THE EXPECTANT MOTHER

By divine order, it is the duty of a woman to be pregnant. It is taboo to hear that a man is pregnant. However, God has the capacity to reverse it. Humanly speaking it is impossible. Some time ago, a certain man with a bulging belly was relaxing half-naked one evening on the balcony of his house. After sending three bottles of beer to their untimely graves, he dosed off and was snoring like a local pig. He was breathing like a big pot on the fire. Her little daughter came out and saw her father’s belly expanding bigger and bigger as he breathes. She rushed immediately to her mother who was busy in the kitchen and shouted, “Mummy, come and see! Daddy is pregnant!” The mother couldn’t control her laughter. She ran straight away to the scene to see what her daughter meant. She couldn’t control her laughter.

After a while, she said to her little daughter, “Your daddy is not pregnant. He has a pot belly. The inquisitive daughter asked, “Mummy, who put the pot inside daddy’s stomach?” The mother answered, “Ask your daddy when he wakes up.” At this point, the mother tapped the pot belly of her husband and shouted, “Get up! Supper is ready.” He opened his eyes widely and saw her little daughter standing before him. The little daughter touched his pot belly and asked, “Daddy you are pregnant. When will you give birth?” With the influence of alcohol he looked at his little daughter with consternation and retorted, “Foolish girl, I am not pregnant. A man does not get pregnant.” The curious little girl innocently asserted, “Daddy, mummy said it is a pot belly. Who put the pot inside your stomach?” The daddy shouted, “Get out of here before I send you back to your mother’s womb!” She quietly walked away chorusing, “A man has a pot belly! A woman gets pregnant!”

After the sperm from a man fertilizes the egg in a woman, the product is naturally transferred into the womb of the woman where it develops gradually. Then the woman is said to be pregnant. A normal pregnancy lasts for nine solid months. If it is less, it is referred to as premature birth. It is often inserted into an incubator for further development. The baby may or may not survive. Towards the last days of pregnancy, the mother experiences irregular movements of the baby in her womb. Gradually she enters into the period of labour. This is not manual labour but antenatal labour. It is very severe in some women.

Many years ago, I came across a heavily pregnant mother in serious labour. Since no means of transportation was readily available, the husband pleaded with me on his knees to assist him in taking his wife in labour in my car to the maternity hospital where she underwent her antenatal praxis. I yielded for God’s sake. She was helped to sit behind with her husband. On our way, she was wreathing in pains of birth. I prayed that she may not give birth inside the car. I was postulating that if she gives birth inside the car, the baby will either be a driver or a conductor when it grows up. Providentially we managed to reach the maternity hospital. The nurses came out and assisted her into the labour room. The husband stood outside the door marching up and down. He was also in a sort of masculine labour of restlessness. I stood by to know the outcome. I was hearing as the assisting nurse was shouting from within the labour room, “Push! Push!! Push!!!” I asked myself, “What are they pushing inside there?” Indeed ignorance is a disease. It was later that I learnt that the expectant mother in labour must push with her kinetic energy so that the baby can easily come out.” Thank God the mother had a safe delivery. She was delivered of a bouncing baby girl (BBG). When I visited the mother and the baby later at home, they were both smiling. I teased the happy mother by shouting, “Push! Push!! Push!!!” She laughed and said, “Father, you are funny. The pushing period is over. I am now basking in gladness.”

Our country Nigeria is the expectant mother. She is now in labour. If she gives birth to a bouncing baby, then we shall praise the Lord and rejoice. But if she gives birth to a still baby, we shall groan. The Presidential and National Assembly Elections have just been completed. We prayed for free, fair and credible elections. We are anxiously waiting for the results. If the will of God and the electorates prevails, then we shall heave a sigh of relief. But if there is any manipulation or rigging, then we shall go back to Egypt and continue to suffer at the hands of the Nigerian evil Pharaoh.

In every election, there must be a winner and a loser. I always remember the words of advice from my secondary school principal, Mr C.C. Nwobi-Okoye of blessed memory, at Aguata High School Aguata, whenever we were about to go for sporting competitions: “If you win, you win honourably. But if you lose, you lose honourably.” Politics is a game. It is a political competition. Everybody must not win. There must be winners and losers. Both must accept the outcome in good faith. It is said that the downfall of a man is not the end of his life. Likewise, a loss in an election is not the end of one’s political career. It is never a do-or-die affair. If you fail, you try again later. The spirit of sportsmanship is for the losers to congratulate the winners. On the other hand, the winners should extend an olive branch to the losers.

Nevertheless, any aggrieved candidate can go to Election Tribunal to look for justice, if the result is questionable. The judges must be above suspicion. It is common to say that the court is the last hope of the common man. Let it be practical. In these days we see instances where some unjust jurists thwart justice. Often justice is bargained at the highest cost. Often the winner is disqualified while the loser is declared the winner unjustly. We have seen instances where some politicians who did not take part in primary or main elections are declared winners in court. There has been an instance where a gubernatorial candidate who came fourth in an election magically became first by Supreme Court pronouncement.

Since the suspicious declaration, things have fallen apart in that state. What it takes for injustice to triumph is for good people to keep silent. The judges and justices must maintain the dignity of the Bar. Injustice is a vice. The Supreme Court Justices should maintain their high dignity. They must not be coerced or bribed into dispensing justice. God as the Supreme Being is above mistakes. Likewise, the Supreme Court justices should not be found wanting.

Leadership is service to God and to the people. In a democratic setting, the leaders are elected by the people. That is why Democracy is simply defined as “the government of the people, by the people and for the people.” The electorates go to the polls to elect the leaders they want. Therefore the will of the people must never be thwarted by any means. Rigging of election is devilish. Buying of votes is undemocratic. I am still wondering why some state governors and politicians are crying more than the bereaved in the current Naira Redesign Policy and its swap. They did not cry wolf when the ordinary citizens were suffering alone in this country. Because of the cobwebs under their roofs, they are now agitating and heading to the Supreme Court. Their anger is because the billions of old N500 and N1000 they stored in their houses for buying votes have become obsolete. They are not concerned as such for the suffering of the masses. I wish our mother Nigeria safe delivery in this democratic pregnancy.

By Fr. Pat Amobi Chukwuma, Email: amobipchuks@yahoo.com

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