An Epidemic: Nigerian Men Killing Their Nurse Wives In The US.

An Epidemic: Nigerian Men Killing Their Nurse Wives In The US.

Yes I have killed the woman that messed up my life; the woman that has destroyed me. I am at Shalom West. My name is David and I am all yours.”

Those were David Ochola’s words during his 911 (U.S. Emergency Number) call to authorities after shooting dead his 28 years old wife, Priscilla Ochola, in Hennepin, Minnesota. The 50-years old husband was tired of being “disrespected” by his wife, a Registered Nurse (RN) whom he had brought from Nigeria and sponsored through nursing school only to have her make much more than him in salary – a situation which led to Mrs. Ochola “coming and going as she chose without regard for her husband.”  The couple had two children – four years old boy and a three years old girl.

In Texas, Babajide Okeowo had been separated from his wife, Funke Okeowo, with whom he resided at their Dallas home.  Upon the divorce, the husband lost the house to his wife, along with most of the contents therein, as is usually the tradition in U.S. divorces where the couple still has underage children.  Mr. Okeowo, 48, divorced his wife because not long after she became a RN and made more money than him, she “took control” of the family finances and “controlled” her husband’s expenditure and movement.  The husband could no longer make any meaningful contribution to his family back in Nigeria unless the wife “approved” it. He could not go out without her permission. Frustrated that his formerly malleable wife had suddenly become such a “terror” to him to the point of asking for in court and getting virtually everything for which he had worked since coming to the US thirty years prior, the husband got in his vehicle and drove a few hundred miles to Dallas to settle the scores. He found her in her SUV, adorned in full Nigerian attire on her way to the birthday bash organized in her honor.  She had turned 46 on that day.  Mr. Okeowo fired several rounds into his wife’s torso while she sat at the steering wheel, mercilessly killing her in broad daylight.
Also in Dallas, Moses Egharevba, 45, did not even bother to get a gun. The husband of Grace Egharevba, 35, bludgeoned her to death with a sledge hammer while their seven years old daughter watched and screamed for peace. Mrs. Egharevba’s “sin” was that she became a RN and started to make more money than her husband. This led to her “financial liberation” from a supposedly tight-fisted husband who had not only brought her from Nigeria, but had also funded her nursing school education.
Like Moses Egharevba, Christopher Ndubuisi of Garland, Texas, also did not bother to get a gun. He crept into the bedroom where his wife, Christiana, was sleeping and, with several blows of the sledge hammer, crushed her head. Two years before Christiana was killed, her mother, who had been visiting from Nigeria, was found dead in the bathtub under circumstances believed to be suspicious. Of course, Christiana was a RN whose income dwarfed that of her husband as soon as she graduated from nursing school. The husband believed that his role as a husband and head of the household had been usurped by his wife. Mr. Ndubuisi’s several entreaties to his wife’s family to intercede and bring Christiana back under his control had all failed.
If circumstances surrounding the death of Christiana’s mother were suspicious, those surrounding the death of a Tennessee woman’s mother were not. Agnes Nwodo, a RN, lived in squalor before her husband, Godfrey Nwodo, rescued her and brought her to the US. He enrolled her in nursing school right away. Upon qualifying as a RN, Mrs. Nwodo assumed “full control” of the household. She brought her mother to live with them against her husband’s wishes. Mrs. Nwodo quickly familiarized herself with US Family Laws and took full advantage of them. Each time the couple argued, the police forced the husband to leave the house whether he had a place to sleep or not. On many occasions, Mr. Nwodo spent days in police cells. Upon divorcing his wife, Mr. Nwodo lost to his wife the house he had owned for almost 20 years before he married her. He also lost custody of their three children to her, with the court awarding him only periodic visitation rights. Even seeing the children during visitation was always a hassle as the wife would “arrive late to the neutral meeting place and leave early with impunity.” Mr. Nwodo endured so many embarrassing moments from his wife and her mother until he could take it no more. One day, he bought himself a shotgun and killed both his wife and her mother.
Caleb Onwudike’s wife, Chinyere Onwudike, 36, became a RN and no longer saw the need to be controlled by her husband. Mr. Onwudike, 41, worked two jobs to send his wife to her dream school upon bringing her to the US from Nigeria. After four years, she qualified as RN. Once she started to make more money than her husband, she began to “call the shots” at home.  She “overruled” her husband on the size and cost of the house they purchased in Burtonsville, Maryland. She began to build a house solely in her name in their native Umuahia town of Abia State, Nigeria, without her husband’s input whatsoever. Mrs. Onwudike came and went “as she liked,” within the US and outside the US. In fact, she once travelled to Nigeria for three weeks “without her husband’s permission” to lavishly bury her father despite her husband’s protestations that they had better things to do with the money. Mrs. Onwudike let her husband know that this was mostly her money and she would spend it however she wanted. Through her hard work, she had risen to a managerial position at the medical center where she worked. Upon her return from burying her father, her husband got one of her kitchen knives and carved her up like Thanksgiving turkey inside their home on New Year’s Day.
