Cupid Is Crimson

The permanent thing in life they say is change therefore change is inevitable to mankind but ironically we fear something we can't escape or abstain from because if we run away from one change we're inevitably running towards another change.

We sometimes fear change because of its negative consequences such as inconveniences, risks and the stress inherent. Humans are pleasure-seeking social animals therefore we detest stress-inducing variables, which are synonymous to change. However, for us to make progress in life we need change, for our status to soar to a higher stratum change has to happen. The next level in life is the next change in life.

Don't be complacent, don't be a local champion, aim high, higher. Fly into the sky so you could harvest the stars.

We all realise that we need to change some habits, hobbies, in order to be healthier, richer or better that is why many people have resolutions at the beginning of the year but only few achieve them. The reason why many fail is change, our goose pimples! We detest it consciously, unconsciously.

So what's your resolution for the New Year? And what are the strategies you already put in place to achieve those goals? Remember set realistic, feasible, definite and workable goals and be focused. See, think, dream and breathe your goals.

'Middleclass' Hausa families are not so common in Southwest Nigeria but not as rare as seeing an albino with dreadlocks. Of course the superrich class which domiciled in VI, Lekki, Ikoyi and other choice neighbourhoods is easy to come by; needless to say the downtrodden yes the 'jama-jama'socio-economic class are like sands of the seashore. Socio-economic pyramid attests to that because in all society its base is the widest and its peak is the narrowest. You see the members of this Hausa socio-economic class in their elements very early in the morning and far into the night trying to eke out a living.

Asabe Abubakar was a Hausa lady from a polygamous home in Kano, Nigeria. She had lived in a neighbourhood predominantly peopled by the Yorubas so she had learnt a lot about the tribe right from childhood through adolescence to adulthood. She speaks the language fluently; tuwo with miyan kuka tops her favourite meals while amala with abula was always her first runner-up.

Nature lovers appreciates nature and hence God, the author of nature. I prefer amala with abula and oya meat and of course I wouldn't mind apala music in the background while I enjoy nature at its best at Ikogosi Resort, Ekiti, Nigeria. Call it wining and dining with inspiration from nature and you won't be wrong. Nonetheless, I won't reject an evening of Continental dishes in Al-Burj-Arab Hotel, Dubai.

The man next door should be your friend irrespective of the colour of his skin, his faith, sport affiliations, political ideology or socio-economic status!

Asabe had studied English at Bayero University, Kano with the intention of being a broadcaster particularly a newscaster on national TV. The ageless Eugenia Abu; the late bespectacled-Tokunbo Ajai and the like come readily to mind.

She was posted to Lagos as it were for her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme. Some women are gorgeous, some beautiful, some handsome yet some are pretty but she was none of these yet all of them. In plain language it was difficult to box her with an adjective. In fact, the adjective to describe her had not been invented. She was a feminine masterpiece. The delights of romantic poets who love to weave words together to paint the beauty and femininity of angelic women.

Her body was shiny for she had a sequin chocolate-brown complexion. If voices were visible your eyes would have married her voice. She had Cupid's bow lips, egg-oval chin and slim, dimpled-cheeks. Her winsome, sparkling eyes billboards peace, calm and quiet, antidotes to the stress in a man's life. Her stalky nose on her sublime face like a model on the runway. Her beauty was unrivalled because they were armed with idyllic scenery of nature in love with nurture. In other words her make-up calls out the model in her and crowns her the Beauty Queen.

She was like a princess in a fairy tale! If we were in the age, barbaric age of bride kidnapping where women were kidnapped indiscriminately and married casually, her father would have imposed a house arrest on her at age nine for fear of being kidnapped at ten.

Her height was packaged in a 5”8 frame, her curves sizable and reliable in their to and fro sensual movements in response to the signals of her queenly gait. Her signature gaze from under her lush eyelashes sends warm signals surging through your system which makes your heart engage a long jump (like Greg Rutherford, the Long Jump Olympic Gold Medalist in the London 2012 Olympics) into your mouth to have a look at the uncommon scenery.

Anyway, who's not beautiful? All you need do is pause and examine, re-examine yourself and discover your hitherto unknown assets, your beauty resources.

Asabe went to a restaurant one Sunday evening to have a taste of exotic meals, for she was an organic-food lover. She saw many people in the restaurants, kids, teens, senior citizens, middle-aged people and young lovers. The vicinity looked calm, smelt peace and the ambience was very refreshing, until a dark-skinned, beefy lady murdered the peace and tranquility therein and blood flowed like flood.

“You dey cra** I go show you say I be Warri girl,” the lady shouted on top of her voice. If anger alone could kill, the anger of the lady would have killed the man ten times and still counting. She looked at her partner and gave him a sandpaper slap across the face and spat on him twice in a row. She was the aggressor yet she was crying like a baby and throwing tantrums.

