The Aso Ebi Committee Treasurer Has Disappeared With Our Money And Nobody Is Talking

My colleague Amina has been planning her younger sister's wedding since January. The aso ebi committee collected contributions from 34 women in her office. Two weeks to the wedding, the treasurer stopped picking calls.

Wallahi, this is not the first time I am hearing this story. In Abuja, every wedding has a treasurer who handles aso ebi money. Sometimes the money is small, sometimes it is serious money. But the pattern is always the same. The treasurer is a trusted friend of the bride's family. She collects, she keeps records in a notebook, and everyone trusts her because she is "responsible."

Amina cannot report the woman to anyone. The wedding is in 12 days. Her sister is asking about the fabric. The committee members are asking about their money. And the treasurer's phone is switched off. From where I sit in Abuja, the real wahala is not the missing money. It is that nobody wants to be the one to say it out loud. What do you do when the person holding your money is also the person holding the family's reputation?