

Days and weeks passed and Ajomadu never returned. Part of

me wanted to believe in the stories told to me so I decided to do
investigation by myself so I planned to sneak into Ajomadu’s hut in
the night.

At night, I told my mum I would be going out for some

important work which is my investigation and she let me go. I went
out to the village square with a small lantern I had and snuck into the
strange hut when no one was watching. As I got inside, the place
looked so old and tacky, all the things there looked like they had been
there for decades, strange things were used to decorate the room like
rare bird feathers and many others. Upon the old setting of the room,
it was still neatly arranged. As I went further towards the back of the
hut, I saw a black figure coming towards me and I dropped my
lantern instantly and while attempting to run, I hit my head hard on
the wall and I blacked out.

I woke up in the morning having a serious headache. I looked

around only to find out I was not in my usual bed and I stood up
immediately and the memories of last night hit me and without a
plan I began to run but I hit a metal bowl which made a loud noise
and I began to hear footsteps and with no place to hide I just stood
still and the person I never wanted to see appeared in front of me. It
was Ajomadu, she calmed and sat me down and began to explain
everything, at first I didn’t understand what she said, but everything
began to make sense now. She said that her name is Uzoma Nnamdi
and that many years back, she was once the most beautiful maiden in
the village which every maiden envied and the men lurked hopelessly
for. She said she got married to the richest man in the village then
who was Adamu and had three children, she lived a happy life until
the enemies of her great grandfather came and killed her whole
family in the night and threw her out of her own house forcing her to
go and make her little home at the Centre of the village square. Not
only did they ruin her life but they told false stories about her making
the whole village despise her from generation to generation. Only one
orphan boy whose name is Chiemeka whom she took in to live with
her. When I asked her about him now she said that he went out of the
villages to fufill his dreams. I made a vow to her that I would do my
best to convince the village to accept the truth, at first she refused but
after much persuasion she agreed to do it the next day so I slept there
till the next day.
 The next day, I and Miss Uzoma went to the middle of the
village square near where she lived and called the attention of the
villagers. The villagers were running away out of fear, when the crowd
was much, my mother ran out of the crowd weeping and came
towards me and hugged me. She pleaded with Miss Uzoma to let me
go. Miss Uzoma just chuckled and called the attention of all the
villagers. She explained her story to them and I confirmed it.
Surprisingly, the whole village believed her instantly and from then
on she was proudly accepted into our village.