Nigeria, Still on the Track @56

2016 Independence Anniversary Sonnet
______________________________

It's indeed a lovely day
So, love it with passion.
It doesn't look pitiable
So, why the compassion?

Nigeria as a country
Has not done badly.
So, as a people,
Let's rejoice proudly.

Please, my dear people,
Don't get me wrongly.
Because our dear country
Is still walking boldly.

I truly love this day
So, let's meet today!

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Forbidden Fruit

FORBIDDEN FRUIT

    “Can somebody say alleluia?” Pastor Afolabi urged right from his pulpit.

    “Alleluia!” the congregants chorused unanimously in a high tone.

    “Can someone shout a bigger alleluia?”

    “Alle – lu – ia!!” they reiterated in a more thunderous tone.

    “The Lord is good.” shouted Pastor Afolabi who wore white suit alongside white plain trousers and black plain shoes.

    “All the time.” They followed suit as the tradition requested.

    Pastor Ken Afolabi, a 48-year-old father of five, of the Jehovah Rescue International Church was a well-known ordained man of God who was seen by all and sundry, both within and beyond, as a man who knew his onions. Everyone including the onlookers felt elated whenever they had a glance of him; needless to state that he wasn’t just highly respected but a reputable cleric. He spent most of his time conducting deliverance among members of his church’s congregation who yearned for such as well as invariably took time to let impecunious individuals understood that the sky was their stepping stone if they so believed. This singular feature of his person made people, particularly the economically less-privileged, see him as a god-sent.

    “Good morning, Pastor.” Mrs Kemi greeted, head bent immediately after the church service.

    She had walked up to him the moment he stepped out of the church building, about entering his private car.

    “Good morning, madam…” he responded cheerfully. “Mrs Kolawole, right?” He quickly recollected, pointing one of his left fingers at her.

    “Yes Pastor.” She clarified, waist bent as a mark of respect.

    Mrs Kemi Kolawole was one of the staunch members of the church that could boast of about three hundred consistent worshippers.

    “Hope all is well?” Pastor Afolabi inquired, stylishly leaning on his ash Toyota Corolla car.

    “Pastor, I will like to see you.” She hinted, standing about a metre away from him.

    Mrs Kemi got married to her lovely husband Mr Gbenga Kolawole three years back; the couple was yet to boast of a baby’s cry, and it presumed that no pregnancy was forthcoming. They thought it wise that it was high time they sought the cleric’s intervention, spiritual wise, after series of persuasions from the affected woman. The partners, who wedded at the said church, met each other there prior to their union; so they could confide in the cleric for any kind of consultation.

    “Okay,” the resplendent Pastor Afolabi replied. “Let’s meet in my office tomorrow being Monday.”

    “Around what time, Sir?” the 37-year-old Mrs kemi enquired, stood still.

    “Would 10am be okay by you?”

    “Yes Pastor.”

    “Okay then,” he said, shook his car keys. “Let’s meet by 10.” He landed, dashed into the car.

    “Thank you, Sir.” She appreciated, majestically took her leave.

    The following day, they met as scheduled. During the meeting, having disclosed to the cleric her mission, he suggested deliverance for her which according to him would be due after a rigorous seven days fasting and prayer to be observed by the couple. In addition, he told her that while the proposed fasting period lasts, she would be expected to spend her days and nights in the church, after which she would be eligible to go home.

    After all said and done, few weeks later, Mrs kemi took in; the segment ushered in a jubilation galore in her matrimonial home. Nine months on, she successfully gave birth to a bouncing baby girl. She was named Opeyemi.

    At this time, her hubby Mr Kolawole couldn’t hesitate to disclose to everyone that came to cheer with the family that Pastor Afolabi was the brain behind the family’s emancipation.

    Subsequently, in four years time, the couple Mr & Mrs Kolawole could boast of three children – two males and a female.

