THANK YOU GOD In the wee hours of today, two unbooked, term-pregnant women presented in our facility with prolonged labour; one had a live birth while the other delivered a macerated stillbirth. Remove two score years and some jot, and the ill-fated neonate could have been ME. My first breath was a Ghanaian air, and barely two months later, my parents joined the stream of (virtually all) Nigerians who were deported by Ghana in the early 70s. This wave would be copied by Nigeria in the early 80s when the Ghanaian “so-bata”, “ejika-ni-shop”, artisans, and yes the ashewos plying their trade in Nigeria were deported in the now famous “Ghana-Must-Go”. Our lawmakers have since invented better things for GMGs, indirectly transcribing the template for another Ghana-to-Nigeria deportation exercise. Many of the immigrants’ children (the early 1970s wave, of course) died en-route to and in Nigeria; I could have been ONE of them. Ekiti became my adopted home state where I grew my adolescent “innocence”; Ekiti, the fountain of knowledge, the state blessed with rivers, forests and dangerous rocky terrain. We forded snake-infested streams, climbed slippery stems of tall trees, harvested honey from dark crevices, and dug up animal holes the occupants of which we never knew. Looking back to the rascally days, I shudder that I still “dey alive”. Felix Taiwo was my bosom friend up to form 3, but a day to our promotion exam in 1984, Felix died suddenly. We shared many things in common except religious belief, and I wept for days after his demise. Taiwo could have been ME! The ghastly motor accident along Ilesha-Akure road in 2007 was indeed life-changing for me. I drove the car, and miraculously came out unscathed..... Summing it all, God has given me all the chance against all odds. The chance to live a life Allah is not under any obligation to spare. Oh ALLAH, I thank you for sparing my life till date. I thank you for the favours, the mercies, the blessing. I thank you for the gift of life, the gift of health and the gift of joy. I thank you for my family and my work. I thank you, please accept my gratitude and thanks, and multiply for me all the things I have thanked you for. .... This is a big thanks to everyone who made my day a memorable one. THANK YOU ALL, TI’YIN NAA AA DE O.
Posted on: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 21:13:21 +0000