We Had Almost Forgotten There Was A Fourth Wife.

Seven days into the disappearance of Baba Segi, this publication has reported on three of the four women who share his compound in Ibadan. We have watched Iya Segi manage the silence with the precision of someone who has rehearsed for exactly this moment. We have observed Iya Tope unravelling at the edges, quietly and completely. We have heard Iya Femi ask, at considerable volume, which of her housemates is not as surprised as she should be.

And through all of it, through seven days of noise and grief and barely concealed accusation, we had almost forgotten that there is a fourth wife. Her name is Bolanle.

She is the youngest. The most educated. The one that the others have never fully accepted into the fold. She arrived at the compound as an outsider and, by most accounts, never quite stopped being one.

In seven days, she has not spoken to this reporter. She has not spoken to the neighbours. She has not, as far as sources inside the compound can establish, said very much to anyone at all. At first, this publication attributed her silence to shock and grief, but we are no longer sure that is the right interpretation.

This morning, this reporter observed Bolanle leaving the compound at seven forty-three in the morning. She was dressed carefully. She carried a bag. She moved with the particular unhurried steadiness of someone who knew exactly where they were going. She did not look toward the gate the way Iya Tope does, that anxious, searching look, waiting for someone to appear. She looked forward. Only forward. She returned at midday. She did not speak to the other wives when she came in. She went directly to her quarters.

This reporter approached her briefly as she reached the entrance. She smiled, and it is worth noting that she is the only woman in that compound who has smiled in seven days.

“I have nothing to say,” she said pleasantly. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

It was, on the surface, a perfectly ordinary thing to say. It is the word you that this reporter has not been able to stop thinking about since. Not we. Not all of us. You.

The other wives are looking for Baba Segi. Bolanle does not appear to be looking for anyone.

— The CEN Report
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