By Mogaji Wole Arisekola
A friend once asked me, “What is the secret behind your happy married life?”
I replied, “You should share responsibilities with due love and respect for each other. Then, there will absolutely be no problems.”
He asked, “Can you explain?”
I said, “In my house, I make decisions on bigger issues, whereas my wife decides on smaller issues. We do not interfere in each other’s decisions.”
Still not convinced, he asked me to give him some examples.
I said, “Smaller issues, like how many kids to have, which neighborhood to live in, which car to buy, how much money to save, who to visit, when and where to visit them, which sofa, cooker, or refrigerator to buy, monthly expenses, whether to hire a maid or not, where to go for holidays, whose mum we should visit, or which of the kids should be mine (because they are always ‘my daughters’ when they are successful, but when it’s time to pay school fees, it’s ‘your daughter’s school fees’), etc., are decided by my wife. I just agree to them.”
He then asked, “So then, what is your role?”
I said, “My decisions are only for very big issues, like whether America should attack Iran, the uranium enrichment in North Korea, whether Britain should lift sanctions against Zimbabwe, how to fully exploit Africa’s economic and intellectual potential, whether i should relocate to Porthacourt to settle the matter between Wike and Oga Fubara. Wether i should advice Chief Bayo Shittu to retire from politics and allow Dapo Adesina to run for the Oyo governorship election, whether Manchester United FC needs to buy new players or change their coach to improve their play, whether we should advice Baba Tinubu to sack most of the non performing minister in his cabinet and rejig NNPC and AMCON as he promised Nigerians , etc., etc. My wife never objects to any of these decisions, and we live happily!”
– Mogaji Wole Arisekola writes from Ibadan.
