The union of a married man and his second wife produced a child, Me. I am the second child of my Mum, but the first she had for my Dad. I have an older half sister from my mum, she is four years older than me, and an incredible nine step siblings from my Dad's first wife. Nine!

I have no doubt that my father initially loved my Mum, the age difference between myself and my immediate younger brother is a testimony. Eleven months and ten days!

It must have been love.

My Mum was luckier than the first wife; she managed to add three of us to the already bloated population, unlike the first wife who had nine. My Mum's last issue is three years younger than me. Since we were kids, we haven't stopped fighting and we are practically inseparable.

Well, our house was a large one, worthy to be referred to as 'agbole'. A colony of soldier ants would have been envious of our population. We were large and proud.

My mother doted on me, I was the special child, RUKA this, RUKA that....I was the apple of her eyes, nothing but the best was good enough for me.

I attended numerous primary schools. All you needed to do to change my school was to inform my mother that there is a school better than the one I was presently attending. Pronto, Iya Ruka will move me to that school.

My sister never liked the fact that I got more attention than the rest of the children put together.