Ugbabe Isaac Samuel

PTDF scholar|NNPC scholar| Data Science

[Ugbabe Isaac Samuel @UgbabeIsaac]

I resumed a new job in Lagos late last year. It was everything I wanted, but a few months down the line, I knew i couldn't keep up.

Always heard about Lagos traffic but nothing prepared me for the reality.

I was leaving the house 6am and getting home 9pm.

[Ugbabe Isaac Samuel @UgbabeIsaac]

most important moments of my life.

A moment I can never get back.

Funny how life works sometimes.

What felt like an unfortunate setback at the time turned out to be a gift.

I've learned that not every closed door is a disappointment.

Some are simply directions.

[Ugbabe Isaac Samuel @UgbabeIsaac]

Around this time last year, I received an invitation from a South African agency to attend an industry event scheduled for September.

I was excited.

I immediately began the visa application process, and as usual, found myself wondering why travel within Africa still comes...

[Ugbabe Isaac Samuel @UgbabeIsaac]

On September 12.

Eight days before his expected arrival.

Two days before I was supposed to have returned from South Africa.

Sometimes I think about that.

Had the visa been approved on the first attempt, I would have travelled.

Had I travelled, I would have missed one of the

[Ugbabe Isaac Samuel @UgbabeIsaac]

I've had a long day today. You know what’s worse than having a long day? Listening to someone fake an accent. You know what’s worse than listening to someone fake an accent? Listening to two people do it at the same time.

And do you know what’s worse than all these? All of this happening to you while crammed in the back seat of a Lagos danfo.

I had to hurry to the office immediately after church to test-run a few things in preparation for a busy week. It had already been a long week. My organization is undertaking significant expansion efforts, and it’s been meetings, negotiations, think-tanks, and the likes.

I didn’t get the much-needed weekend rest either, as I’d been at the office both days of the weekend. You can now imagine how exhausted I was this evening.

At the back of the bus, crammed in between two ladies, I was already imagining what tomorrow would be like when the first lady got on a call and started a battle with her mother tongue.

Before I could make sense of it all, the other lady joined in the boisterous clatter.

They both spoke with what I can best describe as an illegally adopted accent. The problem with an adopted accent is that you have to kill the mother tongue to give it room to shine. These two ladies had tried to, but their mother tongue was a cat with nine lives.

As the adopted tongue spoke, the mother tongue interfered angrily. It sounded like forcing an Igala man to speak with a Scottish accent. The result is best imagined.

So yeah, like I said before, I’ve had a long day.

.

[Ugbabe Isaac Samuel @UgbabeIsaac]

Pastor asked us to raise our hands for a miracle prayer, and my wife decided that was the perfect time to interlock arms and hold my hand romantically tight.

At this rate, they will soon pursue us out of this church.

.

[Ugbabe Isaac Samuel @UgbabeIsaac]

Marriage committee: Bro, have you ever discussed marriage with this sister. You know you're not to let her know until we approve.

Me: We have discussed it oh. E no get wetin we never discuss.

Marriage committee pause, me sef pause.

.

[Ugbabe Isaac Samuel @UgbabeIsaac]

Picking our son’s name was not a simple task, it turned into a full screening exercise. We had to use the exclusion method.

First, all the modern “Jay” variations were ruled out. No Jayden, no Jaylen, no anything-that-sounds-like-a-group-chat-of-Jays.

Then we moved to Bible names… and that’s where the real elimination began.

No Abraham (“I'm Isaac already, please be serious.”)

No Cain (God forbid 😭)

No Abel either (“You will not die young in Jesus’ name, amen.”)

No Jacob (Working 14 extra years because of woman matter? We reject it.)

No Esau (Birthright issues? Not in this house.)

We also banned the heavy early-church names.

No Apollos.

No Aquila.

No Epaphroditus (This one alone can finish a child in primary school attendance register).

No Onesimus.

No Tychicus.

No Methuselah (Imagine shouting this at the playground).

At this point, naming the boy felt like JAMB screening.

After prayer, debates, family suggestions, and several “let’s just call him junior and rest”… we finally found a name we love ❤️

#fatherhood
#sonshine

[Ugbabe Isaac Samuel @UgbabeIsaac]

2019 vs 2026

My baby forever.

[Ugbabe Isaac Samuel @UgbabeIsaac]

When my wife was pregnant, she always insisted on following me to the market for routine shopping. I, on the other hand, was very intentional about one thing: she must not carry any bag.

Not even nylon.

She’d always offer to help, and I’d always refuse.

“No o. I don’t want people to call me a wicked man, abeg.”

She’d laugh.
“Why would they call you wicked just because I’m carrying one small bag?”