Death is death no matter how it comes. But the goriest of these maniacal killings is probably the one that happened here in Los Angeles, California. Joseph Mbu, 50, was tired of his RN wife’s “serial disrespect” of him.  The disrespect began as soon as she became a RN.  Gloria Mbu, 40, had once told her husband he must be “smoking crack cocaine” if he thought he could tell her what to do with her money now that she made more money than him. Before she became a RN, Mr. Mbu had been very strict with family finances and was borderline dictatorial in his dealings with Mrs. Mbu. However, Mrs. Mbu learned the American system and would no longer allow any man to “put her down.” When Joseph Mbu could not take it anymore, he subdued his wife one day, tied her to his vehicle and dragged her on paved roads all around Los Angeles until her head split in many pieces.
[Author’s note: Although these are true stories, all the names and some of the details of the incidents have been altered as a mark of respect to the families involved. All of the killer husbands noted in these stories were found guilty. Most of them received the death sentence. Only the California and Maryland culprits received life sentences without the possibility of parole.]
It often comes to Nigerian men living in the US as a rude shock when their wives become the household’s bread winner. Having been accustomed to the docility, domestication, subjugation and outright terrorization of women back home in Nigeria, many Nigerian men are astounded when their wives assert their financial, behavioral and social independence. It is commonplace for Nigerian men to take important family decisions without consulting their wives; to travel out of town and indeed out of country without consulting their wives. Some do not even bother to inform their wives! It is not a big deal for Nigerian husbands to answer phone calls from their girlfriends while lying in bed with their wives; to buy expensive gifts for their girlfriends and making only perfunctory, casual attempt to conceal such gifts. It is nothing strange for Nigerian men to, in fact, bring those girlfriends to their matrimonial homes while their wives are home! Some Nigerian men think they have the carte blanche to do what they want because they are the bread winners. What’s the wife going to do to them? Beat them? Leave them? Leave them after one, two or three children? Who’s going to marry her? So Nigerian men think.
This cruel and phenomenal hostage-taking by Nigerian men in Nigeria is what Nigerian women in America are trying to stop. And they figured out the easiest way to begin curtailing these bullish husbands’ wings is to improve their own potential to earn more. A good way to earn a decent pay in the US (unlike in Nigeria) is to become a Registered Nurse. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median annual salaries of RNs, based on information from May 2012, is $68,000, while the mean annual salary is $69,000. The middle 50% of RNs earns between $54,000 and $78,000.  Only 10% of RNs earns less than $44,000, while some 10% earns more than $97,000. The BLS also reports average hourly wages: The median hourly wage of a RN is $32.00 and the mean hourly wage is $33.00. The middle 50% of RNs earns wages of $27.00 to $40.00, with 10% of them earning less than $22.00 while 10% earns more than $48.00 an hour.
Nigerian men in the US are quick to send their “newly-imported” wives to these nursing schools in the hope that once the women graduate, they (the husbands) could take control of their finances and continue their enslavement. You can imagine a man who was probably a menial worker earning less than $30,000 annually in an expensive place like California or New York going back to Nigeria to “oppress” the village with dollars.  He finds a “village girl,” brings her to the US and sends her to nursing school. When she graduates and makes twice his salary, he begins to feel inferior to her and his macho instincts take control of him, catapulting his emotions over his sense of reason. If the RN wife decides to take a second or third job, she can easily triple or quadruple the gap between her earnings and those of her menial job husband’s.
Working long hours takes the wife away from home and because nurses are expected to work overnight shifts, you end up with a husband who is usually home alone at night with just the children. Since even “normal” marriages can be potentially stressful endeavors, adding spousal jealousy and a husband who sleeps alone half of the time to the equation will certainly test the limits of the marriage. It is the reason why even when such husbands do not go over the hill to kill their wives, they divorce them in epidemic numbers. A friend in New York told me that RN women there are being divorced in droves as if they are plagues.
What is the big deal if a RN wife makes more money than her husband?  There are several other professions in which wives make more money than their husbands. In fact, I know of a few military couples with the wives senior in rank to their husbands even though they joined the military at the same time. Yet, nobody is killing or divorcing anybody.  Is this strictly a RN thing?
My hope is that some of these RN wives learn from the many other RN wives who successfully manage their homes in spite of making more money than their husbands. My hope is also that the husbands of these RNs learn from husbands of the many RNs who successfully cope with a wife who makes more than they do. I don’t know how they do it, but for every RN who is killed or divorced by her husband, there are hundreds, if not thousands more who proudly respect their husbands and submit to their husbands’ authority – yes, their husbands’ authority (NOT control and NOT abuse) even here in the US.

