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Hi,

I would have written this long before now, but my heart was torn between just writing to share an experience, and the horrible truth that innocent children were involved. It was New Year eve, my sister and I had gone for last-minute shopping at one of Diya Street, Gbagada’s supermarkets.

we spotted a woman walk in with four little children, the oldest, who could pass for 10 years and the youngest about two, three years, thereabouts.

They caught our attention because they were rather playful, running between the rows of shelves and screaming at the top of their voices. It got so worrisome that I wondered why their mother was not paying attention to them. What if they run into something very expensive in this dire economic situation? She didn’t strike me like someone who could just dole out money to pay for the kind of damages the children’s antics could cause (wine and liquor section) without feeling the pinch.

More so, they just generally were unruly and annoying. But there was little one could do since their mother was there and obviously approved of their behaviour.

As we were trying to get into the car, we realised a little commotion had started a few meters behind us. Then we saw that the children and their mother were involved. Initially, we assumed our fears had been confirmed and the kids had damaged something.

The lady was being forcefully escorted to a back office and another woman had whipped out her phone and was recording. Trust yours truly, I just had to see what was amiss. However, what we saw on getting there was way different from what we thought had happened. The children had been pushed to a corner while the store manager was struggling with the woman’s clothes and calling her a thief. The lady with the phone was not being helpful as she was also insisting that the woman should willingly bring out the stuff she’d stolen, else she would be stripped.

I thought there was a mistake here as the woman couldn’t have done that with her four children in tow. But, we were proven wrong. This mother of four had come to the supermarket on New Year Eve to steal with her children.

A little crowd was already building. Perhaps it was the spirit of the season, many spoke in support of the mother, insisting that she should not be recorded, nor manhandled. They should take their stuff and let her go. Some were even asking what the items were and their cost. The lady with the phone was not happy and kept shouting that she knew her and that it was not her first time doing the same with her children.

The store also announced that it was her second time coming to raid them and each time, she came with the kids. Okay, what did she steal? It was incredible! Her operation was mainly in the frozen foods section. She had on her body, two whole chickens, several packets of bacon, ham, shrimp and some other exotic food items. Everyone was bewildered! How she managed to endure the stings from the ice-cold food items was baffling.

It became clear that the children were a strategy in her plans. Her accomplices and their duty were to simply run around and distract everyone while she does her business.

I had been seeing foreign videos of mothers drafting their children into unwholesome activities on the internet but never seen it live, until that evening. On sighting the stolen items, there was a split among the crowd. Many hissed with disgust and walked away. I had also lost interest too and did the same.

My take was that her decision to shoplift was not borne out of hunger. It was not because they had nothing to eat for the new year celebrations. It was more out of greed and something more hideous. A hungry mother of four children would not go stealing ham and bacon and shrimps and the like.

Maybe chicken, then it would be one. Were this the case, I have no doubt that some good Samaritan would have intervened and paid on her behalf. How does one start paying for packets of exotic food items many of us could not even afford, just to save her from being arrested.

The fact that the store manager and the emergency videographer attested to the fact that it was not her first time at shoplifting and that she had been doing so in the company of the four children was quite disturbing, to say the least. Is their father aware?

Why take the children? No one is in doubt about the great sacrifices mothers make for the well-being of their children. Sometimes, there is no telling how low a mother can stoop to conquer the world for her children.

But initiating them into stealing is a no, no! What next, burglary and armed robbery? Even the legendary Ma Baker was not reported to have initiated her children into crime. She only joined in to provide backup and protection of sort for them. In fact, her involvement in the whole saga remains controversial to date.

While deliberating on the incident on our way home, I remember asking my sister if a mother who prostitutes to take care of her children would take them along to witness how she would be pounded by her clients? We agreed it would not happen. I was however proved wrong a couple of weeks after, when the story of a woman who, along with her two daughters and some others, visits the enclave of Boko Haram men to offer them sex. At N50,0000 a night each, the money was too mouth-watering for this mother and she quickly dragged along her lovely teenage daughters into the forest. Hmm!

Just when you think things can’t get any messier, we see another mother conniving with her firstborn son of 23 years to kill her younger son of 21 years for a money ritual. Haba! What kind of money are these women looking for? Is poverty still responsible here? What kind of values are we giving our children? What kind of legacies can these women leave for their children? Where are the fathers in all of these stories?

The future looks bleak, I must say. And it has nothing to do with hunger!

Hmmm! Do have a wonderful weekend!!

Vanguard News Nigeria