Read previous episodes here 2,1
Friday 13th January 2017
21:00 hours
By the time I met Alhaji Abduullah,
he already had eight children- four daughters and four sons. He had two wives,
in which none of them he said lived with him.
"The eldest stays abroad
most of the time, while the younger one has her own place in town," he
told me".
At the time, I wondered why he
chose to live like a bachelor instead of having at least one of his wives with
him. It was much later that I found out the reason.
Soon, I wrote my final papers
and graduated. For the NYSC, I was posted to Kano, to serve in Fagge town which
was a surprise to me as I thought I would serve in another state, having lived
in Kano most of my life. My mother wanted me to change the posting so I could
be in the city of Kano but I refused. It was my first time, apart from school I
would be away from home, totally on my own and I liked the feeling of
independence it gave me. I however, visited home regularly to check on her and
my siblings.
I was at our house on one of
such visits when Alhaji came to see the family. It was not the first time he
did that. Since the day of the quarrel at the factory when he gave us the money
for my school fees, he had become close to our family and often visited. That
day, he sat for sometime chatting and asking questions about my experiences as
a corps member.
Later, he sat with my mother
in the sitting room talking for a while before he left with his driver. I
wondered what they were talking about but I did not think much of it until a
few days later when I was about to return to my base at Fagge. She called
me into her room and said:
"I know this must come as
a surprise to you. It might even shock you. But the truth is Alhaji is
interested in you" "But Ummah, what's surprising about that? Alhaji
has always been interested in my welfare and that of the rest of the family
since we met him at the factory," I pointed, giving her a quizzical look.
She smiled and shook her head.
"No. That's not what I
mean," she said. Then drawing closer to me on the bed, my mother added:
"Alhaji wants to marry
you. He told me about it the last time he was here."
She was right. I was not just
surprised, I was dumbfounded! I just stared at her, my mouth agape like some of
those actors in those Hausa (Kannywood) home videos on TV. Then I found my
voice.
"Ummah, is this a joke
or what? You can't be serious!"
"My dear, it's the truth.
Alhaji wants you as his wife," she restated.
"But he can't be serious!
I mean he's old enough to be my father. He's even older than you and Abbah.
Besides, he already has wives and so many children. What does he want with a
girl like me?" I argued.
"Well, you'll have to ask
him that when you see him. I'm just reporting to you what he told me," she
pointed out.
"And what was your
response, Ummah on hearing about the proposal?" I queried.
She shrugged. "I told him
it’s not my decision to make. That you are old enough to decide what you want.
You are all grown up now and, no longer a child. All I can do is guide and
advise you as a mother," she said.
I sat pondering her words for a
while before speaking.
"Well, it's not going to
happen. Alhaji has been very good to me and this family but I can't marry him.
How can I marry an old man like that, with grown-up children some of whom are
even older than me? My friends will all laugh at me!" I stated, getting up
from the bed.
I left the room and went
outside our compound. I stood by the gate and idly watched people going up and
down the street. A neighbor and friend Balaraba strolled by and stopped for a
chat.
"I'll visit you in Fagge
one of these days," she said as she walked away.
That night, I could not sleep
much as I kept mulling over what my Ummah had told me. I always knew Alhaji
liked me. But I thought I was more like a daughter to him as he had said a
couple of times. So, why this marriage proposal now, I wondered, turning in
bed.
A tycoon's bride
About two weeks later, a
Saturday to be precise, I was at the backyard of the corpers' lodge where I
stayed, washing my clothes when I was told I had a visitor. Thinking it was Balaraba,
my friend from Kano, I went outside the gate. It was Alhaji, sitting calmly in
the back of his car.
He smiled on seeing me and
invited me to join him in the car.
"What are you doing here,
Alhaji?" were the first words I spoke on entering the car.
"To see you,
obviously," he replied, still smiling at me.
"But you should have
called first. I would have prepared something for you," I said.
"No need for that, my
dear. In fact, I want to take you out. So, go inside and wear something nice,
ok?" said Alhaji.
He took me to a nice eatery in
town. We sat in the secluded booth on the first floor section and it was there
that my journey to my present life began. That day, Alhaji proposed formally to
me, stating that it had always being his desire to marry me from the beginning.
What made him wait; he said was my education as he wanted me to finish school
first.
He waved all my objections
aside, such as the age gap, his wives, wealth, numerous children etc.
"I'm a High Alhaji in my
community as well as an African man. I can marry as many wives as I want as
long as I can take adequate care of them," he argued.
The benefits of the union to me
would be immense, he pointed out- my family would kiss goodbye to poverty forever,
my younger siblings would have the best education money could buy, I would live
in the lap of luxury and immense wealth for the rest of my days and I would
never have to worry about money anymore, my mother would no longer have to
struggle so much to raise my brothers and sisters and so on...
It took me a week to decide
whether to marry Alhaji or not.
"I knew you will make the
right decision," said my mother when I went to see her in the city. "Alhaji
is a good man. I know he will take very good care of you and you won't regret
marrying him," she said, hugging me.
Alhaji was very happy when I
called him to break the news to him.
"Zaliha, you have made
me a very happy man!" he said, sounding pleased.
At least he was happy. As for
me, I felt neither joy nor sadness. Looking aback, I believe it was a sense of
duty to my family that informed my decision. I had watched since I was a child
how my mother had to work so hard to feed the family and take care of us. Our
father was useless (sorry for the cruel words) and had shirked his duties at
home for as long as I could remember.
'At least, my Ummah can rest
now from all her struggles,' I thought as I tried to convince myself that I had
done the right thing by marrying Alhaji.
Eight months later, at the end
of my service year, the marriage rites were done and I became a millionaire's
bride...
To be continued...
Names have been changed to protect the identity of the narrator
and other individuals in the story.
To be continued on 18th
Jan
Names have been changed to protect the identity of the narrator
and other individuals in the story.
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