AUNTY KAMA

We all need an Aunty Kama in our lives, that aunt that other family members gossip about, the rich aunty that other aunties are jealous of.

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CHAPTER 7




PanPan was tall, big and beautiful, a boisterous life of a party woman. She was one to always be
happy, and there was never a dull moment with her. She graduated from the University of Ilorin
where she studied Performing Arts; she was well vast in literature. The third of four children, she
was closest to her parents, and when they passed away she inherited the villa in Ekonirim that
had flats of boy’s quarters behind it which housed relatives from far and near. Most of them
children born out of wedlock whose young mothers abandoned out of shame of not being
married.
PanPan was loved by everyone. She ruled the household with love and firmness. She was stern
and flexible, loving and truthful, but she had her flaws. She got into people’s personal business
and sometimes pushed her opinions too hard on them. She was too quick to give unsolicited
advice.
At thirty-three PanPan decided that she had had enough of men, they were either unfaithful or
wanted to turn her into a slave. She often was confused as to why a woman had to wash their
man’s clothes, when he was the stronger one with tougher palms. When she was seeing Kenneth
the man who managed to come close to her standards they had a big fight about it. She was
respectful but she gave the exact same measure of respect she was given, Kenneth broke up with
her saying he couldn’t marry a woman who would not wash his clothes.Akpan came close to her ideal man he was all for an independent woman, but she couldn’t keep
up with his insistence on her preparing the meals, even when he got home from work before her.
He would nibble on bread or biscuit awaiting her return so that she could prepare his meal. And
even though she did most times, it caused a lot of quarrels. On top of that he was cheating on her.
They had several fights about it.
“Why do you have to wait for me? If you get home before me, cook something for us to eat.”
PanPan often said. And Akpan’s response was often the same.
“This is Africa PanPan, wake up and smell the Ekpang Nkukwo; no man will marry you with
your white woman’s mentality.”
“I do not have to be a white woman to want to feel treated as an equal Akpan, you were cooking
when we first started dating how come it is such a task for you now?”
PanPan felt disappointed, she was getting tired of how frequently they had this fight.
And one day after an argument about the same issue, Akpan called her spoilt and useless brat,
PanPan left him.
The fall that broke the calabash was Lionel, she loved him dearly and he seemed to be agreeing
to PanPan’s view on relationships and partnership. He only conformed so that he could get
money from her. She had several beauty salons across Calabar; she also managed her mother’s
Four Star hotel and her father’s car shops. She had a knack for business; she was born to be an
entrepreneur. Lionel saw that she had a lot of money and not a lot of responsibility. He was a
banker and was able to fend for himself but after dating PanPan for a couple of months he began
borrowing money from her with the promise to payback which he never fulfilled. He borrowedmoney to buy a new car. He was showing off to his colleague’s, living above his means. She
tried to talk to him about it the next time he asked for money.
“Lionel I run business that require working capital, sweet heart you have not paid the monies
you’ve already borrowed, I cannot borrow you anymore money. Except I see evidence that you
are investing them as you say you are.”
“What the hell do you mean?” Lionel was fuming with rage.
“Exactly what you heard Lionel.” PanPan retorted, she wondered why he was suddenly angry.
“Look at you, I clean, I cook, I take care of you, just because you earn more than I do, you are
talking to me like that eh?” Lionel hit PanPan hard on her face.
PanPan was tall and strong, she hit him back immediately.
“If you ever lay your hands on me again, I will finish you in this town, you hear me?” PanPan
said and left.
Then she decided that she was done with men. Her mother was still alive and promised to
support whatever decision she wanted to make about her life, it was her life after all. PanPan
wanted children, and the decision not to marry did not deter her from her desires, to be sexually
satisfied and have children. She only decided not to commit into any relationship. She was tired
of the disappointment.
Lionel came back begging. He promised he had changed. He even said he was ready to settle
down and raise a family. PanPan wanted nothing to do with him, if he could slap her, then he
could do worse. She wouldn’t end up in a marriage where she was a punching bag. She took him
back, pretending to have forgiven him. She only wanted to get pregnant. She chose him because