    Opeyemi the first child and only daughter of the couple wasn’t academically bright, hence they considered sending her to a boarding school where she would be closely monitored towards attaining academic excellence, though the school she was sent to – Greater Children Primary School was also situated in Ekiti State, South-West, Nigeria, where her parents hailed from and lived too. When she got to 11 years, she proceeded her secondary education in Greater Teenagers Secondary School, a sister school to the former, founded by the same proprietor.

    Coincidentally, Pastor Ken Afolabi was in good terms with the Proprietor of the aforesaid schools, Chief Dan Olabiyi. So the cleric usually went to both schools, which were situated in the same compound, to counsel the pupils and students. This was one of the reasons Opeyemi’s parents sent her to the school.

    At 17, Opeyemi wasn’t living up to the expectations, most especially regarding her social life; and she alongside her peers were preparing for their Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (SSCE). Hence, her Principal sent her to Pastor Afolabi’s office for private counselling, and deliverance if necessary, as it was often done in the school. The cleric never knew the girl’s parental background and he wasn’t bothered to ascertain either.

    Having met the cleric, it was assumed that all her problems had been solved. Funnily enough, few weeks later, Opeyemi tested positive to pregnancy; the diagnosis, which was conducted by the effort of her school’s management, was occasioned by the abrupt weird attitudes of the teenager.

    When the news was broken to her parents Mr & Mrs Kolawole, it was like the end of the world for the family. Everything was ostensibly happening at breakneck speed.

    When interrogated by her parents right before the school’s management, Opeyemi disclosed unequivocally that Pastor Ken Afolabi was solely responsible for the pregnancy.

    “What…?” Her mother, Mrs Kemi managed to exclaim, passed out instantly.

    Everybody stared at the poor girl in silent awe.

    The untold truth remained that Opeyemi was Pastor Afolabi’s daughter; a secret only known and kept by the cleric and Opeyemi’s mum, Mrs. Kemi Kolawole. That very week 17-years back when she was placed on a compulsory one-week fasting, which made her to spend nights at the church, owing to her alleged inability to conceive, the cleric convinced her to sleep with him, stating that that was the only way she could take in; and the hidden melodrama yielded Opeyemi.

     But as God would have it, Opeyemi’s siblings were Mr Kolawole’s biological children; which implied that the couple was just impatient or in a hurry to have a child.

     Opeyemi was raped by the so-called pastor - her supposed biological father, right in his office on that very day she was sent to him by her school’s principal. She was urged by the randy cleric not to discuss the incident with anybody, unknowingly to him that the unwarranted tango would yield a forbidden fruit.

     So, are we to charge the cleric for deceit, infidelity, adultery, rape, incest, paedophilia, or what have you? Think about it!

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Hideous Truth (II)

HIDEOUS TRUTH (II)

    Thereafter, when the unthinkable news got to their respective parents, it sounded not unlike a mere dream to their hearing, particularly Ete’s.       
   The said couple Elder and Mrs Obong wouldn’t in their entire life imagine that their ‘lovable’ first son was a gay even if they in any way dreamt of it. They wondered where the young man had learnt such nauseous and pathetic lifestyle; ‘could it be during his university time or while in secondary school, or was he born with it’? These among other frightening questions surrounded their aging medulla oblongata. However, such way of life wasn’t peculiar to their lineage.

    On their part, Mr and Mrs Abang cursed the very day their daughter, Ukot came across the ‘idiot’. They felt like they had been duped or double crossed by one who disguised himself sometime ago like a suitor; no doubt, Mr Ete came to pay their daughter’s bride-price in disguise. They didn’t only cast a spell on the day Ukot met Ete, but as well cursed the latter for such manner of deceit employed by his person in the name of ‘marriage’. To say the least, they spent days without even a bolus of meal.

    Surely, if you were in the shoes of the aforementioned couples, you would definitely say far more than what they said as well as do more than what they did, because the unforeseen incident wasn’t just mind-boggling but highly astonishing and unbelievable. However, what else would they do than to accept their fate in good faith as well as seek for the way-forward?

    “I am very sorry for everything,” Ete pleaded with Ukot right in their matrimonial room, kneeling down. “I can feel all the pains I have caused you.”

