BIRTHDAY AND THE BEAUTY OF THE BLITZ
By Bala Ibrahim
My party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, is currently carrying out an electronic registration of its members, with impressive results in register and turnout. But something nearly as impressive happened yesterday, I think. From the early hours of the day, 02/02,26, the traffic on my phone line became terrific. Calls and text messages were arriving as if I was nominated for the Oscar Academy Award. Although my daughter had called around 5 pm Nigerian time, the previous day, to wish me a happy birthday, because she is resident in China, I didn’t know the next day, which is the real day in my Nigeria, would come with a more marvellous merrymaking.
First to alert me of his happiness that I have attained, or added a year to my age was Ambassador Ali Magashi, whose message came via inbox. Thereafter, the room in the memory space of my China phone turned into the theatre of competition, for the receipt of messages. Alerts were coming in, almost with hums, including those from the banks, to remind me of the outstanding debt I am yet to clear. All, but the ones from the banks, were sensationally sweet. However, the sweetest of them all, is the one from my little daughter, Eman, who I nicknamed, Deputy Head Girl. It goes thus: Happy birthday, Baba 🥹❤️
You mean the world to me, and your kindness, generosity, and love inspire me every day and remind me how lucky I am to be your daughter. If I become even half the person you are, I’ll be truly happy. I can’t wait to make you proud and bring you so much joy. Happy birthday to the best dad in the world. 💘💘
With Love, your Deputy head girl (I still love my nickname🥰).
How I wish I can transfer the volume of these people to the register of supporters in my constituency, I would have ran for the Deputy chairmanship of my local government. But inaah! One step into the race, I would be declared the looser, long before the counting commences. Hahahahahahha!
By definition, birthdays are suppose to be the anniversary of the day on which a person was born, typically treated as an occasion for celebration and the giving of gifts. But in the case of yours truly, no gifts came in, and no cakes went out. And it’s not surprising, because, the celebrant is an analogue. When discussing the issue with my wife, I told her birthday celebrations are elitist events that do not belong to the likes of me, who was born and brought up in a typical rural Hausa setting. For those of us, whose parents had no western education, and whose exact dates of birth are contentious, because, they are mostly linked to some memorable events that happened around the time of our birth, and not proper documentation, we are only doing it to please the day. But not out of genuine conviction.
I purposely stayed away from work yesterday, knowing fully it could attract some sanctions. But the devil in me said, so what? Damn the consequences. No one dare gives you a query on your birthday. Whoever does that, will face my wrath- the devil of Bala. Hehehehe.Abeg woh, my Oga must not read this.
The ambition of this article is to say thank you to everyone, particularly my wife, whose patience with me, as I grow older and less useful in the department of environmental sanitation, deserves a special award. So madam, thank you. Thank you, thank you, and thank you everyone, for the beautiful blitz.
BIRTHDAY AND THE BEAUTY OF THE BLITZ