Curled from the web.

Born In 1885, World’s Oldest Woman Dies In China

Luo Meizhen

A woman who Chinese officials said was 127 years old – although international authorities never recognised the claim – has died, relatives said on Tuesday.

Official documents said that Luo Meizhen was born in 1885, which would make her the oldest person ever to have lived, but she died at the weekend after months of illness, her son Huang Youhe said.

“She was 127 when she died, it wasn’t unexpected,” her grandson Huang Heyuan said.

Luo’s declared birth date means she may have been the oldest person in the world when she died, ahead of Japan’s Jiroemon Kimura, who records say is 116.

But Luo’s claim met with little recognition internationally because China did not have a reliable birth certification system until decades after she was born.

Scepticism was further fuelled by reports of the youthfulness of her sons, one of whom she was said to have given birth to at the age of 61.

According to Guinness World Records, the oldest person ever to have lived was Jeanne Calment of France, who was 122 years and 164 days when she died in 1997.

Luo’s 1885 birth date was quoted on her official residency permit and identity card, both issued in recent decades, and was confirmed by a state-sponsored research institute in 2010.

China’s official Xinhua news agency ran reports of her 127th birthday celebrations on its website in October, describing her as China’s oldest person.

“She was a kind person but at times had a very bad temper, she had a strong character,” Huang Heyuan said.

Luo, who worked as a farmer all her life, and gave birth to five children, is survived by several great-great grandchildren in the remote village of Longhong, in China’s southern province of Guangxi.

The village is part of Bama county, a poor region that officials say is home to more than 80 centenarians.

Her relatives gathered in her simply furnished brick house Tuesday to light red incense sticks in remembrance.

Relatives said they had stored her body on a mountain close to their home and were waiting for an auspicious date later this month to bury her.

After 23 Years of Marriage, Nigeria's Former Minister of state for Interior, Henry Abah and Wife, Mary Welcomes Baby.

After 23 Years of Marriage, Nigeria's Former Minister of state for Interior, Henry Abah and Wife, Mary Welcomes Baby. The wife is 49years old and God opened her womb and placed a baby there.

The husband said: “Through those many years, I never lost hope. On the political turf, I got a lot of jabs. Most times, when I object to certain issues based on principle, the politicians will say, ‘what do you expect? We are not surprised; after all, he has no child’.

While shedding tears of joy in the church, Mary Abah likened her many years of waiting for a child with the Biblical Sarah, wife of Abraham. She said; “Even when Hallish Street Doctors in London in 2011 told me that nothing could be done, I knew that it was only the Lord that could help me. I focused on the Lord and He did it for me.

