My Mother ruined me; A tribute From A Wayward Child

I was stubborn from birth, so I have been brainwashed to believe. I refuse to continue believing this.

I grew into rebellion and my mother is to blame 80%. I am not talking about chewing on her nipples with my toothless gum or pissing upwards to make sure the piss escaped my cotton napkin to stain her nurse’s starched uniform.

My mother was rich and is still rich. In her time, she was the largest land owner among women of her age in and around old Owerri. She was tick madam and had about 5 hospitals in her prime.

So I grew up in surrounded by maids and just couldn’t understand how others are poor until I had a conversation with my mother. A patient in one of her hospitals, couldn’t pay and the husband abandoned her.

She was in the hospital for a long time until frustrated, my mum canceled her debt and “released” her. So my rebellion against rich people started. Why did my mother wait so long before forgiving the debt? And she told me, people have been cheating her, running away with her money and she needs to restock her pharmacy and pay nurses, to be able to do charity to others.

Another deformation in my life, was when she introduced me to her mechanic-De Jude. My mum had Volkswagen 1,500 and De Jude was her mechanic. Unknown to me, they had concluded plans that I should go and learn Karate to tame my restless and hot temper!

De Jude was a Grand Master of Shotokan Karate. So every Sunday morning, when children my age, we’re going to church to learn ferry tales about sugar coated mountains beyond the horizon, I will be jogging from Irete to Owerri township stadium at Tetlow road to learn to tame my demons and be disciplined enough not to beat them after Church. So I was exposed to Asian/Shinto/Buddha philosophies(what your motivational Pentecostal pastors call revelation)

So when my mates were busy learning to dance, chase women, I was busy curbing my teenage sexual desires, doing kata and oh! writing love letters as I was shy and couldn’t express myself before any young girl of my infatuation.

Today, my mother, who out of love and wanting to give me the best and gave me the best, wonders, how did I turn out like this?

I turned out like this, because I rebelled against her good spirit; I rebelled because I saw riches in her hands and innocently wondered why she couldn’t use it to whip away poverty.

Finally, I became a political leftist, because of my mother. My good Uncle and friend, the only brother of my mother, who NEVER joked with my mother’s welfare or interest,  Chief È.C.Eluchie, was a chieftain and financier of NPP. He used his muscles to make my mother the first Councilor of Mbaukwu LGA, created by De Sam Mbakwe before the 1983 Buhari’s coup scrapped it. But today, that same visionary Mbaukwu, is now Owerri-West, with headquarters at Umuguma as was the case when my mother was a Councilor.

Well, since she was in NPP, I took off to PRP(what do I know then) but her colleagues when they gathered to go for rallies with loads of bread and others stacked inside ELUSOS bus mounted with speakers, they call me Aminu Kano and refuse to give me bread but I will still “tap” it as tapping was not considered stealing back then. The culprit in calling me Aminu Kano was De Ala Owerri from Orogwe(I doubt if he is still alive. The man could smoke more than a locomotive)

But it wasn’t all bad with my mother. She is a true Amazon; a fighter and several when I was threatened with suspicion from secondary schools (Osina and Government college), she came to my rescue. She also stood behind me during my days in Kuje prison after University of Abuja wahala. Whenever my father blamed me for woes in the family, she came to my defense!

My mother gave me love; gave me love but ruined it; her favorite beating too, was broom. The butt of the broom and I received a fair share of her once in a blue moon anger!

I love you de Esther nurse.