CHAPTER SIXTEEN

There are many things to be said about africans. Africans are hardworking, Africans are lazy, Africans are loving, Africans are easily engaged in religious crisis, Africans are forgiving, just give them a reason and they will forgive you, ask politicians and they will explain more. You hear africans are corrupt, Africans are not corrupt. Africans love easy wealth, Africans toil for their wealth.

For all of the above, there should have been the word 'some' before all the descriptions. So which country doesn't have its share of corrupt people? Which country doesn't have its share of lazy people and all that? 

 One other thing Africans possess is ‘hope’ which is a good thing. That made it easy and convenient for the youths to gladly accept the new business that was making its way into the land, not online scam or abuse, not rituals, not kidnapping, NO!. But BETTING GAME in global football matches, which is popularly known as “BETTING GAMES”where you can place a bet for the winning team. most part of black African youths accepted it and the rationale was “at least it's better than stealing,”  “it’s better than waiting‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ for the government and all of that.”

This betting games ...  and the other betting houses have turned large number of people into ‘thousandnaires’  with the thousands made still finding its way back to the betting centres.  Perhaps the money knows, “never forget your way back home”. Again, these bet companies have left a large number of people miserable, nevertheless, these same people keep hoping, believing their luck will shine someday. 

 In fairness to these betting companies, they forbid those under eighteen from playing, thus only adults can play. Of late, a friend who had been beaten repeatedly told his friend he had by chance come across the guidelines of one of the betting companies. It says something like “do not think or convince yourself to believe you must become wealthy through betting,

Ayuba can be said to be one of those who had been beaten and beaten repeatedly by 'betting.’ He was supposed to dread game betting but he loved it, he cherished it and  had become addicted to it, simply because he had hope. Where did his hope come from? From the grounds that he would win may be four thousand, five thousand. He had stopped predicting games that would win him millions, he had been trying for months and the usual words that came afterwards was ‘Quitters Never Win.’ Of course after already losing more‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ than twenty thousand bucks or more, it had become clear that his ‘hope’ was wrapped in addiction, and he didn’t see it let alone figh it and so because he didn't fight it, it had landed him in a police station.

Ayuba's father, a retired civil servant had three children, a girl and two boys. He loved Ayuba dearly. He was his first son though not the first child. Janet was first, Ayuba second and Moses, the youngest. Ayuba was in his third year in the university and truth be told, he grew up as a good kid, still a good kid, well except he was losing the good name he had made for himself. 

He had been introduced to it by a roommate and after his attempt, it was ‘Quitters Never Win’, He tried three more times and it was either ‘a game' or 'two games.’ He went home and kept thinking about it all night, how he might have won if he had picked this odd or that odd, how he might have won if he had not picked this ‘what’s wrong with the team.’ He spent his night‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ pondering how he would outdo them the next day. But, do you outdo these betting houses? No, if luck was on your side, then it was on your side, the team that had  been consistently scoring or winning will somehow lose the very day you decide to stake on them saying they would score or win as usual, that was betting for you; it’s just pure luck. And luck began to come Ayuba's way.

He would bet with fifty bucks and sometimes win five thousand bucks, ten thousand bucks or even fifty thousand bucks. Of course after a long losing streak, he would sometimes bet to win million bucks but of course, ‘just a game would cut his ticket.’ His belief that he would someday win big kept pushing him but sometimes blind belief was dangerous, but how was he to know his was blind belief? How was he to know his blind belief would lead him into trouble?

 His addiction became worse but he didn’t know his addiction had become worse. He would borrow money and bet with it, and then borrow from another person to pay his first creditor. Since he was in school, his parents didn't‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ notice how serious his case was until it landed on their doorstep.

 A new student, an old family friend of his parents had come into town. His dad was now late and the mother became the breadwinner of the family. When he gained admission into the university, she had begged the family to allow their son stay with them until she had raised money for his accommodation fee, they obliged. The boy would sometimes trek from the house to the main campus; of course, other students did more than that. His accommodation fee finally came and Ayuba was entrusted with the money to secure affordable accommodation for this young student who came to live with them. A month later the accommodation had not been secured. It was either this reason or another story.

 It was Ayuba's younger brother who came out to tell his parents why Ayuba had not secured the accommodation for the young student. They were mad at him,  His mother did manage to spank him real hard, but even himself knew he had crossed the line there. After all had been said and done, his parents paid for the accommodation. After all, Ayuba was not a worker and where was he expected to raise that kind of money? He promised his friends he wouldn't go back to that 'cursed house' but even the friends knew that it was a matter of time. 

For almost three months, he was ' sober ' but he had missed it and longed to return to it, like an old girlfriend. He did return. He would go to the bet offices claiming he was there to charge his phone or his laptop, then he would meet friends who would show solidarity by giving him hundred bucks or more to bet with. His parents not aware of this were beginning to trust him again. They would send him to the bank and he would run such errands ' faithfully.’  He convinced himself he would never use another person’s money to bet again, but they kept sending him, tempting him, trusting him, and tempting him the more‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬. He kept suppressing the voice inside him, telling him to 'take a little for himself and bet with, who knows, this could be his time?' Eve fell, Adam fell, Ayuba would fall too. And the day finally came.