She really embarrassed her partner and made a huge spectacle of herself. Asabe couldn't take it anymore and decided to intervene. “Madam, sorry, please what happened?” she had inquired. “Don't mind this useless man, I dated him for seven years; and seven years in a fruitless relationship is like seventeen years to women. Pooh, would you believe he just told me he was no longer interested in marrying me?” Asabe tried to appease her jangling nerves. Two attendants came as well and she finally kept quiet, sat and sobbed for some seconds.

She stood up on impulse, picked her bag and voiced, “You know say you don sleep with me, we don glue be that. Yes we're connected spiritually. Believe me I'll use that to punish you except Baba Okrigbagba is dead if not your life will rot.”

The aggressive lady was beautiful, though she was the type that changes beauty the way Casanovas change women. Today she might appear beautiful, tomorrow average. She changes beauty because she changes her hairstyles. Anytime she sports a hair style that's not fitting she looks average. All in all she needs to understand the shape of her head and the hairstyle that fits and hence flaunts her beauty – the hairstyle that digs deep into her mine to bring out her beauty to the surface. Many ladies are however beautiful 24/7 irrespective of their hairdos, even if they shave the hair on their heads.

Suleiman was very panicky and was too ashamed to get up, let alone walk out of the restaurant. Asabe knew this so she came to his rescue. She pulled him up and said, “Let's go meet her at home and apologise,” she quipped. He got up and with chain-heavy legs, he trudged out of the restaurant, head bowed. She had no intention of going anywhere with him she just wanted to help him come out of the restaurant, out of his shame. She left him immediately afterwards.

He followed her surreptitiously till he knew where she stays and left. Her apartment was not far from the restaurant. They eventually met and became friends. Two things caught her attention about him. First and foremost, his calm in the fiery storm. This is because an average guy would have gone violent after being spat on. The other thing that ensnared her fancy was the dark spot on his head – sign of a devoted and disciplined prayer life. She therefore concluded in her mind that he wasn't so bad after all.

He was Suleiman Seriki, a 'peledonna, moneymaniac,' so catching, nesting and netting women of all shades, shapes and sizes was as easy as using money to buy monkey or donkey. He was a civil engineer, tall, 6”1 to be precise, attractive, smart, charming, people-skilled, intelligent, humorous needless to say his company was interesting, in fact electrifying. Suleiman in the Holy Quran is Solomon in the Holy Bible and Solomon was a very wise king therefore it baffles me when some people calls a dull, bland person 'Sule.' Is that not a misnomer?

He was born in Kotangora, Niger State but his parents later relocated to Lagos. They were native of Ejigbo in Osun Sate. He wasn't handsome but very charming what with his intimidating height and athlete's built. To alagberus (load carriers) in the market, Sule was wealthy; to some people, he was comfortable, yet to others he was rich. However, people like Carlos Slim Helu, Bill Gates may say he's poor.

When I see a rich person
I 'see' elite in his verandah – even if all he speaks is vernacular!

Asabe pretended as if she doesn't understand Yoruba and that was to her advantage. Suleiman and his friends had said so many things in her presence oblivious of the fact that she understood them. Tunde, his neighbour and bosom friend once said Asabe, a naïve lady was stupid enough to think Sule, a ladies' man would marry her and Sule retorted, “Boya lo mo pe iyawo mi ni Asabe.” Meaning it seems you don't know that Asabe was my potential wife. She heard all but pretended not to. They'd said many other things without knowing she heard them. With this, she knew her potential husband like the back of her hand.

One cool evening in August, Sule told Asabe a very funny story. He said a man in Ife-Odan, Osun State used to rob female traders (on their way to the market to buy groceries) very early in the morning. He would hide in the burial ground and once he sees any female trader coming he would emerge from the burial ground hooting, “You living people you complain a lot, you don't appreciate God but having breath is the mother of all testimonies. Today you'll become prey to the ground. Yes the ground would swallow you the way python swallow its preys. You'll learn that the way up is down. Yes to get to heaven, you have to go down into the grave first and foremost.”

That trader would instantly throw away everything on her, borrow the limbs of cheetah and bolt away like Usain Bolt. The man would smile and take all what the trader had thrown away. He did that to three women on three occasions before he was caught. The king told a hunter to set a big trap that could capture a gorilla on the road that exited the burial ground. He did it and set it at 6pm four days later.

The next day three brave women were used as bait this time around. The man came out of the grave as usual and started pursuing them when he got caught in the trap. The three women ran to the palace immediately to inform the king that the 'ghost' had been trapped but no one dare go there until around 8am because they were all sore afraid.

At last the villagers summoned courage and set out to the graveside to look at the mystery in the trap. Lo and behold they saw Alade, one of the villagers who just joined the league of the rich in the village. He was all sweat and under stress; in fact, river Niger would envy him for the copious amount of water oozing out of him.

Alade used to tell the villagers that he owned a shoe factory in Ibadan where he goes every day. In fact he just married Amoke, the most beautiful lady in the village. Unfortunately for Amoke she had conceived. She was so proud of her beauty and hence embarrassed all her suitors because they weren't rich. She finally married Alade because he was richer. Alade was however arrested and jailed and later banished after serving his jail term. Amoke was humiliated and out of shame she absconded to Lagos to start life afresh.