she felt he had good genes. He was bright and ambitious with no genetic health issues. When shewas sure she had gotten pregnant, she broke up with him and left for the United States before the
pregnancy started to show. She stayed in New Jersey with her older brother till she gave birth to
her twins Unwana and Kufreabasi Ekanem.
Two years after she had given birth she moved back to Nigeria. Rumors soared about the father
of the twins. She was the topic of the town. They said she adopted them from American people
who did not want children. I heard she stole them. I heard she got pregnant before she travelled.
PanPan’s family were prominent title holders in the village, her great grandfather was a
philanthropist. Coming from a royal family their business was often a concern of the people. She
did not justify any of the rumors with a response. She was not one to care about what people said
about her. She took good care of children and her businesses. That was about the same time her
mother died.
PanPan was busy with the burial preparations. It was a celebration of life; her mother had lived
to ninety-six years. It was a big burial, with masquerade parades and traditional Efik dancers,
Scottish families flew in to celebrate with them, her children all came home with their children
from America to celebrate a long and happy life that she lived. PanPan’s mother frequently
called Idara which meant Joy in Efik because she was always happy, Idara was known for her
hospitality, she had a tourist business and one of the biggest hotels in Calabar that housed a lot of
expatriates, mostly Scottish. Her burial was like a festival that lasted seven days. People were
more preoccupied with the burial than PanPan and her wedlock children. Idara had died five
years after her husband died.
After the burial, the next topic was on how boldly PanPan paraded her children and there was no
ring on her finger or husband by her side, most village women hated her guts, they hated her for
being so different. They hated her for been so bold to do all the wrong things. But beneath all
that hatred and jealousy, there was respect and envy. How can a woman in a society ruled bymen pull such a weight without consequences? A time when an African woman’s worth was
judged by how many children she bore and how well she cooked. PanPan thrived in spite of the
retrograde placed on women, she thrived. Her late parents were well travelled and educated they
trained all of them through school, the older ones before PanPan all left for the United States and
started their families there, PanPan took charge of their parents estate and her younger brother
Ekanem who she brought up like a son.
She taught him to cook and how to take care of himself and the women in his life, she often told
him to treat women the way he would genuinely love to be treated.
Ekanem grew up aware that he was different, whilst his peers stayed late in the football field, he
had to leave early to go to the market, because he had to cook. His peers did not bother about
cooking, their sister’s or mother’s would have prepared their night food.
In secondary school, the idea of talking about a woman’s body was awkward, so in the gathering
of his classmates whose conversations were centered on what girl’s breast had started to grow
and was showing through her pinafore, and the girl who sat down with her pant showing, he was
often quiet. He rather not say anything than be jeered at or be called a queer, Ekanem wanted to
talk about the Literature teacher’s interpretation of Her coy Mistress the poem they had to study,
or Half of a Yellow Sun and debate about how biased he felt the writer was about the civil war.
Not that he did not like girls. He in fact did and her name was Oluchi, the only Igbo in his
school. He loved talking to her because he wanted to know more about the Igbo culture and she
told him tales he couldn’t get enough of.
Ekanem bragged about PanPan to anyone who would listen, his aunt was rich and bold and even
though not spoken well of, the gossip was done behind her, for in her presence there was show of
respect and admiration. He left Calabar after his secondary school to join the Nigerian Defence Academy, where he excelled brilliantly and grew up the ranks. Before he left for the army,
PanPan gave him a book titled The Alchemist in a bid to let him know that adventure was
important, and a necessity for a happy life but it should always lead him back home.
PanPan’s children were citizens of USA, so after their secondary school in Nigeria, they moved
in with their Uncle in New York to attend the university. They came back every year and PanPan
often visited. Unwana and Kufreabasi were both medical doctors and were doing well for
themselves. Unwana married at thirty-six an African American woman a nurse worked in the
same hospital with him and they had three beautiful children. Kufreabasi married to an Egyptian
man, who was a citizen of the USA and they had a child.

