When water is thicker than blood

When water is thicker than blood

By Clem Oluwole

Blood is thicker than water is a familiar axiom that suggests that a blood relation is of more value than an outsider. But a recent episode that took place in Lagos has rubbished that time-honoured maxim. Not too long ago, a 26-year-old man, Ubong Otuodong, was dragged before an Ebute Meta Magistrate’s Court charged with the murder of his elder brother and benefactor because of a girl. When I stumbled on the tragic incident in one of the dailies, the impression I got was that the duo were in a tug-of-war over the girl.

According to the prosecuting police officer, Inspector Frank Inah, the slain brother named Isaac, who rented the apartment where the duo lived, had been having a running battle with his sibling over his gargantuan appetite for sex. Anyone who is familiar with the story of Isaac in the Bible would remember him for being a voracious meat eater, inclusive of bush meat. But our modern day Isaac did not fancy the idea of his sibling turning their house, located at No. 6, Onibaba Street, Ajegunle, into an abattoir for slaughtering chicks. It was not the kind of meat he fancied that was being served his brother by his arsenal of chicks.

On the fateful day (May 19), one of the girls showed up for the “kill” but Ubong the butcher was not at home. So, a disgusted Isaac of Ajegunle gave the prey the boot. When the butcher came back and learnt that his brother had spoilt the show for him, he became angry. A fight ensued. Consumed by rage, he momentarily forgot that Isaac was his brother whose blood should be thicker than water that any of his retinue of girlfriends represented. He reached for a glittering machete and chopped off his blood brother’s right ear. And as if that was not enough to press home his message, he went for the kill, driving the cold blade into his tummy.

There are numerous instances out there of water being thicker than blood. One of such was a Plateau-born medical doctor who turned his back on his blood parents who were responsible for his medical education because of his alter ego. The parents were not well-to-do but they starved the entire family and sacrificed so much to train their first child. But a Calabar woman, who came across him when he was on Youth Service in Cross River state, later became his wife and has since ensured that her man does not extend a dime to his parents. The poor parents and the doctor’s siblings are currently wondering why their own blood is not thicker than the Calabar water.

The phenomenon of men killing one another over girls is not peculiar to Ajegunle alone. What makes the death of Isaac very pathetic is that he did not lose his life because he was interested in the girl of May 19. He was just averse to his sibling turning their monastery into a den of fornicators and he paid the supreme price. The Trojan War has remained a major case study where three Greek kings abandoned their throne and went to war over a young woman named Helen. Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, was sucked in. Also enlisted in the epic war was Achilles, a demigod and an accomplished warrior, who had an axe to grind with the Trojans. Hmm… men and women palaver!

The account of the Trojan War has been retold in this space. Permit me to make a recall. And I will be very brief. Sparta and Troy had been at war for a very long time. The king of Troy had sent his two princes, Hector and Paris, to Sparta to make a peace offering to King Menelaus. The hand of friendship was accepted but Paris precipitated what later became the Trojan War that was more bitterly and viciously fought than the previous ones over which the duo went to Sparta to make peace on behalf of their father. The young prince of Troy had coveted Helen, the wife of King Menelaus, and seduced her for elopement. Alarm, however, blew shortly after they left when it was discovered that she had vanished from the kingdom. It was at that point that King Menelaus enlisted the support of his allies to wage the rescue war against the Trojans.

At the end of the day, the entire city of Troy was left in ruins. King Menelaus was slain by Hector who stepped in when the former was about to finish off Paris. Achilles killed Hector. The king of Troy was not spared when the invaders stormed the city. But Paris and Helen escaped to God knows where after the former had shot Achilles in his vulnerable heel. After the war, Odysseus missed his way home and wandered from sea to sea with his men for a decade.

I nearly committed homicide in faraway Kumasi, Ghana, over a girl that my childhood friend and I laid claim to. Indian movies were very popular in those days and we both struggled over the ownership of a very attractive young actress named Shekila. The ownership claim reached its apogee late one evening and we decided to settle the matter boy to boy. I promptly reached for his jugular and the poor boy was choking under my grip. Unable to rescue his neck from my crushing hands, he poked his fingers into my midsection. I giggled involuntarily as my hands flew from his neck. He took off so fast you would think his feet were not touching the ground. I was on his heels close enough to leap into their parlour before he could shut the door after him.

I wrestled him down, pummeling the daylight out of him. Then suddenly, I began to float in the air. At first, I thought I was going on rapture until I was thrown out of the sitting room and landed on the concrete floor with a heavy thud. It was my buddy’s dad who did the throw-out. The co-tenants soon gathered and demanded to know what the bone of contention was. We just panted away unable to explain the stupidity of warring over an Indian screen chick who did not even know that we existed. Even if we had Shekila in flesh and blood, we would not have known what to do with her as kids.

A few days later, I read about the tragedy that befell strongman Samson on the laps of Delilah. And I became scared. One morning, I reconciled with my friend and told him to his utter dismay that he could have Shekila or whatever her name was, all to himself and wished him good luck.