Issues of life always set me rolling down memory lane because the human experience is a combination of the past and the present. I also know that the human experience can be quite complex. Most of the times in which I have had such experiences of recollections, I have remained swallowed up in thoughts for hours unending.
One of such episodes was a recollection on the amazing way a new plant springs up smoothly from the ground without getting harmed. A young plant is usually soft and tender, yet in springing up, it breaks the soil which ordinarily is stronger and surely rougher without getting hurt. I don’t know how many of us have really taken time to watch, for instance, the young fluted-pumpkin break free from the soil. You will be amazed that as tender as it is, it usually springs up unscratched not even by the immediate soil around it. It usually springs up very fresh smooth and tender. That to me is the mystery of the creative livelihood.
Each time I watch the hatching of the egg of a hen it is usually quite thrilling and amazing as to the complexity of nature and new life. How and when the chick breaks the shell of an egg to enable it come out remains a wonder to me. Most of the times one discovers that the little tender chick on arrival into its new world comes with its eyes shut and its limbs all wrapped in the enclosed world including a soft smooth body that can break at the slightest touch. Not even the supposed bone of the chick can survive the gentlest of touches yet in all its tenderness the young chick breaks the strong shell of an egg enclosing it to behold its new world. That too is a mystery of creation.
Next I considered the power of love. Love is a powerful force that breaks all barriers and boundaries, including ethnic chauvinism, class bigotry and economic limitations. When love is at work, it breaks cultural barriers and languages. Love travels distances to express itself. When at work it knows not the colour of the skin, has no business with level of education and most amazingly does not count errors. Equally, age is never a barrier to the expression of love. A calculation of the different hurdles which love overcomes to get itself expressed leaves one in no doubt that love is powerful. It is the strength and power which love possesses that brings people of diverse backgrounds together as bed fellows. In many climes, the man is ready to do anything which the culture of the land demands for him to come back with his love even if it means subjecting himself to measures of hardship and even torture.
There have been cases where a 90 year old man has married a 20 year old girl and they lived happily. Such is the power of love. That reminds me of the story which my husband told me about the famous literary guru, Cyprian Ekwensi. According to the story Ekewensi was at the Abia State University, Uturu in the early nineties to deliver a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Week and made a reference to the power of love. Ekwensi actuality advanced that age was not a barrier to love. He told a story of how after their mothers death, and looking at the possible ways of driving away loneliness from the father’s livelihood, the children had gathered and decided to marry a wife for his old man who was about 80 years then. They did marry a wife eventually who was 20 years old then. After sometime the young woman became pregnant for the old man and gave birth to a bouncing baby girl. Out of joy and excitement at such a miracle the old man named the little baby girl “Ifenkili ” meaning “the world is a spectacle to behold”. It also infers that you cannot stay in one place and see the beauty of the world. One must be mobile to be able to appreciate the world fully.
That was exactly the step which our most respectable leader in Imo State and Nigeria Engr. Chief Emmanuel C. Iwuanyanwu took on the 22nd September 2013, when he took for a wife, Princess Chinonyerem Frances Enwerem of Umuebie Ugirinna, Isiala Mbano Local Government Area. Yes our dear leader Aha e ji aga mba Ndi Igbo world wide had to shift ground having mourned his adorable late wife Chief Mrs. Eudora Iwuanyanwu for 2 years. He had to take the step to get a new wife because life must go on and I salute him for that. Yes! Life must go on and our astute and dynamic leader must not die in boredom and loneliness. One may ask what his litany of guards and bevy of cooks do all around him. Why marry a wife at this age? Others have also said if he must marry why didn’t he marry a woman of 40 and above instead of the Lady in her twenties who he married. Well my answer is that there should be no controversy as to his choice of whom to marry because love does not rest on age and that is why it is a powerful force. He sought for love and his heart rested on a lady in her 20s and not on a lady of 40 and above. What matters is his happiness for crying out loud.
Moreover Princess Frances Enwerem is not under aged. She is above 18 years which is the Nigerian constitutional age of reasoning, she certainly knows what she wants in a man as a husband and she found those qualities in chief Iwuanyanwu, age not withstanding. I remember I almost had an endless argument wiith some people a few days before the white wedding. To them the lady is greedy and has come to enjoy his wealth. I asked them how who enjoys Aha e ji aga mba’s wealth has suddenly become their business. The late Eudora has gone and created that vacuum which Chinonyerem has filled. Is there anything wrong with that knowing fully well that nature abhors vacuum? Now that it has been filled, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Again, if Princess Chinonyerem did not enjoy his money as his wife who else should?
And to you my dear Princess Chinonyerem, I salute your courage. That you were able to conquer several gates of brass and barricades and walked into the domain and heart of our great leader is a big plus for you. At least I have been to Iwuanyanwu’s house, and I know it is not a tea party to venture into the house much more entering into his heart. The world may be saying all sorts of things about you but you should not allow that to perturb you. The most important thing is that you followed your heart and you are not the first to have married a man much older than you Bianca married General Ojukwu probably at a much younger age. You are even better than Senator Yerima’s wife who became a wife at her early teens.
I will however advise you to remain afloat in terms of those sterling qualities that endeared you to such a great man. Someone told me that one of those sterling qualities is that you are a great cook and knows how well to take care of both the emotional and physical needs of our great leader. Thumbs up for you in that regard.
Imo State, Nigeria and the entire world still need the presence of Chief, so you must work hard to ensure that he gets the best treatment from you so that it can elongate his life. I want you to know that all eyes are on you watching to see how well you will be in filling Eudora’s place. I am also sure that the late Chief Mrs. Eudora will also be watching, if she has the power, to see how well you will be in taking care of a man she lived and cherished while alive. I am sure that if you do well she too will be happy with you wherever she is. Moreover, the Chief who is your husband will live a prolonged life for you and your children, yet to come. You don’t need any one to remind you that his existence means happiness and security to you and your children. So please work hard to keep yourselves happy.
Also be rest assured that in my own little corner, I am praying for the success and happiness of you both.
Once again I say a big congrats to the newest couple in town! Bravo my brave and encouraging Chinonyerem Iwuanyanwu.
Happy married life!