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CHAPTER 6




Ekanem was the last born of his family, named after his Father Ekanem which is translated to
mean my mother is sweet; his oldest brother Lawrence was already a ninety years old man his
children called him grandpa, then an eighty-two year’s old woman known as Emem and they
both lived in the United States of America, then PanPan followed suit she was seventy years old
and she inherited the family house in Ekonirim Calabar, then Ekanem came along, he was fifty-
eight years old. He was born when all his older ones had already began their adult lives, none of
them had his time, his parents were already old and frail so it was PanPan who looked out for
him, she took care of him like her son and brought him up to be the man he was.
Ekanem was a good man, he loved his wife and children so much, he was different than the
average Nigerian man, and he had a domestic side which he embraced so well, surprisingly for a
high ranking officer of the military. Before he retired from the army, whenever he went for a
peace keeping mission or a course work he would write home every week. Unlike most officers,
he would write to Ichechi describing the community he was based in, describing their food and
culture and describing how deeply or shallowly he felt about the place. He would describe how
much he missed her, her smile, her laughter, her body, her cooking, how much he missed his
children. In those letters, he wrote as though the next day was not guaranteed to him, and Ichechi
knew that the weekly letters were evidence of him still being alive. His course mates would
throw jabs at him at how “romantic” he was always writing poems to the wife. He alwayslaughed with them and at them and continued his writing. Most of them had girlfriends, the
others preferred to have different women on different days. Ekanem never took part, he wanted
his wife only, and he was faithful and loyal. He was often used as a yardstick to encourage
younger officers coming up to emulate his good character, even though he was gentle, he was
stern and not one to mess around with. He always came back to his family alive and in one piece.
The Nigerian military prohibited their soldiers from having affairs with the women in the local
community they were serving in. Marrying a foreign woman from another country was also
prohibited. But most of the soldiers came back with new wives or children and some came back
without love for the family they left behind, either due to what they had experienced or they had
fallen in love with another woman.
There was a certain captain Ikenna of the Nigerian Army who went on a peace keeping mission
in Sierra Leone. He left behind his beautiful wife Nkechi and two sons Chinagorom and
Nwabueze. Captain Ikenna fell in love with a Sierra Leonean woman, he barely wrote home.
When he managed to write it was to give instructions about the cheque to be cashed and how the
money was to be managed. But rules were rules; he could not bring his Sierra Leonean mistress
to Nigeria. If he did he would be dishonorably discharged from the army. After spending two
years away from his family Captain Ikenna came back to them sad and incomplete, Nkechi bore
the brunt of it all. He was hostile and vulgar with his words. Six months after being back he sent
his family away to the village and invited the Sierra Leonean woman to Nigeria, her name was
Alex.
Unfortunately for Ikenna, Nkechi had set up spies all over the barracks whose purpose was to
watch the activities of her husband. News soon reached her that her husband had a new woman
and she spoke funny, like she was not Nigerian, her Pidgin English had a different dance to it,
and it felt odd like dancing sambo while Fela’s African Woman was playing. Nkechi reported thenew development to a higher ranking officer who then took the matter to the Chief of Army
Staff. Captain Ikenna was almost court marshalled, but the chief of army staff wanted to give
him a chance. He was summoned to his office and given two conditions; send the sierra Leonean
woman back to her country and bring his family back home or marry the Sierra Leonean and be
discharged from the Army. Well, Ikenna loved the Army, even if he didn’t it was his only source
of income, he picked the first option. His family came back and they tried to live happily. Rumor
has it that he still sees Alex and she has a daughter for him and that Nkechi was aware and
always threatened to report but she never did, because Captain Ikenna threatened to divorce her
as well.

izaray:
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BIGGIE121:
Wow i am awed by your writing skills.and i love your exceptional storyline, keep it up....

Thank you.

