hings did in the vill

with palm oil, children weaving between stalls with chin-chin in hand. For decades, it had been neutral ground. Even during quar

, and the schools follow

morning before sunrise. In its place, a gleaming new structure rose: Umuchukwu Prosperity Market e

e hesitated to enter. Others scoffed and m

alls would now require new registration under the Umuchukwu Market Development Scheme. The registrat

e said, defiant as she displayed her goods beneath an umbrella bearing the old market name. That evening, boys on mo

y the roadside, some relocated to markets in nearby towns, even if it meant waking at 4

oved faster tha

ng his events, cutting ribbons for projects stamped boldly with Umuchukwu Development Initiative. Th

he new title. "All applications must be addressed to Umuchukwu Local Division," the posters rea

Nkerehi does not exist in our records.

few crossed over not in

vide d

or those from the other side. Children no longer played across name lines. The beating

Forb

ghter that made silence feel like a choice. She sold palm oil at her moth

f one of Obiajulu's key allies. He bore the new name like a ba

ere scrubbed. It had been innocent then. Two young people walking past each other eve

ango tree near the stream. Under the cover of dusk. W

ijioke said, "Let's leave. Start some

muchukwu, I will be cut off. She won't eat from my pot. She won't step in my home. She

erehi daughters would not be given to Umuchukwu men. And vice versa. "They are not

me from the motor park when it was discovered that the man waiting to propose to h

ration

t was chronic. Like a wound that had been dressed too

ones began

eir parents. "Why couldn't you fight harder?" they asked. Som

scribbling graffiti in the ni

ehi L

Older Th

Reme

wiped off

not

"You can rename a place, but not a people" the task force

a name. But he had al

ing not with machetes or guns, but with stu

had no

was b