“I thank the Lord for wiping away my tears and making me a mother at last. It is a dream I have heard since I married at the age of 27. Now, I am more than 49 years. It has taken a long time, but the Lord has done it for me’’. Praise God.

I pray for you reading this now. There are people who are mocking you openly or secretly due to your present condition, I prophesy to you that your time of remembrance has come. Every disgrace in your life will turn to grace, every insult will turn to result and mockery will turn to a miracle for you this 2014 in the name of Jesus Christ

HOW TO LIVE WITH A DIFFICULT HUSBAND.

"A Christian wife should live with a difficult husband so that he is attracted to Christ by her behaviour." 

Someone has said, “Usually the husband regards himself as the head of the household, and the pedestrian has the right of way. And, usually, both of them are safe until they try to prove it.” Preachers are probably safe until they speak on a text which tells wives to submit to disobedient husbands!
Christian psychologist James Dobson wrote a book encouraging wives with disobedient husbands to practice “tough love.” How does this fit in with submission?
A wife has to develop a submissive spirit, to be chaste, reverent, gentle and quiet, with an emphasis on the inner person rather than on outward appearance. So even though I direct my comments to wives who have unbelieving husbands, the principles apply to us all, men and women alike.

First, a wife has to understand that her behaviour at all times matters a lot in her marriage. Until you understand why a bride is the one celebrated during a wedding, why she is the custodian of the wedding certificate, etc, you will have difficulty in understanding why a marriage truly revolves around the essence of being the wife. 

Now, for every successful marriage, it takes a wife with "Attractive behaviour" in all aspects to continually win her husband's heart over and over.
Her "attractive behaviour" encompasses all the qualities I mentioned earlier and they are as follows;

1. Attractive behaviour that involves submission:
In the Holy Bible, Sarah called Abraham lord. I also heard a story about a wife who fell into bed and exclaimed, “Lord, I'm tired!” Her husband calmly said, “My dear, in the privacy of our own bedroom, you can call me Jim.” Proper submission doesn't require addressing your husband as lord. But the principle is, submission is reflected by your speech. The tone of your voice and the words you speak reflect whether you respect your husband and are in submission to him, or whether you’re in a power struggle against him.
The source of many marital problems is that the wife is seeking to control the husband to meet what she perceives as her needs and the husband is seeking to dominate the wife to meet what he perceives as his needs. So you have a constant tug of war going on. That’s not the biblical pattern for husbands or wives. The biblical pattern is for the wife to yield control to the husband and to do all she can to please him and make him prosper. The husband is not to dominate, but to do all he can to bless and protect his wife so that she prospers in the Lord. Here’s the catch: You can’t wait for your partner to come up to some acceptable level of performance before you start to do your part. You must obey what God has told you to do and let Him take care of your partner.

2. Attractive behaviour that involves purity:
This means that a wife who wants to win her husband to Christ must live in obedience to God. She will be morally pure. Her husband won’t distrust her because she’s a flirt with other men. She won’t use deception or dishonesty to try to get her own way. She will learn to handle anger in a biblical way. Her hope will be in God (3:5) so that she will have a sweet spirit, even toward a difficult husband. He will see Christlikeness in her.

3. Attractive behaviour that involves reverence:
This could mean respect toward her husband.The idea is that a godly wife will live in the fear of God, aware that He sees all that is going on (“in the sight of God,” 3:4). To live in the fear of God means that we recognize His holiness and wrath against all sin and therefore live obediently, even when it’s hard.

4. Attractive behaviour that involves no nagging:
Nothing will drive a man further from the Lord than a nagging wife. Solomon said it 3,000 years ago, and it’s still true, “It is better to live in a corner of a roof, than in a house shared with a contentious woman” (Prov. 21:9). Nagging will drive your husband crazy, but it won’t drive him to Christ. I heard about a husband who nicknamed his wife Peg although that wasn’t her name. When he was asked why, he replied, “Well, Peg is short for Pegasus who was an immortal horse, and an immortal horse is an everlasting nag, so that’s why I call my wife Peg!” Nagging will do one of two things to men: Either it will make him resist and become obstinate, or he will give in to keep the peace. Either response is not good for the wife. If the husband becomes more obstinate, he can become abusive. This creates distance in the relationship. If he gives in to keep the peace, he becomes passive and the wife is put in the role of the decision maker, out from under the covering of blessing and protection that God designed proper authority to be.
Thus attractive behaviour involves submission, purity, reverence toward God, and not nagging.