You can also read this book on the Okada book app or visit https://okadabooks.com/book/about/the_ekanem_s/19132

wonderjewel:
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Ann2012:
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Bridgovoks:
Nice one
Keep it up

Thanks

CHAPTER 5





Ama was sobbing so much that her mother Ichechi laid her head on her laps stroking her back.
“Ama calm down, I will call Mrs. Obinna and inform her. I am sure she is not aware of what
Richard is doing, stop crying.”
“Mum Richard meant what he said.” Ama responded in between sobs.
“Hold on let me call Mrs. Obinna, Richard must be a joker.”
Ichechi went into the room she shared with her husband. She dialed her husband’s number, on
the third dial Ekanem picked up.
“Chichi” Ekanem called her that; it was his way of letting her know he was in a happy mood
“What’s up?”
“Dee, Richard called off the engagement, please come home, I cannot comfort Ama alone”
Ichechi said in a voice broken by pain.
“Alright, hang on I am on my way.”
Ichechi dialed Mrs. Obinna’s number.
“Ha, hello Mrs. Ekanem … longest time” Mrs. Obinna said“Mrs. Obinna, are you aware that Richard broke off the engagement with Ama?” Ichechi was not
in the mood for pleasantries.
“What do you mean?” Mrs. Obinna was pretending not to know “Mrs. Ekanem I am not
aware…oh my God, I will call Richard right now and find out what the matter is. I am sure they
had a small fight, you how this children and how their love matter is now, eh, I will call you right
back after I have spoken with him.”
“Please do, because he cannot bring shame to my family. Bye.” Ichechi hung up the phone.
She turned to the bedside mirror staring at her reflection, she was without make up or any
accessory, she had cut her hair and as she stared at her reflection she realized she had totally
transformed. She did all of it for her daughters, she changed her church from Anglican to a
church her colleague had introduced her to where miracles were performed on a daily. To be a
member you would have to rid yourself of pleasures of the world, beauty enhancement and any
form of accessory.
The church was more concerned about how you looked than how morally correct, or spiritually
in sync you were with the gospel. She had been attending the church now for six years. It all
started when Ola’s first marriage came crashing down.
Ichechi sighed, she felt exhausted. “Let me call Ola” she said to herself.
“Good evening mother” Ola greeted.
“Evening my child, how are you doing?”
“I dey o, you sound sad, you were happy when we spoke this morning, what is it?”
“Richard called off the engagement” Ichechi managed to say.“What!” Ola exclaimed, “Mother, what is happening?”
“I am just as surprised as you are, I do not understand anything anymore.”
“Jesus Christ, this cannot be happening right now.”
“Say a prayer for your sister, she must get married this year, let us believe God, and you too Ola,
the prophet will come by the house today, be calm. How is Gideon doing?”
“He doing well ma, you know he loves Calabar, I will pray here, be good.”
“Take care, we will talk again” Ichechi ended the call. She walked back to the sitting room to
comfort Ama.
Ola was the first child of the family so she was naturally protective and nurturing. “How can this
be happening to Ama” she thought, immediately after the conversation with her mother. Ama
was her only sister, her baby sister she had grown to love, Ola was older than Ama with an eight
years old age difference and she worried a lot about her.
Ola was thirty-one years old she had being married once when she was twenty-five, and that was
six years ago that her mother’s prayers were answered. Ichechi was more worried than Ola
herself; Ichechi had expected her girls to be married at twenty three years of age. So when Ola
turned twenty-three and was still unmarried Ichechi started to take her to several churches for
deliverance, different pastors of the different churches prophesied different things, either there
was a curse in the family, or someone from her mother’s village had done a charm to stop her
from getting married, or someone from her father’s village had dug under a mango tree and
planted a juju mixture that was preventing men from committing to her. Then two years after
Mayor came into Ola’s life. Ichechi had a thanksgiving in church.Mayor fed on the desperation of the family. Ichechi did not bother to hide her desperation; she
put a lot of pressure on him, calling him son-in-law and father of her grandchildren, even though
he hadn’t proposed to Ola. He dated Ola for just two month and had a court wedding, within
