Turrayah
Manzo
Ta fi su in Hausa means she is more than them. She is more than them in beauty, class, wealth, long hair… I mean, you just keep counting her blessings and they don’t stop. Turrayah Bayero-Sanusi indelibly had this nickname stuck to her right from when she was a child and people might just be right when they say “name dey follow person”. Her nickname has not only followed her but has made her stand out from her given name which she shares with too many people.
Born into a Royal Family in Kano State, Turrayah is the fruitiest child in the palace and the fact that she has the same features with her Mother: the most respected, most preferred educated woman, Queen and wife to the Emir makes her untouchable. Turrayah has only known one world, being the best, being preferred and getting everything she wants at her beck and call. She is Royalty and that is the only life she knows; how to live large.
Ta fi su is a Harvard graduate with first class honours in Business Management and Information Technology and being the best Black Girl in her set, she has a couple of awards that she can’t even remember their names or what reason she earned them for. Unbelievably true, she is an epitome of perfection and doesn't try too hard to work or astound herself or anybody for that matter. According to her, she tries to do what she can do and feels that what she does is enough instead of purring and hurting over what she cannot do, she would focus on her strengths and emerge glorious. So far, that mind set has done well for her.
Turrayah is not the ideal malo girl; though with a touch of the malo flow but highly distinct, she loves her country music and plays golf well. Her flare for travelling keeps getting engineered via her love for the diverse culture she has encountered after hopping from one country to a neighbouring one. Her Business Management degree should be put to applaud-able use since she has the degree and available bourgeoisie parents to contribute heavily to her effortless struggle. The last time I checked, she was in Bahrain to map out a business strategy and once, she called my younger brother from Abu Dhabi. I love her life. Her Dad is the second highly ranked traditional ruler after the Sultan of Sokoto and her Mother is in control or semi-control of nearly eight sectors in the Nigerian economy. This Girl doesn't need to meet a second heaven.
On the day of conception, when Princesses like Turrayah are born, they are betrothed to older men who are way older than they are with up to 2 to 3 decades; probably Princes from other Northern empires that have clocked 20 or are about to clock 20 or are even older than 20. They are betrothed to them not as the first wives-to-be but as the second or third wives sometimes. A first class Harvard Graduate! Really? This tradition may have to rethink its cause on Ta fi su.
While Turrayah was in Harvard, she was very fond of Chuka, her course mate, the cat and rat as people would call them. The second best African student, her assignment mate and study partner. Nothing was happening between them and when I say nothing, believe me, I mean nothing!!! The number of fights they have had for whose turn it is to buy food and who was supposed to buy what for who is rather annoying. I don’t know if they were doing it for the attention or just doing it to make their relationship wax stronger but which ever one they are doing it for, I must say they are doing a beautiful job at it. On the other hand, Manzo, a bearing to behold whose skin can boast has never been kissed by the sun, a son whose wealth is most times likened to Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud of Saudi Arabia though the second son of the Sardauna of Sokoto, his magnetism and gusto places him as the first son, his subtle command of respect is another attitude that awards a daily ovation. He seems like a god and I dare to believe that he is.
In his early years of waiting for his betrothed, Manzo had his fair share of women from every tribe and tongue across the globe; these women might never have perceived that he is a Prince but his money was definitely smelt from yards, miles and the globe away. If not for his wealth, Manzo could be likened to a wanderer just that in his case, he toured in a rented private jet from country to country turning more heads in clubs and top hotels in various countries. He was known in Thank God it’s Friday for his explicit taste of wine and any time he told the V.I.P Hostesses give me more Fridays, they smiled with a puzzled naughtiness that made him wink to equate their coquettish move; Manzo was smooth anywhere both in the palace and in real life. At clubs, his dance moves were like that of a Nomad getting swayed by the wind for his lanky figure and the way he shone his teeth and moved his shoulders especially made him look as though he was dancing the Fulani cultural dance. He was quite simple indeed. To him, he was just playing and whiling away time but he felt his heart would eventually settle with Turrayah Bayero-Sanusi
Turrayah is close to her prime and is the apple of many men’s eyes both young and old. She and Chuka are in-touch and they are planning to see themselves soon, they haven’t settled down to talk or have any fight since their graduation. Turrayah is aware of Manzo’s betrothal, she’s aware of the wars of her mind: why she’s betrothed to Manzo and how this stranger would be her husband forever that’s if she does not run away or get a divorce. She is too young for that thought, settling for that in the future is hurting her already and a foreboding keeps hovering around the thought. Chuka is in Kano to see his rat and Ta fi su is excited to see this cat but this time, it is a bit different from fighting over Domino's pizza or fawning vex for who didn't meet up his or her task. As at the time Chuka was on his way, Turrayah described the palace as ‘my house’ and Chuka innocently thinking that he was coming to Kano to see maybe a good house was stunned by what he would have thought was a normal house and the kind of treatment he receives since he was coming to see the most preferred young lady in the palace is remarkable.
