Episode 05: My Encounter With an Iwo Girl and My Experience

SI calmed her down, asked her to relax because she was panicking and had repeatedly said she was not going abort the pregnancy because she had never done it before and she knew how dangerous the action was and the option of abortion flew out the window in the jiffy the news was broken to me.

I didn’t have the option at mind either, I knew it was going to happen. I’d get myself prepared psychological for the news because it was her first time when she was in Ogbomoso some four months ago and we never used any form of protection. So, I knew this was coming but yet I got shaken.

I tried all I could to calm her and it succeeded. I promised her I’m taking the responsibility for the pregnancy and I would start to fast forward the preparation for introduction plan with my family so she would have to give birth to the kid in our custody and it helped to calm her. So, I had my mom talk to her and my dad too and this point I knew that I was getting married sooner than I’d thought.

READ ALSO: Episode 03: My Encounter With an Iwo Girl and My Experience

There was no problem on my side. My father and mother felt a little sad about my new found faith but my father, a professor in social science didn’t find it too hard to understand where I was coming from and my mom who has a background dominated with Muslims, in fact, her entire family are all Muslims also didn’t see any reason to protest.

Three weeks later, I was in Iwo with some of my family and friends. BamKo and Àjàgun himself were both there and they gave big support, the other three friends, Jide, Kunle and Sandra were my family from Ilesha. It was a terrible experience; a very humiliating one.

The Imam came in with leagues of other people that almost looked like him, their turban was so big if the earth was placed on it, it would drown it. Their white clothes make feel safe though but trust me, I was terrified seeing this old man and his league of friends who probably hold the same philosophy as his.

READ ALSO: Episode 04: My Encounter With an Iwo Girl and My Experience

“Ekasan Sir,” one of my friends said and they’ll replied with, “Salam alykhum warahmotullah,” and there was this grave silence in the atmosphere, “Wa alykhum salam warahmotullah,” myself, BamKo and Àjàgun responded and these men looked very profusely at the others, “Ẹyin ẹ ṣe Mùsùlùmí ni ti yín ni?” they questioned them and the nodded in correlation.

Long story short, the Imam and his cohorts distorted the whole meeting and showed us the way out in a very noisy embarrassing manner even Nollywood won’t act. Mariam was screaming in tears and cursing very loudly. Her mother, the second of the four wives who was devastated and embarrassed was twice as noisy as her daughter. The rest of the wives were trying to calm things down, neighbours were out, pedestrians were all halted to get a show of the madness. The old man was sitting in his chaise-longe and his lickspittles on the bench adjacent to him.

I couldn’t believe all the invectives I was hearing. My friends and the family representatives found the madness show very troubling, the wives and some neighbours continued to pour out invectives on the old man and his shameless friends. How on the planet earth do you disgrace your daughter’s fiancé, his friends and his family just because some of them aren’t Muslim? It was totally insane.

Episode 05: My Encounter With an Iwo Girl and My Experience

READ ALSO: Memoirs: The Unsung Heroes In Iwoland | By Engr. Bashir Lawal (Gomina Mekunnu)

Mariam suddenly became quiet in the course of the noisy moment. She was drowning in tears, she looked destroyed, and looked in a way that scared me beyond anything that was happening. I have seen that look some five months ago, she’s drifted into that mood again and it scared the hell out of me. About thirty minutes of the very noisy moment, the wives are asking us to stay that they would call some elders to the matter, they arrived but it yielded nothing. My friends got pissed, my family are lost and I am lost, scared and devastated.

I was more concerned about Mariam than anything that was happening. That sudden drift away, that sudden quietness, that empty look, that drowsiness, I have seen it before, and it was dangerous and now it’s more dangerous because I can’t help this time – I can’t give her three thousand naira to meet in Ogbomoso and that’s exactly why it’s very much more dangerous.

To Be Continued.

READ ALSO: Iwo Female Muslims and The Use of Hijab: Fashion, Culture or Religion?

About The Writer

Olamide Yakub Lateef is 26 years old. I am Yoruba, I’m 5ft5 tall and I hail from Osun State and I’m an indigene of Iwo. I am an undergraduate student majoring in computer science at the online University of the People, CA, USA. I’m a lover of writing, I’m a poet and I love to take tasks the same reason I’m into programming.

I started conscious writing when I was a little above sixteen years old; that was when I first wrote my first poem. I’ve been writing since then, I’ve written many unpublished poems, short articles and few proses. I love to write because it’s the easiest way for me to relax after I might have written a few lines of codes in programming and by telling stories I feel like I’m building my very own universe.

READ ALSO: Popular Markets in Iwo and The People

Follow us on Facebook: Iwoland Hub on Facebook