Chief Oluyemi was a very wealthy man with two sons. He was well known all over Igada because of his kind gestures towards everyone and his good services to the people who came to him for assistance. He was very kind to the extent of knowing when one was in need.
The king of Igada so much loved him that he became his friend and always asked him for advice on how to make the people of Igada live better. He was respected the most after the king. One major reason why he was highly respected was the respect he had for all of those working for him which people regarded as slaves.
Truly, he had bought these people from other nobles and wealthy people as slaves but he never treated them as slaves because of his good heart. Some of the slaves stole his belongings and ran away even with all the nice treatment towards them.
His first son, Ibikunle, would tell his father to count the slave and put a tag on them to enable a strict restriction. Ibikunle would tell his father to allow him to monitor the slave so that none of them would be able to leave but his father would say, “My son, we don’t need to count them as slaves, remember they are also humans. We are just privileged to be wealthy.”
Ibikunle would not agree with his father and anytime his younger brother, Ibitayo, tells him not to count the slave as their father had instructed, he would be very angry with his younger brother to the extent of beating him up.
The king of Igada was getting older and the coronation of a new king must be done. But, since he had no male child who would sit on the throne after his demise, he betrothed his only daughter to Chief Oluyemi’s first son, Ibikunle. Ibikunle would then become the king of Igada after the demise of the King of Igada.
All necessary preparation was done between the King of Igada and Chief Oluyemi. Fortunately, the two children loved themselves wholeheartedly and the wedding date was announced all over Igada kingdom.
It was on a conducive evening, the people of Igada gathered at the royal palace to celebrate the marriage ceremony of Ibikunle and the king’s daughter. After singing and dancing for the arrival of the groom, He was sighted on a white horse. The people of Igada were about to sing to celebrate his coming when he shouted and stopped them. He turned to the king and said: “I want you to tell my father to count all the slaves and put a tag on them before this marriage ceremony will continue.” His father looked straight into his eyes and shook his head.
The king, desperate to have a male child from his daughter, ordered Chief Oluyemi to count and put a tag on the slaves. Because of respect for the king, Chief Oluyemi could not go against the order of the king and so, he stood, looked at his child and smiled.
“Ibikunle, do you really want me to count and put a tag on the slaves?”
“Yes father, count the slaves,” Ibikunle said arrogantly.
“I said we shouldn’t count the slaves but you insisted we count them, I will begin the counting.”
He stood and pointed at Ibikunle and counted him as number one.
Everyone was surprised and the king stood to ask Chief Ibikunle why he counted his son as a slave. Chief Ibikunle turned to the king, bowed before him and said,
“He’s my first slave, I bought him when he was just two and ever since then, I have been treating him like my own biological son.” On hearing what his father said, Ibikunle felt devastated and ashamed of his act. He lost his respect but his father and brother never stop loving him.
Being a slave, he could never get married to the king’s daughter. Instead, the king’s daughter chose his younger brother, Ibitayo, the biological son of Chief Oluyemi.
Because of the love Chief Oluyemi had for Ibikunle, he willed all his property to Ibikunle, and to Ibitayo, he said to choose a single property out of all his properties.
Ibitayo was angry that his own father had asked him to choose just a single property. But his calm endurance made him realize what his father really meant when he made the will.
It was at the front of the elders, Ibikunle and Ibitayo were present and all the properties were listed out for Ibitayo to make a choice. When asked by one of the elders to choose a single property which was written by their father, he said,
“I appreciate all the elders present today. I would not want to go against what my father has written down because of the respect and love I have for him. May his soul rest in peace. I am ready to choose and I chose Ibikunle since he’s a slave to my father.”