Chief Alfred Nnamani, former Senator and chairman of the population control committee and the presidential flag bearer of the People’s Solidarity Party (PSP), and one of the few who has been tipped to win the July 10 presidential election this year stood frowning in front of his office window, gazing across the Olumo rocks and the green valley from his perch on the 15th floor of the PSP headquarters. It was late afternoon, and the gathering humidity lay over the rocks, not leaving a trace of the blazing sunshine on the rocks a moment ago.
Thunder heads were gathering in the distance. Those clouds looks like I feel, he thought, about to burst. He walked back to his desk and sat in the cool leather chair, glaring at the telephone. The problem he faced was like a huge knot, and every time he tries to unravel it, the knot grows tighter.
Mrs. Kathy Obodo, the principal of Holy Child College, his daughter’s school, had telephoned him earlier to inform him that his daughter was pregnant and that they were sending her home. She made so much fuss about her recalcitrant behavior and voiced her displeasure over what she called Jessica’s stubborn, uncompromising and self destructive behavior. She’d gone ahead to explain to him how Jessica refused to have an abortion so she can, at least, be able to finish her education but instead she chose to carry her baby to term.
“Chief, we are tired and that’s why we are sending her back. May be you can convince her otherwise. We are terribly sorry for the inconvenience and disappointment, but have done our best.”
“What are you telling me?” Chief barked.
“We are really sorry, sir.”
“Do you mean to tell me my only daughter is pregnant? No, that’s impossible.”
“We are sincerely sorry, Chief,” the principal said again.
“So what you are telling me is you were unable to look after my daughter?” Chief snarled, unable to control his rage any longer.
“We are truly sorry, sir.”
“Spare me that! Will you? What were you doing? I kept her in your school so you can take care of her. They said your school is the best and now just look at the mess you have made of it. Do you know…oh my God! How could you? I mean, how could you have allowed this to…to happen?” Chief raged. He could see all his fears coming true.
“We are sorry, sir,” the principal said over the line again.
“Sorry, my foot. Do you know what this means? Eh, do you? Oh my God!” he cried. “How many months is it, do you know?”
“I guess it’s about three months old,” she said. “It’s…it’s just that she refused to abort the baby, if not you wouldn’t have known about it.”
“And …why…? Oh my God!” he was lost for words. “Look, Mrs. Obodo, I had expected you will do more than that and that’s why I left her in your care. Now what am I to do?”
“We are sincerely sorry, Chief.”
“Sorry? Is that all you got to say? Sorry?”
“We are sorry, sir. We are only humans and we all make mistakes without exception.”
“Well, that’s okay,” Chief conceded. “But…but why didn’t you send her to the clinic, I thought the school has a very good hospital over there?”
“That’s the problem. We’ve got a first class clinic with well equipped laboratory and state of the art technology and the best medical doctors on call, but she would not go for abortion.”
“What?” Chief shouted. “She did what?”
“She refused to do away with the pregnancy, Chief. She is very stubborn and unrepentant. If she had complied with us, no body, not even you would have heard about it.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Chief, you haven’t seen anything yet. She is stubborn, unbending and disobedient. In fact, as I speak to you, the entire school is divided and in disarray because of her. We had several consultations and meetings before deciding on sending her home. Chief, she is a bad influence to the other girls. Unfortunately, this type of thing has never happened before.”
He listened with rapt attention, his temper rising. “Well, thank you for nothing all the same,” he said and hung up.
He closed his eyes and passed out for a moment. ‘Lord, why me? Why now?’ he cried. ‘Why now lord, why now that am about to arrive? What have I done to deserve this, lord?’ he soliloquized.
He has always known it; always known the women in his life will bring him to ruin, shame, tears and regrets. He has always known, too, that Jessica will pull him down and this looks like it.
In fact, ever since the moment that he set eyes on her at the hospital, he knew she was bad news. He closed his eyes again and all at once, he was filled with bitter memories as he was transported back to that fateful day that his joy was forever punctured. He could remember having driven his wife over to the hospital, with the hope that his son was on its way only to meet the greatest shock and disappointment of his life as he discovered sadly that it was a baby girl instead of a boy. He had felt all kinds of fools and didn’t know who to vent his anger on- his wife, the baby or the conniving doctors. Looking back now, he wished he’d killed her there and then.
He stood pacing the office for hours, not knowing what to do. He couldn’t find a way out of the loony mess he’d gotten himself into. He’s always nursed the feeling that the women in his life will bring him to ruins and now it looks as if his fears were eventually coming true. He could remember how unsuccessfully his mother and sisters tried to pull him down and how he somehow managed to escape their tentacles and now it looks like his only daughter and regret had finally gotten him where she wants.
He massaged his forehead, pushing his thick, black hair back irritably. He was certainly in a fix. He thought of what her being pregnant will mean to his political career and he shuddered. His political opponents will no doubt capitalize on this little flaw and score a cheap point. The press too will have a field day. As Mr. Condom, this was certainly a case of physician heal thyself and with the contraceptive mentality, he was simply in ruins.
Just some months ago, he was unanimously adopted the party’s consensus presidential flag bearer amidst stiff opposition and competition. And a couple of weeks ago, he won the party’s primaries by a landslide margin. Everything looks set and well spelt out. It was clear to all that was watching the country’s political drama that the presidency belongs to the South– east geo-political zone which Senator Nnamani represents. It was also clear to all that if the south-east loses this opportunity, that it will take her at least another 20 or so years and so all hands were on deck to make the dream reality. And because of the North–South domination of the country’s political terrain in the past 40 years or so, which was beginning to breed resentments in some quarters, the country’s electoral body zoned the presidency to the South- East to balance the equation. And when Senator Nnamani emerged the overall party flag bearer, with over 60 other contestants, his joy had known no bound. Already, plans were on ground to make it a landslide victory in the July 10 general elections. So in other to achieve this, the South-East teamed up with the West for an easy victory at the polls and now the sole problem to the realization of that dream was his own very flesh and blood.
And truly Chief was on the verge of arrival. Twice in the past, he has been robbed of the presidency - first in the 3rd republic and the second time in the 4th republic. But this time, he vowed to clinch the position, no matter what it takes. And truly he has already done everything humanly possible to ensure victory. There were no more huddles or bridges to cross. Already, all the indices were pointing towards him as the next democratically elected president. In fact, some people have already started addressing him as ‘His Excellency.’
He scratched his hair. People mustn’t know that his only daughter was pregnant. He must do everything in his power to make sure it remained a secret. His political career will be in shambles if people get the idea that the only daughter of Mr. Condom was pregnant. They will certainly lose hope in him and it may affect the future of his new ultra modern condom manufacturing company. Besides, he will look like a bad father who couldn’t take care of his only daughter and hence, couldn’t be trusted with the future of the country.