Who Says Valentine Was Not Made For Man?

I was fresh out of secondary school and was looking forward to a different valentine celebration. After six years of picking names of housemates/classmates and presenting them with gifts previously bought on the fourteenth day of February, I needed something different. The fact that I was out of school was for me a license that I could celebrate with the opposite sex. It really did not matter that I was yet to receive my School Certificate result all that I was that legally of age?

The good lady who raised me burst my well thought-out bubble. 

 “No way! The town is going to be too rough. You cannot go out on Friday”

I don’t know how she came by that information but she held on to it so strongly that I found myself spending valentine that year at home. It was that time when I had to obtain formal permission to leave the house, so when the lady said to stay at home, there was no way around it. 

I do not know if it was that event that made me indifferent to valentines but I have never had a remarkable valentine day. I mean a valentine day spent with “le boo” and overloaded with gifts. The closest to that was a robust gift days before the main date because le boo (as he then was) had to work far from where I lived. I remember how my effort in trying to get special from valentine day had led my roommate and I to bake a cake for ourselves. It was one of those valentine days that found us alone after all other roommates had traveled for valentine day celebration.

You can say that I outgrew trying to get special out of St. Valentine’s day or even that I gave up when Special was not forth coming. You can also fast forward to fifteen years or so after that uneventful Valentine’s Day celebration with my siblings. My place of work would ensure that we had cakes and drinks to celebrate that day and I would after work hours retire to my apartment either to watch a movie or sleep. My love for sleep is a topic I would discuss on another occasion. My approach to this noble day which is also coined, “lover’s day” should not be taken to mean that the temptation to make it special does not come because it does. It come in form of that 'friend' who wants a different version of that celebration my roommate and I did years back to the endless red dresses on display in shops in the month of February and being worn on that day by almost everyone on the streets. I see those temptations and shake them off. The known fact that the streets and all notable public places are always rowdy makes the shake off very easy.

I wish I can predict how my Valentine will turn out this year. I have an idea though. Being a Saturday, it is obvious that there will be no official cake and drinks. It is possible that most one day lovers would not be able to celebrate the as they used to. Fast food joints and other recreational hang-outs will be empty for most part of the day. This is all thanks to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Most adult Nigerians will be at the polling booth to decide who presides over the nation that day. If we are lucky, there will be no violence to characterize the day dedicated to love. And even if one decides not to vote, the best option will be to be confined to any neighbourhood activity-nothing public. Political sympathizers will be so caught up with election fever to even bother that valentine has been effaced. Oh need I mention that some people will be glad that INEC came up with this arrangement? 

I do not envy those who would want to make sure they celebrate “publicly’. Knowing the town I live in, all public places will be over crowded that day. I mean ALL, without any exception. Even places that do not have cold drinks will have its own crowd. I hope to have new stories to tell. I hope also that this day of love produces for my country a president that loves us.

Let’s Keep Faith as we vote.