Money in the bush || Diary game 3rd March 2026

The phrase “money in the bush” is one often used casually by real estate agents and developers, - but truly, can money literally be found in the bush?? or is it just a metaphor to describe natures gift of land?? You tell me.

In other news, did you know that women in Igbo tradition do not get any land, both from their father’s house and from their husband’s house??
A cruel twist of fate, so why then do the men of her father’s house collect her bride price? Shouldn’t it be used to compensate her, seeing she doesn’t get any landed properties from either sides??.

These and many more questions I threw at my maternal uncle in rapid fire succession as he walked us through the parcellated lands that belonged to uncles and cousins from my mother’s side.
What was I doing in the village thick bushes you may ask?? Well, since it’s unheard of for females to inherit any land in their father’s house, it becomes a big deal when a man decides to gift his sisters land from his own portions. The birds carried this news to my ears, and I was not going to miss this epoch event, invited or not.

As early as 8:30am, I was already enroute my maternal home as I didn’t want to be late and I wanted to catch all the early juicy in- between gist. I had heard that some of the brothers /men of the family were not in support of this, my question still remains

why You dey vex on top another person land and decision??

One reason I enjoy going to my maternal home is because it still carries the village feel- you know, bushes everywhere you turn, tatched houses one in a mile and many tall and high trees, today didn’t dissapoint.

Finding the allocated parcel.

As We entered the bush, I noticed one man had his long dane gun. I was told it’s for protection as the bushes over here are being plagued with troublesome herdsmen and kidnappers who wreck havoc to lives and properties so before anyone goes in there, they take either their guns or their sharpened machete as I saw others with.

Once they figured out who owned which land, they allocated as required.
Shey I mentioned earlier that some of the men were against the sharing right?? Well, they didn’t show up😂😂 and I was really looking foward to seeing their faces😂😂

As we headed out of the bushes, we heard that one of my maternal cousins was laying the foundation of his building so we went to celebrate with him and pray over the land.

Foundation work ongoing!

Work had already started in earnest, they had dug the trenches - is that what it’s called?? And were about laying the first stones.
Mini trucks were bringing in cement blocks and workers were mixing sand and cement.
My aunt who’s the eldest family member did a short yet powerful prayer on the land and for the young man, before we left. This progress is noteworthy because a few years ago, this same young man had been serving his Oga in Benin city faithfully for years. He was the cleaner, driver, personal assistant and everything in between - but when time reach to settle him, his Oga and wife came up with some funny stories of theft and all that. It was a really tough time for him as he left with nothing but his claim of innocence. So imagine the joy and sense of pride I felt seeing him starting his own building- it brought immense joy to my heart.

Once that was sorted out, I headed back home.
Can anyone please tell me why governments don’t fix roads when it’s dry season ?. Instead they wait till the beginning of the rainy season to start digging up what was never out of place.
This is how I felt seeing that labourers had been contracted to dig and map the gutters - as laudable as it is, why now when rain is on the horizon?
Ok, even if it’s now, why not use those caterpillars that dig so that the work can be done quickly??
As I pondered on these, I noticed a scene unfolding beside me. Apparently someone prominent from the village had died and his relatives were putting up a banner. They decided to put it on a sign post bearing the name of the first school founded in that environment.

This they did so the banner would be visible . As they tried doing that, some bikers around there refused, telling the dead man’s relatives that their brother was a legend no doubt, but that the founder of the school was a super legend and his school banner shouldn’t be covered😂😂. Of course, a rucus erupted, but the sun was too hot for me to stick around for the drama.
It’s been an eventful day already, and I think I’d had my fill of triggers.
I hope you enjoyed reading through as much as I enjoyed writing to you!.