5. Attractive behaviour that involves a gentle and quiet spirit:
In the Holy Bible, Peter says that such a spirit is precious in the sight of God. I would also add that it is precious in the sight of a husband! What does it mean? “Gentle” is the word sometimes translated “meek.” It is used of Jesus (Matt. 11:29; 21:5). It does not mean weakness of the Caspar Milquetoast variety, but rather strength under submission or control. A horse that is powerful but responsive to the slightest tug of its master is a “gentle” horse. So it refers to a wife who is not selfishly assertive, but rather who yields her rights without yielding her strength of character.
“Quiet” does not mean mute, but rather tranquil or calm, not combative. A quiet woman exudes a confidence in her role and giftedness. She is not out to prove anything, because she is secure in who she is in the Lord. She may be “quiet” and yet be articulate and persuasive in presenting her point of view. But she doesn't do it in a demanding or obnoxiously assertive way. She is at peace with herself in the Lord. The word “spirit” hints that these qualities are broad enough to allow room for personality differences.

6. Attractive behaviour that involves doing what is right:
If your husband yells at you and you yell back, it escalates the conflict. He will yell louder, then you yell louder yet, and if things get out of hand, he may lose control and say all sorts of nasty things that he wouldn’t say when he’s more rational or he may even hit you. But if he yells at you and you calmly respond, “I can understand why you’re upset. What can I do to help?” you’ve just de escalated the quarrel. How can a man fight with that kind of response?

7. Attractive behaviour that involves an emphasis on the inner person over outward appearance:
Consider this story; A young officer who was blinded during a war met and later married one of the nurses who took care of him in the hospital. One day he overheard someone say, “It was lucky for her that he was blind, since no one who could see would marry such a homely woman.” He walked toward the voice and said, “I overheard what you said, and I thank God from the depths of my heart for blindness of eyes that might have kept me from seeing the marvellous worth of the soul of this woman who is my wife. She is the most noble character I have ever known; if the conformation of her features is such that it might have masked her inward beauty to my soul then I am the great gainer by having lost my sight.

In addition, read the admonitions for couples in the gospel of PETER in the Bible. 
Your Marriage is blessed. AMEN!

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTMAS TREE.

A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer such as spruce, pine or fir, traditionally associated with the celebration of Christmas. An artificial Christmas tree is an object made to resemble such a tree, usually made from polyvinyl chloride(PVC).

The tree was traditionally decorated with edibles such as apples, nuts or other foods. In the 18th century, it began to be illuminated by candles, which with electrification could also be replaced by Christmas lights. Today, there are a wide variety of traditional ornaments such as garland, tinsel, and candy canes. An angel or star may be placed at the top of the tree to represent the angel Gabriel or the Star of Bethlehem from the Nativity.

The custom of the Christmas tree developed in early modern Germany with predecessors that can be traced to the 16th and possibly the 15th century, in which "devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes". Christmas trees are hung in St. George's Church, Selestat since 1521. It acquired popularity beyond Germany during the second half of the 19th century. The Christmas tree has also been known as the "Yule-tree," especially in discussions of its folkloristic origins.

CLOSED LETTER TO ALL CONCERNED.

CLOSED LETTER TO ALL CONCERNED.

My fellow compatriots, I bring you good tidings. 

First, I crave your indulgence not to allow the open letter that was written from an ex-president to a sitting president distract or confuse you, we know the truth. WE ARE NOT BLIND. We can't be distracted, neither should we allow some disgruntled fellows to play with our intelligence. ‪#‎WeSabiThem‬

Secondly, why is everyone making so much noise about 2015 and nothing is been said about 2014? Does it mean that next year is not important for ordinary citizens of Nigeria? ‪#‎NAWA‬ O!!!

