After my wife's best friend was kidn@pped, my wife started pressuring me that we needed to leave this country.
After my wife’s best friend was kidn@pped, my wife started pressuring me that we needed to leave this country.
Everything started around October 2023.
My wife’s best friend, Sharon, was doing very well for herself. She traveled to China regularly to import goods, and whenever she returned to Nigeria, she sold them here. Business was moving well for her until one day everything changed.
She was kidn@pped.
The news shook every one of us.
We couldn’t believe it.
My wife and I immediately stood by her husband. We took care of their children, encouraged him, prayed with him, and kept believing that God would bring Sharon back safely.
By God’s grace, she was eventually released after a huge ransom was paid.
But although Sharon came back alive, that incident changed more than just her life.
It changed ours too.
From that day onward, my wife became a different person.
Every little sound frightened her.
Every bad news increased her fear.
She kept saying,
“We have to leave this country.”
She would tell me,
“Nobody is safe anymore. I don’t want us to wait until something happens to our family before we wake up.”
I understood where she was coming from.
Honestly, I did.
But I also kept telling her,
“Leaving Nigeria isn’t a bad idea, but let’s not make such a life-changing decision out of fear. Let’s seek God’s direction first.”
The problem was that our lives were already established here.
We had invested heavily in agriculture.
We had fish ponds.
We had poultry.
We raised snails.
God had blessed the work of our hands.
So each time she said we should relocate, one question kept ringing in my heart.
“How do we abandon everything God has helped us build?”
Should we sell everything?
Should we hand it over to someone?
Who could we even trust?
But my wife wasn’t looking at the business anymore.
She was looking at our children’s future.
She kept saying they deserved better schools, better security, and better opportunities.
The discussions continued for months.
From late 2023 into 2024.
And sadly, insecurity wasn’t getting better.
Almost every morning came with another heartbreaking headline.
Kidnappings.
School attacks.
Abd7ctions.
People disappearing.
The atmosphere was filled with fear.
Then one particular morning changed everything.
Our children woke up crying.
They refused to go to school.
One of them even developed a slight fever.
Immediately, I remembered something my mother always told me while growing up.
She used to say,
“Whenever a child who normally loves school suddenly cries and refuses to go, don’t force that child. Let them stay home.”
So I insisted they wouldn’t go that day.
My wife wasn’t happy.
She felt they were only being stubborn.
But I stood my ground.
Two days later, they could always return.
Little did we know that God was preserving our children.
Around noon that same day, terrible news broke.
Armed kidnappers had invaded our children’s school.
Over one hundred students were abducted.
My wife screamed.
I froze.
For several minutes, neither of us could speak.
The only thing running through my mind was this:
“Our children could have been among them.”
That incident completely broke my wife’s resistance.
She looked at me and said,
“Since last year I’ve been begging you. Imagine if our children had gone to school today.”
Honestly…
That was the day fear entered my own heart.
Instead of waiting on God, I allowed fear to lead me.
We quickly sold our farms.
Sold our poultry.
Sold our fish ponds.
Sold almost everything we had labored for.
With the money, we relocated abroad, believing we had finally found safety.
But my people…
Relocating wasn’t as easy as people made it look.
Yes, there were jobs.
But there were also bills.
Bills that never stopped coming.
The same country people said was full of money was also full of expenses.
My wife and I, who used to spend every evening together with our children, suddenly became strangers under the same roof.
One person was leaving for work while the other was returning.
Sometimes she worked night shifts.
Sometimes I did.
We hardly sat together anymore.
We hardly prayed together.
We hardly laughed together.
Even our children began growing up without our full attention.
They attended good schools, yes.
But we barely knew what they were learning or who they were becoming because survival had taken over our lives.
Back home in Nigeria, our business gave us freedom.
Here, our jobs controlled us.
Some days I was so exhausted that I slept inside the bus before getting home.
Life became nothing but work.
Bills.
Sleep.
Repeat.
Sadly, while I was trying to provide for my family, I didn’t realize I was gradually losing my wife.
She wasn’t built for that kind of pressure.
She carried too much silently.
And because we were both constantly busy, I failed to notice the signs.
One afternoon at work, I felt unusually restless.
I couldn’t explain it.
Something in my spirit just wasn’t settled.
So I left work earlier than usual and headed home.
When I got there, I knocked several times.
Nobody answered.
I went through the back entrance.
And there…
I found my wife lying on the kitchen floor.
She had collapsed.
The children were inside their room playing, completely unaware of what had happened.
I rushed her to the hospital.
But it was too late.
She was pronounced dead on arrival.
The doctors later explained that prolonged physical and emotional stress had taken a serious toll on her body.
I prayed.
I cried.
I begged God for a miracle.
But none came.
That was how I lost the woman I loved.
The woman I crossed continents with.
The woman who only wanted safety for our family.
Because bringing her body back home would cost far more than I could afford, we buried her there.
Standing beside her grave in a foreign land was one of the loneliest moments of my life.
After everything, I looked at my children.
I knew I couldn’t continue raising them there alone.
So I brought them back home to Nigeria.
We started all over again.
Today, whenever I reflect on everything that happened, one lesson keeps echoing in my heart.
Fear should never become the foundation of major life decisions.
Yes, Nigeria has its challenges.
Yes, insecurity is real.
But every country has its own battles.
No place is completely free from problems.
The greatest security any man can have is the direction and preservation of God.
Looking back now, I wish I had spent more time praying than panicking.
I wish I had sought God’s counsel before making such a life-changing decision.
Because sometimes, what looks greener from a distance may carry burdens you never imagined.
The Bible reminds us of Naomi.
Because of famine, she and her family left Israel for Moab in search of a better life.
Instead of finding lasting peace, she lost her husband and her two sons.
She returned home empty, carrying only painful memories.
That story reminds me that location alone does not determine destiny.
It is God who blesses.
It is God who preserves.
It is God who makes a place fruitful.
So if you’re considering relocating, relocating is not wrong.
Seeking a better life is not wrong.
Protecting your family is not wrong.
But don’t allow fear to make decisions that only God should guide.
Pray.
Seek His face.
Ask for His direction.
Because when God leads you, He also sustains you.
And wherever God plants you, His grace is sufficient to keep you.
Morals of the Story
1. Never allow fear to make decisions that should be made through prayer and God’s direction.
Fear sees only danger, but God sees the end from the beginning. Before making life-changing decisions, seek His counsel first.
2. A greener pasture is not determined by location but by God’s presence.
No country is completely free from challenges. The greatest security, provision, and peace any family can have come from walking in God’s will, because where God leads, He also protects and provides.
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