By Note From A Father To A Son Who Has A Name #Upendo By Sulaimon Mojeed-Sanni
Dear Son, in the Year of the Lord 2021, the year of the Needle, a year after the pandemic-induced lockdown, a child was born on the 11th day of the Month of Aries to a father who shares the same month and a mother who shares the month after. Arriving at the tail of a pleasant fall, mummy walks the hills in terrifying pains, this struggle to birth you must worth the while for we have christened you on the 18th day of April, 2021 and your name shall be AbdulMukthadir, Adebola, Oluwadunmininu, Inumidun, Ishola Mojeed-Sanni.
What we have done is to draw inference from the absolute power of Almighty Allah, who is the All-Powerful, All-Knowing, and the King on the Day of Judgement, knowing that all of Allah’s names are uniquely divine, your have been christened a Servant of God who is all powerful.
Dear Mukthadir, I welcome you to the world once again, it is indeed pleasant to behold your presence and the attendant wishes and audience at your naming give credence to the views that we are only a filament of other people’s endowment. To be sincere, I was truly overwhelmed by the crowd.
One thing I have noticed is that you are being treated like my first child; you are not. We have AbdulMuqsit #Ubuntu and AbdulMuqeet #Uhuru, your brothers who must look after you in the beginning and you after them as the years goes by for you all are now like the historical swordsmen #TheThreeMusketeers – One For All, All For One.
Your coming sincerely was significant for me too and I believed tested my husbandness. Yours was the first pregnancy I monitored from conceiving to delivery by God’s mercifulness. While my wife bears the burden of thrusting you around, I bear other burdens I shall reveal over the years, but in truth, it looks like I just married my wife and you are my first born.
Dear son, honour your brothers and always do good with them for you share the same space, semen and spirit even though your paths might be divinely different but you must make good to protect yours and the name my father betrothed to me and my siblings and his own father from the generation many scores ago.
Dear Upendo, living here will not be easy. I have realised in the last few days you have monopolised my wife’s milk of goodness, taking it at will and at any show of discomfort, I am happy the good Lord has blessed you with the hunger for food, for many have who cannot eat and many can eat who have no food. Son, like your nickname suggests, endeavour to share love, be compassionate while being reasonable for all you may be blessed with is for you to share amongst the haves and the have-nots. Remember Upendo, you arrived here with nothing, you shall leave with nothing.
Dear Mukthadir, do be content in life, the hereafter won’t be about the wealth and property you amass but the impact you make in people’s lives without overburdening yourself.
Know it Oluwatumininu, as much as I want you to protect our family name for we are of nobility and royalty, I will ask you to carry it as a badge of honour not as a burden. My father handed me a name not a burden, I am to make my mark in my own name without soiling the family heritage handed over to me. Because in the end, if you go the path of those who the Lord have forsaken, you will be dragging your name in the mud, not my name or my forefathers’ name. What this means, is that you shall take responsibility for every action in your name, so use your name wisely.
Dear Adebola, remember, your paternal forefathers are the nourishers of this Land. Your forebearer came from a far land to prosper this place and prosper along with its first inhabitants. Your forebearer was a Prince, a warrior, a nobleman, highly skilful craftsman and people of dignified heritage. Your forebearer came to this Land with a Crown yet was considerate and magnanimous and chose to live in peace as the Prime Minister of this fertile land. You are from the Olisa Family and also heir to the throne of this land.
Know it my son, when the time comes, that your maternal forbearer owns this Land, that your maternal great-great-grandmother was the first Erelu of this Land, named Igbelegun daughter to Onadugba who himself was son to Rademo – the first Oba of Ikorodu Kingdom. Know it further that it was Igbelegun who birth Rotinwa, who then birth Odufejo, who birth Sonoiki who birthed Sanni-Tola who birthed Mojeed Akanbi Adeola Sanni (MAAS) who birthed Sulaimon Oyewole Alade Mojeed-Sanni who birthed you in the Year of the Needle 2021. Know it son, you are noble and royal at the same time.
Dear Mukthadir, as you arrive to share this space with us, let me say this to you as your father, always lower your expectations from people and improve on your realities. Believe in yourself. That is what life is all about. Dear son, nobody will say you are, you have to assert that you are yourself. Listen to the words I tell you and you shall find lasting peace.
To the world, I know here is a huge stage and I admit I cannot teach the three Musketeers alone. At one point of their lives, I know their names may pass through your table, when that time comes, I beg your indulgence to treat them in love without undue favouritism, remember, they are my sons and I am your friend who wants good for the world.
With much love.
Sulaimon Mojeed-Sanni (SM-S) #MJofLife #Sanity