Why the fuss about un-remitted funds now when the apex bank Governor was watching over a year and now blowing his trumpet? Why didn't he collaborate with all agencies (FIRS, DPR, NNPC, etc) involved to ascertain the truth about the fund and now he is making so much noise about a fund that was never missing in the first place??? ‪#‎Yakpotuba‬!

Why must Jonathan be intimidated now than any other leader Nigeria has ever had? Is it because he is not from the North? ‪#‎TheyHaveNotSaidTheTruth‬

What method did BABA use in addressing the unrest in ODI when he was president? Did he use the carrot and stick method he suggested to Jonathan? At least, we all knew how ODI community was nearly wiped out. ‪#‎Nemesis‬

As for the angry politicians using witchcraft-brooms called APC, what have they contributed to Nigeria except bloodshed and unrest? How are they better than the worst government that Nigeria has ever had? ‪#‎BadBelle‬

His Excellency Sir, please, if you want to run for 2015 Presidential election, abeg RUN!!! Who fit compete with you, make he declare openly and compete like a gentleman. Enough of all these NOISE MAKERS.
In fact, it is time you start arresting people on treasonable offences like these band wagon of unscrupulous elements that has no sine qua non pedigree of any political entity yet they threaten the existence of this Nation. If they are tired of being Nigerians, they should leave o! ‪#‎ExitFrom9Ja‬ jor!!!

We the responsible citizens wants to live our lives happily and build a great legacy for our generations to come. If your mission is to maim, please, leave 9ja. We are tired of seeing these nomads playing angry politics.

Let peace reign. If you don't like peace, Just keep watching Tom and Jerry.....lol

My People,
This is a close letter o!
No carry the content comot here o!.

Bless You.

Inspiring story! Pregnant at 18, best graduating student at 25.

Found this amazing story on Punch. Read and be inspired

Seven years after an unwanted pregnancy forced her to drop out of the University of Ilorin, Aishat Farooq emerges the best graduating student of the Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun State, reports Temitayo Famutimi

When Aishat Farooq gained admission into the University of Ilorin at 15, to study Zoology, little did she know that she was not going to be an alumnus of the institution. That was in 2003.

Despite the fact that she was a high flyer in her first two years in UNILORIN, the now 25-year-old indigene of Ilorin West-Local Government Area of Kwara State got distracted along the line. She played the campus love game and got a shocking result: she got pregnant. It was in 2006 and in her third year. She was pregnant for a fellow student whom she had been dating. She was disappointed in herself and thought the whole world was crashing on her.  Yet, she vowed not to terminate the pregnancy.

Although she wanted to continue her studies in the university,  she became disillusioned and dropped out at 18. She sought consolation in trading.

But her father, Mr. Shehu Farooq, who believed that his daughter’s academic prowess should not be wasted, was determined to get her back on the academic track.

Today, Aishat has a different story to tell. On Saturday, she stood tall among her peers at the 5th convocation ceremony of Bells University, Ota, Ogun State, where she emerged the overall best graduating student with a Cumulative Grade Point Average of 4.93.

“The rebel in me won,” she declared while giving the valedictory address on behalf of the 208 graduating students of the university.

“I hope my story will inspire at least one person to change his or her circumstance. I was pregnant at 18 and by 19 I was already a mother. I had disappointed my father who believed so much in me. He had such big dreams for me and feared the dreams would become unfulfilled,” she added.

Breaking the news of the pregnancy to her father,  who was at the time based in the northern part of the country, was not easy. Aishat’s mother, Fatima, who stayed in Lagos with the family, did not break the “sad news” to the man until the lady was almost due. The mum feared her husband would be too angry.

Fatima narrated to our correspondent, “Looking back, we knew her to be very brilliant. But all of a sudden she got pregnant. Though her father and I were always discussing on the telephone, I hid it from him. Whenever he said he would  be coming to Lagos to visit us, I  would quickly chip it in that I would  like to be the one to visit. So, I ensured I was the one always visiting him.

“That was how I managed the situation until the pregnancy was eight months. But even when we broke the news to him, he felt really bad. Although there was nothing he could do, he couldn’t go out for three days.”

