Alu!

Congratulations Linda Ikeji
Photo credit: Ghafia

It's no longer news that the most popular African blogger was recently delivered of a baby boy in the United States of America.

 

This event has been an exciting one for the thirty eight year old lady (she looks older sha, I guess it's from too much good living) and her entire family.

 

But has it been all exciting for all? Not really! Unfortunately in this case, Linda is from the part of Nigeria that views pregnancy out of wedlock as a taboo. (Alu!) Many other tribes may not care.

 

Some people especially males have called Linda Ikeji out for being guilty of "ime mkpuke" (this plainly means pregnancy out of wedlock).

 

They have accused her of double standards, of not practicing what she preaches. Our blogger role model Linda has over the years done a lot of work with young girls teaching them to be independent and not settle for less. She has especially warned young women against compromising with their bodies.

 

Everyone watched Linda grow gradually and without being told most of us are aware of her entrepreneurial skills which shot her to fame and made her a very rich woman. She has never been linked publicly with any rich man although some amebos still insinuate that her wealth is not entirely from her sweat. People must talk!

 

In my opinion Linda Ikeji is in a good place to teach young women how not to use their bodies to get wealth or fame because she has made her life an open book and to the best of my knowledge, she worked hard to get to where she is today and no man was in the picture at all till the moment her stomach started to grow.

 

Before I became a blogger, I was already an ardent follower of Linda Ikeji’s Blog (LIB) which was introduced to me by my brother and immediately fell in love with her sincerity and connection with her followers. I must add that the connection she had with her readers is gradually fizzling out; maybe due to additional commitments as LIB is no longer her baby.

 

Coming back to the issue of ime mkpuke, a particular man took his time to write and scold Linda for disgracing ndi Igbo by showing off her pregnancy like it was right. To him, the only person who should brandish a pregnancy is a legally married woman. He also told Linda that she would have misled a lot of young girls who look up to her into believing that pregnancy out of wedlock should be celebrated.

 

Recently another school of thought which of course was championed by a lady pointed out on a social media platform that Linda is not under her parents care anymore but an indepent woman who is able to take care of herself and any child she brings into this world and so the issue of ime mkpuke does not arise.

 

In my opinion Ime mkpuke is reserved for very young girls who cannot even give themselves a good bath and then go on to have indiscriminate sex thereby getting pregnant without knowing how it happened or in extreme cases, the man responsible for the pregnancy. 

Ime mkpuke is never planned. It is an unwanted pregnancy, the type where the girls deliver in quack hospitals or in the bush paths and then throw the babies in “mmiri ani” (shallow rivers) or refuse dumps or abandon them in churches or motherless babies homes. No no no, Linda’s pregnancy does not fall into this category in any way.

 

A lot of ime mkpuke originate from under the stairs or behind parked cars in dark corners or in the perpetrator’s one bedroom apartment or cheap hotel and must be done secretly.  

An anticipated pregnancy which probably happened on a gold plated double king-size bed with Gucci bed sheets covered in petals of flower and possibly in a very expensive hotel in some exotic location or in a privately owned mansion, haa! Mbanu, that cannot be ime mkpuke at all. It is an insult to place Linda’s pregnancy side by side with one small girl’s pregnancy.

 

I know that it may not sit well with some people, but if I may ask has anyone ever seen where a man is scolded for getting a full grown woman pregnant? It is only the woman that bears the stigma of pregnancy outside wedlock. While those who castigated Linda did so, I never for once heard anyone call out the man who did the deed; although his identity was hidden at that time, but no one insinuated that whoever it was had to be an irresponsible man.

 

I am not in any way commending Linda's style but I congratulate her. Mother taught me that pregnancy whether gotten legally or illegally is not a sin, the act is the sin. Pregnancy is a beautiful thing and must be celebrated and especially in this case where the carrier of the pregnancy is over able to handle the responsibility to every extent.

 

The latest news is that while people were busy debating the morality of Linda’s decision to have a baby before marriage the new mother bought her baby boy a Bentley to usher him into the world.

 

My humble appeal to those who feel offended especially the natives is this, if you are not happy with Linda, please be happy for her son. Like my Warri peeps will say, “Dem born am well!”