“Ah! You’re pregnant na. You want them to say, see this tufiakwa husband, allowing this fine woman to carry load despite the condition he put her?”

We’d both laugh, and that would be the end of it.

One particular weekend, I fell really ill. We already had market plans, and my wife suggested she go alone.

I refused.

“Let people not see only you and start insulting me again.”

“This woman must have a wicked husband. How can he sit comfortably at home and send his pregnant wife to the market alone?”

So I dressed up, weak and stubborn, and off we went.

At the store, my head was already spinning. I spotted a chair and told my wife to sit down. She refused and insisted I sit instead, knowing how bad I was feeling.

The moment I sat down, Gbam.

One woman in the store jumped up immediately.

“Oga! How can you be sitting down while your pregnant wife is standing? Please stand up!”

Chai.

Shame just surrounded me like a shield.

[Ugbabe Isaac Samuel @UgbabeIsaac]

How will I remember 2025? You know how a lot of things can happen but just one thing happens and it overshadows all that came before it? Yeah, that.

A lot happened before September 12, 2025, but the events of that day made everything else pale in comparison.

The matron walking out of the labour ward with a baby in hand and a smile on her face.

'Hold him in your hands, give him a father's blessing.'

I held this beautiful boy in my arms and I couldn't say anything at first because I was feeling things I hadn't felt before, ever.

I was in an animated mood throughout that day, suspended in a space between euphoria and fantasy. All the hospital staff who came to congratulate me in that moment left with cash gifts. If anyone picked that moment to ask of anything, I simply didn't have the power to refuse.

Our son was born in the 10th month of our marriage. I remember when we had discussions around starting a family during courtship, and I mentioned that we should wait for some time before trying.

My wife said: 'Oga, you and who?'

So we hit the ground running 😁. When we had a positive pregnancy result. We were too shy to even inform family.

We were two innocent and harmless people that couldn't hurt a fly. How do we explain this?

--

This year made us realize just how loved we were. As new parents, both under 30, our respective families were there for us without us needing to ask.

My wife's siblings, my siblings, our parents- some who had to fly into Lagos just to be there for us and ensure we had all the help we needed even when we insisted we were fine.

I also thank God for the gift of our local church. Throughout the pregnancy and after the birth of our son, they had proven that love is real and nothing beats belonging to a church that doubles as a family.

Has the year been without challenges? Of course not. I remember someone saying to me: 'Only good things happen to you.'

I laughed so much when I read that message. Undoubtedly, good things happen to me, but you and I know that's not all the story.

I head into 2026 not just as a husband, but also as a father.

Grateful, just grateful.

[Ugbabe Isaac Samuel @UgbabeIsaac]

@MojiradeEwaade @Seyorock2 Smh

[Ugbabe Isaac Samuel @UgbabeIsaac]

I’m looking to make restitution for something that happened a long time ago.

It was in Nursery One. I had a pack of biscuits in my bag and was waiting eagerly for break time to enjoy it. When the bell rang, I dipped my hand into my bag and brought out what I believed was my biscuit.

I got distracted for a moment, and by the time I regained focus, I saw a classmate eating the biscuit. I screamed, drawing the attention of the entire class.

The teacher came over and asked what happened. I told her the boy had taken my biscuit without permission and was eating it.
She questioned him, and he insisted it was his. I was absolutely certain it wasn’t.

After a lot of back and forth, the teacher believed my side of the story and handed the biscuit over to me.

When school closed later that day, I reached into my bag to pack my pencils—and my hand touched something with the unmistakable edges of a biscuit wrapper.

I had been wrong all along.

I felt crushed with guilt, but I didn’t have the courage to tell the teacher I had made a mistake or that an innocent boy had been punished.

I still think about it to this day.

Wherever that guy is (hopefully still alive), I hope he has forgiven me. And if we ever meet, like Zacchaeus, I will pay back many times over-perhaps with a trailer load of Pure Bliss biscuits.

[Ugbabe Isaac Samuel @UgbabeIsaac]

@Folaborn @Morris_Monye @oma22k Means you don't know what an addiction is.

[Ugbabe Isaac Samuel @UgbabeIsaac]

My wife gives birth.

Person: Wow, congratulations. So you're now a father?

Me: Thank you sir. Indeed, we thank God.

Person: So what did she give birth to- boy or girl?

Me: It's a boy sir.

Person: Wooooooow. This is good news. Now I know you're a real man.

Me: So i'd have been a fake man if it was a girl.(In my mind of course).

You humans!

[Ugbabe Isaac Samuel @UgbabeIsaac]

If you have to password your phone from your spouse, you’re nothing but roommates who didn't know what to do with money so you wasted everyone’s time and called it a wedding.