those months Mayor had extorted over three million naira from the Ekanem’s, they were too
desperate to even notice.
Mayor was a returnee, he came to the British embassy where Ola worked and that was how they
met, and he had the forceful British accent and was always so gentle. Mayor was a drug pusher
in West End London, the police confiscated fifty kilograms of cocaine from his delivery man, the
delivery man was supposed to drop the drug off at a train station and walk away, whilst Mayor
picked it up almost immediately, they did not know each other they only communicated via
electronic mail, so luckily for Mayor it was not linked to him, and the man got arrested on his
way to the drop off point. But Mayor was in so much debt he feared for his life and ran back to
Nigeria to raise some money to pay the drug kingpin he bought the drugs from.
Mayor was never ready to settle down, it never even occurred to him. He wanted the life of a
party, he looked responsible and dressed responsibly as well, always tucking in, shaving his
beards neatly, keeping his hair low, he had no tattoos or piercings, he was a handsome man,
6ft2inches and looked like he worked out sometimes. That was his way of deceiving people. No
one can ever suspect he pushed drugs. He could even pass for a doctor.
When he met Ola he could tell her family was rich and desperate so he played the wonderful
son-in-law sent from God, and defrauded them of millions. Mayor lied to them that he wanted to
resettle in Nigeria but it was going to take some time and that he would need to get a job here.
He lied that his entire family were in West End London and he had no relative in Nigeria that he
was familiar with. He told Ola’s parents that court wedding was the best at the moment until hemakes a considerable amount of money and was able to afford to bring his family over, they
would then plan a proper white and traditional wedding.
They got married in the Wedding Registry in Port Harcourt.
Mayor moved into Ola’s house in Calabar, he convinced her that her house was more
comfortable than his house and there was no point paying house rent on both houses. The truth
was, Mayor was squatting with a friend of his, they were both strategizing on whom to dupe and
extort money from. Mayor hit the jackpot.
The love making was horrible;
Ola never failed to express her dissatisfaction to Mayor, but he never listened he did not care
what she wanted, he wanted it fast every time and in odd areas of the house. He never tried to
arouse her, he did not try to make her wet or even properly take off her clothes. She felt raped all
the time.
One afternoon Ola was cooking in the kitchen, Mayor grabbed her, kissed her so hard that her
lips bled. He then turned her around, bent her over the kitchen counter and forced himself inside
her, all the while grunting like a pig. When he was about to climax he bit her neck, Ola
screamed, he did not listen. She turned around, used a kitchen pot to hit him, but Mayor grabbed
the pot from her and beat her black and blue.
When Ola described what she was going through to Ichechi her mother, Ichechi simply said;
“He is your husband, you have to bear with him, soon you both will understand what you each
want and how you want it.”
Ola was not surprised by her mother’s response; they have been searching for a husband for her,
now that she found one why would she encourage leaving the marriage.Ola went to stay with her aunty PanPan, her father’s older sister who lived in their village in
Calabar. She stayed there for a couple of days to recuperate and when she got back home Mayor
was gone, he had sold her car and disappeared, three months and two weeks that was how long
the marriage lasted.
After the sham of a marriage Ichechi was so distraught that she left behind her Anglican faith
and joined her new church, Ekanem was indifferent about the marriage situation, he made some
investigations and found out who Mayor really was, he regretted not doing it earlier and
apologized to Ola several times. From then on, he often told his daughters that their happiness
was more important and they should look for it within themselves. But Ichechi had brought them
up thinking solely about marriage, she told them constantly that they were beautiful and could
have any man they wanted. From a young age she set a goal for them to be married at twenty-
three, for that was the appropriate age. That became their life goal; they worked hard towards it,
especially so that they could make their mother proud. That was why Ama could not see all the
