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Jos, NIGERIA - Rumour has it that the untimely and shocking death of Nigeria's First Lady, Mrs. Stella Obasanjo, was as a result of complications arising from aesthetic surgery. This rumour has been substantiated by some of the nation's dailies. However, Aso Rock, the official name for the Presidential Villa, maintains that she died from complications arising from surgery.? Information from the Villa is rather surprisingly silent on the nature of the surgey.
Ngozi Razak-Soyebi Understandable, yes, if we stop to reason that she might have been the nation's First Lady and a public figure but is still allowed some degree of privacy, even in death. Even so, you cannot contain the curiosity of the Nigerian people nor can you put a lid on the lips of perhaps every literate Nigerian who understands what cosmetic surgery is all about:
Why would the nation's?No. 1?Lady choose to undergo cosmetic or aesthetic surgery? we all wonder.
True, it is ve ry un-African to speak ill of the dead and no one would probably have paid too much attention if she had been an ordinary man on the streets. However, Stella Obasanjo was no ordinary figure and a lot of ordinary people feel?outraged that her death might have been avoided if vanity hadn't been the issue at stake.
- Whatever happened to the adage about growing old gracefully?
- Whatever happened to the dark, untouched beauty our forefathers maintained and valued so much?
- Have we borrowed too much from the West?
- Where do we draw the line at playing God?
- When is too much too much?
- How can one's death be classified as untimely when one chooses to invite it on oneself?
- Is Stella Obasanjo's death a clear case of an idle mind being the Devil's workshop?
In the West, a lot of emphasis is placed on body shape, appearance and looks. People, mostly women, spend millions of dollars year in year out in search of the ever-elusive thing known as "true beauty." We see models sashay up and down the?catwalk looking as though they don't have more than a cabbage per meal. They probably don't. And then, there is the war between the "full-bodied" supermodels and the "waif-like" supermodels, who look as though they would not stand up to a mid-summer breeze much less a hurricane.
With the onset of civilization in Africa and the introduction of the TV and satellite, it isn't surprising that we have imbibed everything Western into our culture, including the quest for that perfect look.
So what is that perfect look? A model-thin figure? Wide, unblinking eyes? The lack of a behind? A full bosom pointing at ninety degrees always? High cheekbones and cheeks drawn to their limits? Sharp, pointed noses? A fair, unblemished skin?
None of these really reflects what was previously known as true African beauty. In the years past, African women were appreciated and sought after by their men for their full, curvaceous figure, dark?African skin, heavily endowed behind and full breasts hanging anywhere between the chest and upper stomach, a proud indication of child-bearing. This isn't the picture anymore. Like in the West, thin is "more." Every enlightened female longs to look like Naomi Campbell or an African version of Kate Moss. Okay, so a lot of noise has been made in the media about the dangers associated with being overweight. Sadly, not enough noise is being made about that associated with anorexia.
People?spend a fortune on diet pills, crash diets and wonder creams that peel off the outer layers?of the skin and leave the body looking raw and exposed. And then, for those who can afford it, they hop on a plane and jet out to countries in Europe and America for a taste of the surgeon's knife to suck out that extra fat, thin out the flaring nostrils, tame that wild behind, widen the droopy eyes, tuck in that recalcitrant chin, firm up those pendulous breasts and do just about anything.
I?am not adverse to looking good or putting one's best face forward, and I do understand that no one wants to look "untouched" anymore. But then, when is too much too much?
Until recently, I used to shape my eyebrows with, yes,?believe it, a razor blade. I had nicked myself several times over the years, but it wasn't until about a month ago that I recognized the potential harzard involved and decided that I'd had enough of eyebrows looking as though they had wings waiting to take?off. I still process my hair with chemical relaxers imported from the West, even though I am aware of the recent links to cancer and some hair and skin products used by African-American women. So, will I have that facelift and chin-tuck at 50?
"It's so hard to say what one will do at?that age if one has the means," a good friend said when I posed the question to her. "A lot of women,?even men, would."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because the society demands it," she explained. "So do our workplace and even our families." She paused and then added, "I think this whole problem began when Eve ate that darn apple and realized she was naked."
Nice reasoning, I thought to myself. Yet, the Holy Bible makes it so expressly clear that "Vanity upon?vanity, all is vanity." Perhaps Mrs. Stella Obasanjo would still have been alive today if she hadn't decided to trim off that extra fat and look like a forty-year-old on her sixtieth birthday? Perhaps there wouldn't be so much poverty and starvation in the world today if Michael Jackson and all the Joan Rivers and Joan Collins of this world decided to channel the funds used for cosmetic and aesthetic surgery to this worthy cause. Perhaps ...
I envision Mrs. Stella Obasanjo arriving at?Eternity's gate and holding this conversation with the Angel on guard there:
Angel: You aren't supposed to be here now, my child! Why are you here?Stella (looking sheepish): I ... I did the unthinkable, Oh Holy One. I ... I only wanted to look young and trim for my sixtieth birthday.
Angel (with a stern look): But that is SO UNAFRICAN, my child!
Additional note: My heartfelt condolence to the families?and friends of the 117?passengers and crew of the Bellview air-crash of October 23 at Lisa, Ogun State. May their souls rest in perfect peace. Amen.
© 2005, GENERATOR 21.
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