It wasn’t me Kola, it was Daddy

My father Mallam Idris Gold was a lot of things to many people.. but one thing that was universal was his sense of humor

Reflections of my growing up days….
Daddy Shaki was a liberal man. Or so I thought. Not until the day I told him about my friend coming to visit. Then my thinking changed completely 😂😂😂
I’m sure as you keep reading you’ll understand how everything went awry at the mention of this my friend.

My dad registered me at Alliance francaise after secondary school to keep me busy while awaiting jamb and WAEC results. This was my first time of being home for a long stretch so I was determined to make as many friends as possible. One of such new friends was my tall and lanky friend Kola. I had never really had a male friend since I went to an only girls secondary school. To me friendship with the opposite sex was just the same to me as being friends with females. But definitely not to Baba Shaki.

Kola and I were always hanging out after classes and the fact that his name was already on UI admission list intrigued a JJC like me. From hanging out we promised to pay ourselves a visit….’Something like show me your house and I’ll show you mine’. The showing was supposed to start with Kola coming to my house and me going to Kola’s house the next week.

So off I marched to Baba Shaki that my friend was coming to visit and I’ll also want him to drop me off at my friend’s place the next week. He was happy I had made new friends and was excited the ‘friend’ was coming.

“What’s your friend’s name” asked Baba Shaki?”

You know who the gods want to punish, they first make mad? That was what happened to me that day. I guess my sister had been “cutting eye” for me but I didn’t see that.

“Kola l’oruko e”…..And that was when all hell broke loose. For a long time after that, I kept wondering why a name will cause that kind of ruckus.
“Funmilayo”….he bellowed, “omo e sope ohun o kawe mo..Ile oko lo fe lo. Won tin bowa toro e”
(Funmilayo, your child says she’s not going to school again, she wants to get married, infact they’re already coming to ask for her hand in marriage.)

Shock cannot even begin to describe what I was feeling. My mum called me and started admonitions. I became the black sheep of the house. Daddy will buy TFC for everyone at home and bring kokoro for me. Just because I said Kola was coming and I also wanted to visit him. I guess the thought of one man ‘snatching’ his daughter from him was too much to handle.

I was just praying to God that Kola wouldn’t make the visit that day as there was no GSM then. My prayers were answered. My friend didn’t come. Let’s just say I started ignoring Kola in class and the friendship died a natural death as he left and resumed in UI. Wherever you are o Kola….it’s Daddy Shaki that didn’t allow us to know each other’s houses o.😂😂😂😂

The innocence of childhood! Oh what it is to be a child with no worries whatsoever in the world!

I was a real daddy’s girl through and through. And if you had a great father (parents) as a child, that’s one of the greatest gifts life can bestow on you.

It has been some time….yet not a day goes by that I don’t remember you…Mallam Idris Olayinka Arikewuyo Gboro Gold❤.