₦airaland Forum

Giddy11513:
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.

TamiOkoroDedeh:
Bloody hell, imagine your own mother telling you to endure brutal sex with a 419er, what is wrong with Nigerian families?