One evening in his room at Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, Mr. Bepo was about to pray when his phone rang. The call was from Mrs. Ignatius, the mother of one of his students. Bepo was not very comfortable with the way she related to him because she was always too friendly, and he felt she was taking him for granted.

The Ignatius family had been preparing to relocate abroad. Mr. Ibe Ignatius, the father, was a manager in an oil company and also ran a small business.

He strongly believed his children should not grow up in Nigeria because, according to him, “the children of those who travel abroad will one day become leaders of those who remain in Nigeria.” His wife, Mrs. Ignatius, fully supported the idea. To prepare, she quit her job and started learning tailoring and hairdressing, while her husband shut down his business. Everything seemed set for their relocation until something shocking happened.

During their visa processing, a DNA test showed that Mr. Ibe was not the real father of one of their three children named Favour, an SS2 student at Stardom. Because of this discovery, he angrily told Mrs. Ignatius and Favour to leave his house. That late-night call to Mr. Bepo was Mrs. Ignatius asking for help in this painful situation.

The issue made Mr. Bepo reflect on how some rich parents can be selfish and unfair. He remembered the case of Mr. Ayesoro, a Government teacher at Stardom. Because of his very deep tribal marks, students nicknamed him Mr. Owala, a mocking Yoruba name. One student, Bibi Ladele, claimed she kept seeing him in her dreams and was afraid of him. Her mother, Mrs. Ladele, reported the matter to the school. Instead of defending the teacher, the management quickly transferred Mr. Ayesoro to another branch of the company, just to avoid losing the Ladele family who were wealthy clients.