    The melodrama was taking place in the morning the following day after the unspeakable incident. At that moment, Ukot who felt like a woman that just had a stillbirth was lying pitiably in their matrimonial bed, facing upwards.

    “I know I have really deceived you,” Ete rode on, still knelt down like one who had apoplexy. “In fact, I don’t even deserve you.”

    Ukot remained hopeless and speechless on the bed.

    “I don’t even deserve your presence,” he confessed, gushed out tears. “Let alone your love.”

    She unconditionally followed suit as regards the weep; hers was fathomless.

    “I am just like a monster in your life.” He frankly asserted, cried aloud. “God, why me…?” He said, looking at the ceiling.

    They actually wept like toddlers.

    Oh, they had a little weep together just like any couple in love would. The past good memories were ostensibly coming back again gradually as they sobbed endlessly. Their only solace remained the true love they once shared.

    He held her passionately while still on his knees. “Please, forgive me…” He eventually asked at the top of his voice.

    Ukot looked at him still lying down. “You killed my emotions.” She finally broke her silence sorrowfully. “You have murdered my feelings.”

    Their faces were conspicuously covered with unquantifiable tears. “I know.” Ete submissively admitted. “I am not just a monster to you, I am equally a murderer.” He ironically asserted.

    “You pierced my heart,” she continued resentfully and emotionally. “You struck the arrow right in my heart.”

    “I am sorry…,” Ete reiterated. “I have come to resurrect you.” He informed poetically.

   There was a bit silence. “It won’t happen again, I promise.” He assured.

   The truth was that Ukot was really in love with Ete; she developed a very soft spot for him during their courtship that lasted for awhile. When they were courting, Ete showered her with explicit care and anything a woman wished to behold; that was exactly when she felt complete having someone like him in her life. But unfortunately, the euphoria automatically vanished the moment they tied the nuptial knots that was long overdue considering Ete’s age.

    “You promised?” Ukot verified in a jiffy.

    Anyone around would say she was mad to have descended so low; any other lady would had wanted to employ some tactics or a reasonable delay before reconciling with him, but it was damn obvious that she couldn’t cope without him. Nature was really at work that she couldn’t resist his seemingly irritating presence; of course, taking into consideration what she witnessed at Avocado Hotel, she needn’t a counsellor to ask her to steer clear from him at least for that very moment.

    “Of course, I promise.” Ete reiterated aloud compassionately, stood up and calmly raised her head bearing plaited hairs from the bed.

    This time, she was seated on the bed alongside Ete.

    After all said and done, an absolute reconciliation took its place, though she accepted the reunion only on a condition that Ete would go for a thorough deliverance in the hands of a genuine cleric which was assented to by the man in question.

    When Ukot’s parents learnt of the reconciliation rather than divorce, they were of the view that their daughter was indeed insane. Ukot made them understand that that was when her spouse needed her presence most, claiming that God had sent her to him to make him a new creature.

    On their part, Ete’s parents couldn’t hold their joy on hearing that Ukot never sought for a divorce which was the most anticipated suitable reaction. Thus, they remained grateful to her for such rare courageous and humane gesture displayed. To them, they owed her not just a lot but the whole world.

    As God would have it, a week later, Ete was successfully delivered from the beast called homosexuality. Consequently, they became a better and greater union again.

    When the both parents learnt that Ete had genuinely turned a new leaf, they couldn’t believe their ears. It was like a fabricated tale. Who on earth would agree that the hideous truth would eventually turn to a pleasant one. Aside them, every tongue was filled with ‘God bless the god-sent Ukot’. Mr and Mrs Abang were left with no other choice than to revoke the spell they cast on the young man who once derailed.

   There and behold, few weeks later, Ukot was confirmed one-month pregnant. Consequently, nine months on, she put to bed a bouncing baby boy.

    It was celebration galore. Surely, the tongue that had earlier spoken evil had finally testified that truly the Lord remained the Alpha and Omega.   

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