As The Shoes Fit

A particular young lady has known Oga Yellow, a local shoe-maker in Gwagwalada market, Abuja for over four years. He hand-makes beautiful female shoes, and that was what attracted her to him. After buying shoes from him and even recommending him to family and friends, a customer-relationship developed between them.

In August last year, she gave him one of her handbags with a spoilt strap and asked him to change the handle of the bag for her; it was something he could equally do, but he abandoned the work until it stretched into this year. About two months ago, she decided to take her bag from him. Also, she had given him the pair of shoes he had made for her mother in January which was too high for him to reduce the length of the heels. When she took the pair of heels to him, he told her that she would pay for amendment, but she refused; being that he was the one who made the shoes. Then he pleaded with her to exercise a little more patience until the next day for him to get the bag and pair of shoes fixed. She agreed. But while they talked, her eyes caught a beautiful pair of shoes in his shop. She tried on the shoe and it fit her legs perfectly, and she indicated interest in buying it, but Oga Yellow informed her that the shoe wasn’t for sale, because a customer of his brought it in for amendment. So she dropped the shoes. Meanwhile, she also met another customer of his inside his shop when she arrived there.

The next day, she returned to his shop as agreed to pick up her bag and her mother’s shoes. She noticed that the shoes that caught her eyes the previous day were no longer there, but she did not bother to ask about it because he already told her that it was for a customer. Anyway, she still had to wait for him to get her stuff fixed, and while she waited, she went into his store and plugged her phone. After he finished, she took them and left his shop.

Two days later, she got a call from him asking her to bring back the pair of shoes she had seen, liked and even tried on in his shop.

At first she was baffled at such blatant accusation, but then he insisted that she had taken it, and must return it. An argument ensued between them. She kept on insisting that she did not ‘steal’ the pair of shoes, whereas he continued to say that if she was denying it, then she should come to his shop and show him where she kept the shoe by herself. After the heated argument, she called her father immediately and told him about the accusation. The next morning, Oga Yellow continued calling and asking her to come to his shop. Nevertheless, her father already advised her not to go to his shop at all; it was a market, and the shoe-maker could escalate things by shouting and calling her a thief right there.

When his calls became incessant, she blocked his number, but Oga Yellow was far from relenting.

He then used his neighbor’s phone to call her, and this neighbor started yelling at her over the phone that she came to his shop to steal shoes, now she wants to run away. The neighbor dared her to come and prove her innocence at the shop if truly she did not steal the shoes. She angrily ended the call and blocked the number as well.

A day to Easter, another strange number called her. When she picked, it was Oga Yellow. He started shouting and spewing curses at her and her generation, saying that the owner of the shoe was at his shop. She ended the call immediately and blocked the number again, although she sent a text message to him saying that he had lost a customer’s shoes out of his carelessly, and now he was trying to pin it on her simply because among the customers that visited his shop that day, she was probably the only one that showed interest in the shoe before blocking his number.

Some days later, she ran into Oga Yellow’s neighbor’s daughter who ended up telling him the location of her workplace. Then he used yet another strange number to call her and threatened to come to her workplace to embarrass her now that he knows where she works. She ended the call and blocked the number. Instantly, she called her father and informed him about the man’s threat. Her father swung into action immediately. He called a friend and pleaded with him to take some policemen and go along with his daughter to the man’s shop. Her father’s friend did not hire some policemen as instructed. Instead, he just went with her to Oga Yellow’s shop. After some back and forth altercation, Oya Yellow ended up admitting that indeed, he should not have accused her especially as she has been his longtime customer who has in fact, grown his business by referring family and friends to him. He said he only got upset because she was avoiding his calls. Then after all said and done, he said that he had let the matter go.

However, this young lady is traumatized and very pained. Her image and reputation has been dented by the false accusations, because while they were trying to sort the issue, people gathered around, which is not unusual because it happened in a market space. She wanted to sue Oga Yellow for slander and defamation of character, but people close to her are asking her to let it go and heal…