signs that Richard threw at her to let her know that his mother was not in support of their union,
she had just turned twenty-four and almost married, until this whole episode happened.
Ichechi believed that juju had been done on her daughters and she decided it was from her
husband’s village because she felt they hated her.
Ola called her mother back
“Mum, aunty PanPan is coming to Port Harcourt” Ola said.
“Which PanPan is that? I do not want that witch in my house ok!”
“Mother…she says she needs to talk with us all I told her everything, and she said it was high
time she spoke with us.” Ola said hesitantly.“I do not care what you told her, she is a witch Ola, for all we know she bewitched you and Ama,
you know she did not marry. My prophet already said that there are people jealous of my
children and planning to ruin them, PanPan is the witch Ola, I suspect her, so she will not come
to this house eh, period.”
“I know that you do not believe she is a witch mother, I have told dad already. Kent is flying in
from Abuja next week, it’s time we talked as a family, and I will take some weeks break from
the office. Might be in Port Harcourt with Gideon the day after tomorrow, aunty PanPan will join
us next week. Mom please I beg, set your grievances aside, I feel it too, please mother.” Ola said
as fast as she could before Ichechi could hang up.
“Whatever Ola…see you then.”
“What a shame” she thought how nobody could see how evil PanPan was but herself, she
dressed up to go meet her prophet. To see the prophet for consultation cost fifteen thousand
naira. But the prophet considered her an active member of the church and active members paid
five thousand naira for consultation. Ichechi decided to postpone seeing the prophet.
Ichechi heard on a knock on the door. It was her husband. She went into the sitting room. Ama
was already asleep on the Chaise lounge where she left her.
“Dee welcome.” Ekanem reached for her and hugged her tight.
“Everything will be fine I promise you.”
“Have you eaten anything?” Ichechi asked as he walked into the sitting room.
“Yes I have. Okon celebrated his birthday today at the Polo club, there were lots of food to eat,
and where is Ama?”“See her sleeping there. Ola told me PanPan is coming over next week; why… you know we
never get along.” Ichechi said walking towards their bedroom to avoid waking Ama. It was a
serious conversation they needed enough space in case it dragged into an argument.
Ekanem followed her into the bedroom and shut the door; he took off his shirt showing his well-
toned body, he was a healthy man and very handsome even though he was retired from the army,
he took great care of his body, swimming every Thursday at the polo club to stay in shape.
Ichechi stood by eyeing him.
“At least let me get comfortable before you finish me.” Ekanem said knowing his wife was
waiting for a response. He sat on the bed and beckoned her to do the same.
“PanPan means no harm; she is my mother, older sister and my friend honey. She is welcome
here anytime, and she has not being here in over twenty years, please let peace reign.” He said to
Ichechi all the while holding her hand.
“I do not want her here meddling in my family’s affair, no Ekanem I do not!” she was pulling her
hand from his hold. “She never liked me and I never liked her, we have maintained a friendly
distance and I want it to remain that way.”
“Well” Ekanem heaved “I understand, but our children summoned her here for whatever reason,
I do not know. I will not turn my sister away from my home, but if you really do not want her
here, you call her and tell to book a hotel down.” Ekanem was done talking, he understood his
wife and older sister never got along, they had an unspoken dislike for each other for no apparent
reason.
It all started when he first took Ichechi to meet his family in Calabar. His parents were already
dead then, PanPan was the only one around, and his older ones were abroad.“Why did Richard call off the engagement?”
“I really do not know, Ama said she met another woman in his house and in her presence he
called it off, saying he was sorry.” Ichechi had tears on her face now, Ekanem moved closer and
hugged her.
“It will all work out fine, you believe that ok? Our children will be fine. It is his loss, I’m sure he
knows. Boys these days know nothing about loyalty. They can’t tell when they see a ruby in
front of them.”

Alpha100:
You've got a good story going here but your writeup could do with more spacing.

My eyes got tired after the first few lines.

Kudos!

Thanks noted. I'll modify.

Bestboy11513:
11513

Lol Nairaland generated.

Nkpamma:
Superb

Thanks.