This fifteen minutes stare accompanied with laughter and jeering is one of its kind; their hearts are filled with nothing but joy and how else can they emit it than laugh? Chuka is in utter bewilderment because of the new fact that he just found about Turrayah… He keeps asking himself: was this why she was uncannily shy in school? Was this why she had that poise? And was this why she was unthinkably too decent? He is sinking himself in a fog of questions, his heart is palpitating and his veins are running with blood simultaneously like a faulty faucet; as queer as this might sound, he is having this shaking connection between his heart and stomach. Some would say, he is having butterflies in his stomach but that is true as his unseen fondness for Ta fi su is morphing into a stronger abstract. These short episodes of his coming to Kano keeps playing in his head and regarded as that: just a course mate from school, he is given the best treatment; one that an old friend should have when they come to your home. Chuka’s nine days are eventful as they splurge their appearances around places like, Roxy amusement park, Sabon Gari market, Sahad, Rave, the Race Course, National Library and other eventful landmarks. The outstanding prominence of going to those places was the line of soldier men that lined up for security and didn't allow any other person go in; streets were blocked because Ta fi su and her guest were in a particular place.
After nine days, Chuka has to go back to Abuja to start his new job and his time has been well spent indeed. He is driven in a navy green Rolls Royce with tinted windows and he escorted with the palace guards; when else would Chuka ever have this treatment? Maybe when he marries Turrayah, just maybe. The Queen has monitored her daughter since she got back and enters her daughter’s building to give her an evaluation of observation since she got back from Harvard and has travelled to Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. The Queen and Turrayah talk like sisters, they are not afraid to talk about anything or everything and their conversations span through every aspect of life but what traps my attention in their conversation is: be with someone who makes you live your dreams and who you can live with joyfully. That makes sense but is astonishing based on what I think I know.
The Emir has been busy a whole lot these days but sees the need to remind his daughter of a wedding. Turrayah is getting to her prime, she is not getting desperate since she knows and feels her worth; her career aspiration is in check and more in tune is her vision of owning a major IT firm and taking over IT in the Northern region of Nigeria. Her business strategy is falling unto her pleasantly, her plans are coming to fruition as the days go by. With a weighty sense of urgency, the emir sees the need to tell her about wedding; a wedding. What wedding? In a nick of time, she seems to have been relieved of her previous foreboding, her betrothal.
Her Mother agrees to the fact that it is better to live with someone that you love, your friend: the person you are okay with but her Dad is going to force this stranger down her destiny. Remember she is Royalty and Royals always handle situations the calm way. Her Dad has loved her all these years and provided her with the best of everything that money and no-money can get, she won’t go against his wish, not now not with any drama, she would rather go against her own: at least, in the eyes of people, let her go against her own wish. Days pass and rites of wedding are being talked about and after rigorous thoughts, decides to tell Chuka about ‘The Wedding’ they were planning in the palace and to her weakness Chuka says: “all you Malo Girls, you people marry too fast” she felt stabbed at her back through the heart while Chuka felt stabbed through the heart and brain, it felt as if he was just hearing a long screeching sound, he could see clouds. He couldn't believe what he had just heard neither could she believe Chuka’s reaction, their silence was gobbling them up and creating awkwardness between them.
The bikin daura’n aure (Marriage Ceremony) had the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in attendance alongside Nobles from Wales and Scotland. The Attah of Igala, Obi of Onitsha, Alaafin of Oyo and other notable chiefs were there to witness this occasion first hand, the very first of its kind, the beginning of a new era in history. The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria accompanied by the Presidents of Niger and Chad had their seats amidst notable chiefs and other elder statesmen, from Professors to Bankers, to Fish Farmers and other Agriculturalists, to Market women and people from all works of life that you can ever imagine were at this remarkable commencement of a new era in history. This wedding was the talk of Nations, the only wedding that has brought people from different classes of life to one place for a purpose and possibly sharing the same joy in their hearts, the Royal Wedding was magical. The gifts that were dropped came in cars, money, landed properties and household equipments. Their gifts kept coming in trucks and I wonder if they’ll have a yard sale or charity visit to reduce or dispose those gifts. They were a bit too much for them apart from the Private Jet the couple got as a gift from the Sardauna; the Groom’s Father.
The wedding is over and so is the honeymoon that never happened but the marriage is about to get ignited. Ta fi su’s IT firm is blooming and blossoming since her strategies are fully established, she has broken into the IT market to own what she once proposed about her career. How easy can this Babe’s life get? She is in Lagos for an official meeting with some investors who need her IT services and in comes Chuka’s call. Her meeting with these investors is speedy and successful but she won’t leave Lagos without catching up with Chuka. She is Eko Hotel and Suites to check on Chuka then she is ordered to his room. She knocks on his door and when the door glides to let her in, she sees Chuka in shorts and a tight vest that shows that he is working on his flabby arms and belly. The first time they met like this, they laughed for fifteen minutes but this time, this stare doesn't come with laughter, it is accompanied by acts of eroticism. Clothes find their place on the floor, emotions fall into place and actions fill physical and spiritual space.
Official assignments should be over these four days but Turrayah and Chuka see the need to prolong their works by sending word to their workers and increasing the days that memory should hold via their stay at the hotel; as far as they know, every single thing can wait. “Why did you have to do it?’ Chuka asked, “Why didn't you talk since” and they both go “Oh shut up!” with an obnoxious sigh as they lie side by side in a silence that is loud and untouched, Turrayah breaks it saying “I am only playing with him and passing time, so that when he is ready to take another wife, I will divorce him and get what I am supposed to get and we would finally have our lives to live again”. Chuka shrugs at her words because he thinks it might be too late when she decides to finally stay in his life. He also thinks to himself: “if she marries a commoner, she would loose her ownership of the seat beside her Father which is accompanied with so much glory”.
What Girls really want? Who knows… Sophie is next.
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