CAST IN THE SAME MOULD

Nigerian businessman Kó̩lé has a mysterious past. Born out of wedlock, young Comfort is considered a child with a gloomy future. Kó̩lé initially resists the much younger Comfort’s charms, but when he discovers they are soulmates, he moulds her into a made-to-measure spouse.

Kó̩lé educated Comfort. Her mother, Ale̩ro̩, whose indiscretion led to Comfort’s conception, forced into a polygamous marriage, is aided by Kó̩lé when her husband dies. Upon Comfort’s graduation from high school, Kó̩lé unites Comfort with the newly found father. Ale̩ro̩ forgives herself and Akín, the man who seduced her years ago. Ale̩ro̩ and Akín marry, and Ale̩ro̩ cast aside the slavery chains of paramour.

When younger, Kó̩lé was engaged to Tó̩lání. The night before their wedding, he discovered her affair with another man. He retreated into the woods to stay with the Sage, a wise old mystic.

Following her education in Bristol, Comfort and Kó̩lé marry. During her studies, Comfort learnt the history of the slave trade. She heard the story of a wealthy Bristolian white woman, Dolores, daughter of a slave trader. She, disgusted by the trade, successfully begged her father to stop. Father and son died in a storm on their return from the Caribbean while accompanying slaves survived. Dolores liberated the slaves and engaged Boripé̩, to teach them English. Dolores and Boripé̩ fell in love. As no church in Bristol would marry them, they travelled to Antigua and Barbuda to get married.

Comfort sees parallels between the slave trade of old and modern political and economic slavery. She enjoins the people to abandon white-collar jobs, learn trades and be self-employed. Accordingly, she and Kó̩lé, assisted by the Sage, start a trade school.

The Sage highlights the excesses of current politicians, and exhorts, “all forms of slavery must be eradicated”. Reformers with the mindset of Comfort and Dolores, Cast in the same mould, should from now on make the world slavery free.

About the Author: O̩lábò̩dé Ògúnlànà is a Chartered Insurance Practitioner. He is currently the Doyen of Insurance in Nigeria. He studied at many institutions in England including the Henley Management College. He is the author of three prior books which give glimpses into Yorùbá Culture and Language, viz The Rare Leaf, Yoruba Legends and Love Stories, Selected Tales and Out of the Black Pot and Other Stories.