The highpoint of the story was that Suleiman pointed towards a beautiful lady heavily pregnant with a vanity case in her hand. “That's Amoke,” he had said. Asabe laughed till her jaws and throat began to complain of aches and pains and tears came out of her eyes in response.

Suleiman never told Asabe he understood and spoke Hausa fluently just as Asabe did to him. When Asabe rounded off her service, Suleiman who had been communicating regularly on phone with his future in-laws went with her to meet them. They all liked him for he was very jovial. Yes he had a convivial disposition. Asabe's parents would have wanted her to marry a Hausa man but because they loved her and wouldn't want to break her heart they decided to let her be. More so, they had liked him right from the day he started calling them.

Suleiman had intimidating interpersonal skills!
Asabe's mother, Hajia Amina said (in Hausa) that Suleiman was very big and she hopes he keeps his big heart as well. Suleiman heard and smiled in his mind. She and Asabe later left for the kitchen and Alhaji went to his room to relax briefly.

Suleiman was now left with Asabe's step-mothers. One of them, Hajia Saratu, had said that Asabe was tall for a lady so she shouldn't have married a tall man. “Wayo Allah, their children would be too tall to find their shoes and clothes in stores. They would have to spend exorbitant amounts for customised wears and that's not economical with the situation in the country you know.”

Suleiman thought her ignorant and ridiculous and wanted to challenge her but kept mute. The other Hajia Lantana said she knew Suleiman was the Casanova of Casanovas the moment he entered. “That man is a great pretender. You know I was a town girl when I was a spinster, please don't doubt the authenticity of my observation. This one will impregnate their housemaid, Asabe's best friend even mother if she's not careful. Needless to say he would inevitably break Asabe's heart….”

She kept mute immediately she heard footsteps. It was Asabe!

Suleiman had one strength and it was being faithful to his resolution to the very end. He'd determined not to woo let alone sleep with any other lady the day Asabe accepted to be his girlfriend. He was now very determined to stay faithful and loyal to her from the beginning till the grave comes calling.

Alhaji Abubakar was jealous of Suleiman because he would soon if he had not already become the most important man, person in Asabe's life. He wanted to tell Suleiman that the only condition for him to release Asabe to him as his legal wife was that he must enter into an agreement with him never to marry another woman save Asabe but because he'd three wives himself he wasn't courageous to say that. More so, Asabe's step-mothers would challenge him and label him unjust.

Six months later the Serikis travelled to Kano for introduction and three months later the two lovers had their wedding Nikah. It was a colourful wedding. Oh, their marriage was much more colourful! Suleiman never stopped thanking God for giving him such a beautiful and wonderful wife. He pampered Asabe like a day-old baby! In fact he practically worshipped her.

On their wedding night she told him that she'd a secret to tell him, he replied: “Before you disclose yours, let me divulge mine.” He scratched his smooth cheek dryly, cleared his throat noisily and voiced sheepishly, “I speak Hausa fluently but I didn't tell you in order to know you and your family better than best.”

She looked at him with disgust. “I'll never trust you again but on one condition and that's if I'm not guilty of the same crime but I was, please forgive me! I speak Yoruba better than your lips and I didn't tell you all along because I knew you were a philanderer,” she rubbed her hurting head and continued, “and if you had had the plan to use, drain and dump me I'd have known because your mind had believed that I didn't understand Yoruba and your mouth would have leaked your secrets and I would have ran for dear life,” she exhaled. They both smiled and hugged each other passionately. Tears dropped from her eyes while smiles dropped from his lips!

“It could only be God or who else could have blessed me with the best version of Eve walking the face of this earth,” Suleiman had later soliloquised. He was sipping Champagne and playing Asabe's favourite music on the keyboard. Asabe, ensconced on a goatskin couch reading her favourite women's magazine.

Suleiman got up and opened the French doors that led to their balcony to have a panoramic view of the sun entering its garden behind the palm trees on the seashore. “Masterpiece, come see the beauty of nature in the sunset dinner between two romantic lovers,” he whispered to Asabe. She got up, walked up to him, peered at the scenery across his shoulder and hugged him from behind, her body resting on his and her head on his broad shoulders.

“Oh sunset behind palm trees on a calm, peaceful beach had always been a romantic, idyllic scene for me from childhood. Thanks darling for bringing back my refreshing nostalgia,” Asabe cooed sensuously. Their honeymoon! They were in the balcony of their suite in 'Rose-Petals Gardens,' a 5-star hotel overlooking the sea in the ever gorgeous Barbados.

Suleiman turned round so she put her hands round his strong, muscular neck and he lowered his face while she lifted hers ….you can balance the equation in your mind. I did and I know you'll sure do!

In the end, Suleiman disappointed all who believed in the ideology, 'Once a Casanova always a Casanova.'

Olayemi Ogunojo.
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