Joseph Edgar a.k.a Duke of Shomolu lost his wife, Mena, whom he fondly calls 'Erelu', to the cold hands of death on July 18th. He is truly devastated by the demise and still finds courage to recap how she met Mena.
Joseph writes about how it all started at Habib bank...
I walked into the Habib Bank branch in Ikoyi and beheld her. She was wearing an ugly blue dress but you could see her beauty.
My type. Light skinned and curvy. Full bodied with full lips and a smile that was bewitching.
This was 1996 and I was not yet the Duke. I was skinny but had my swag and confidence.
I walked up to her and said "Good morning." She looked up and smiled and said "Hi".
I said "my name is Edgar and what is yours". She said she was Mena and I said "lovely name where are you from? she said "South Africa". I believed.
She was from Ebu in Delta State but was born and bred on the serene University of Ibadan Campus to the proud Mowete family.
I asked her for a date and she said yes. I said where do you want to go and she said there was the 'Fish pepper soup place' at Queens drive in Yaba and we went.
The soup cost me N1000 and another N1000 for cab to and fro I knew I had carried expensive woman with my N40,000 salary.
So I sold my Okada bike to fund the almost daily trips to the fish woman. I sold the bike for N14,000 and swore to have her as my girlfriend by the time the money finished.
One morning, I realised that it was N3,000 left and I begged her. "Mena, the money is remaining, N3,000 and you have not agreed. By the time the money finish, if you have not agreed there will be nothing to sell again o".
She smiled, gave me a Son- Alvin and promptly died.
As I stood over her lifeless body on the hospital bed in Ikoyi, tears streaming down my face wondering what I would tell Alvin, I wondered if all these would have happened if I had just left her alone that rainy morning in Habib Bank.
Sad. My chest is paining me even as I try to console Alvin with words even I do not believe.
Condolences still pour-in from all quarters as some friends of the Duke of Shomolu who have had encounter with Mena, recount memorable moments with an angelic soul gone too soon.
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