Aishat studied Business Administration with specialisation in Human Resources Management, and received the Vice-Chancellor’s Prize for the Overall Best Graduating Student with a cash reward of N50,000 and a plaque. She also won the College of Management Sciences Prize and Department of Business Administration Prize for the Best Graduating Student.

Speaking with our correspondent after she received the awards, Aishat, whose face beamed with smiles, expressed gratitude to her dad for not losing hope in her during her trying time.

She noted that the popularly-held notion that the child that goes astray belongs to the mother, while the good ones belong to the father, was not applicable in her situation as her father did not give up on her.

Asked why her dad had so much hoped in her, she stated that her history of academic excellence from childhood right to the university was a major driving force.

Aishat, who attended Nazareth Nursery and Primary School, Lagos; Penny International College, Lagos and Model Secondary School, Maitama, Abuja,  said she bagged several academic awards while growing up and noted that she secured admission to UNILORIN the same year she completed her secondary education.

She noted, “I did exceptionally well and bagged awards in the schools I attended. I had the overall best result at the Senior Secondary School Certificate level at Model Secondary School, Maitama, Abuja. In fact in UNILORIN, I was on the first class grade in my first year but in 200 Level, I dropped to second class upper division because I had already started getting distracted by the boys.

“It just happened that things turned out the way it did. But here I am, a product of God’s unending mercies, unconditional love and grace – all coupled with the faith my dad had in me and my fierce determination.

“I’m a goal getter. I push myself hard. Even here (BELLSTECH) in spite of being a mother, I was pushing for the best despite the challenges. I wanted to make my dad proud again. Once you are determined, nothing is impossible. Nothing can stop you.”

She said her decision to study Business Administration as against the sciences, which she was studying in UNILORIN, was informed by her two-year experience in the world of business after she dropped out of university.

She explained that incessant strikes by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, however, informed her decision to attend a private university. “Age was no longer on my side and I wanted to do it fast. And my dad could afford it because he was a businessman,” she added.

Asked if she was involved in any relationship at the Bells, she explained that she was a popular “snob” on campus because the majority of male students were younger than her. Besides, she did not want to get distracted or disappoint her parents and herself again.

Aishat,  who has been posted to Lagos State to observe the mandatory National Youth Service Corps scheme, said, “If you ask around you will be told that I was a snob. My favourite spot was my room. I rarely went out of the room for social events. I went to mosque. However, when I contested for the president of my departmental association, Business Administration Students Association, the Nigerian system worked against me.

“I lost to my male opponent. Although I had plans to take some giant strides if I won,  especially in the academic aspect for my fellow students, the fact that I was not the  type of person who hangs out worked against me. I didn’t have a social life.”

She said she has no plans for marriage for now. She wants to pursue a master’s degree programme in Human Resources in the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. She added that she also plans to work in a corporate environment to garner experience and afterwards go back to the university to teach “as a way of giving back.”

The second child in a family of eight children, Aishat brought her six-year-old son, Damilola, to the convocation. It was, however, learnt that the Edo State-born father of the boy has since got married to another woman.

She noted that her major challenge on campus was the randomness of classes which denied her the opportunity of spending quality time with her son while her stay in the university lasted.

“We had visiting professors who came into the campus at anytime. Although we had schedules, many of them had a bit of flexible time.  Sometimes on Sunday when I took permission to visit my child in Lagos, my classmates would call me up on the phone that there  was going to be a class. Because attendance is very important, I had to rush down. This affected me a little,” she added.

Aishat’s father advised parents to give their children and wards the best of tutelage and close monitoring. He noted that he least expected the feat achieved by his daughter as he was at a time disturbed that “she could no longer make it.”

Asked if it was  lack of adequate monitoring that made Aishat go astray at UNILORIN, he said,  “Let’s just say that is how God wants it. You see,  70 per cent of the fault is on us the parents. Parents should give their children good supervision and tutelage. With this, they cannot derail. I thank God for her because it’s is not easy to have raised her from grass to grace.

“I screamed on the phone the day I learnt she was pregnant. I started asking questions: When, where and how. I burst into tears. But today, she is a new being. And I know the mistake will not repeat itself. My expectations for her are that she should fly higher and higher.”