Galled by a glaring circumstance he finds himself, Bello Boubarkar, an airport cab driver reveals the pains in trying to become a legal resident in the United States of America.

New York

In an almost one hour drive from John F. Kennedy international Airport in New York to Rockledge Bus station heading for Baltimore, Maryland, Bello told Naij.com’s editor how he got a slim opportunity to step his feet on the revered soil of the United States of America which eventually landed him in an ordeal yet to fade out of his life.

He was invited to the US sixteen years ago by his oldest brother. Not minding whether it was a visiting visa, Bello said he decided never to get back to Kwara state in Nigeria.

John F Kennedy Internationa Airport

However, the cab driver further stated that in order to regularize his stay, he met an African American whose parents are Senegalese for a contract marriage. Their agreement was to later divorce since it was not their intention to get married in the actual meaning of the word. The dance in the show was no longer suited for the song played as the young American was not ready to leave him. “She said she loved me,” Bello said with an amazed countenance.

“How would that possibly be? We had an agreement!” he exclaimed. The wiry lanky looking young cab man revealed grudgingly that the Senegalese girl became pregnant for him. This is where his pains started as he did not plan to spend his life with her.

John F Kennedy International Airport Taxi waiting

His pain was conspicuous to anyone who listened to the tone of his voice, but the reason for his predicament was unknown unless he spoke. However, if he decided to go on and quit despite having the child, he was going to spend the next eighteen years paying for ‘child support’ in line with the law of the US, he said. Bello noted that he resolved to keep the ‘contract’ turned ‘real marriage’ with his baby mama owing to the fact that he is not able to afford child support.

Rolling Road Baltimore

As many people in Nigeria clamour to relocate to the US for greener pastures, some of those already here, especially the men, are yearning to get back to Nigeria. Very few people back home perhaps, know the stories behind regularizing stay in America. Nonetheless, some others believe the country has helped to tame the beast in most men with the many rights given to women and children.

Inner Habor Baltimore

In line with that, a chat with Destiny Ogwu divulged that to an extent, Bello was a lucky young man. Destiny who could not help but sniff every time he spoke, told his own story to this writer at Baltimore Inner Harbour in the state of Maryland. He said he had liaised with his wife back in Nigeria twenty-seven years ago to deny their marriage simply because he needed to marry a US citizen for the purpose of getting the papers to be a legal resident. “This was unknown to the white girl” he opened up.

Unfortunately, before he got the papers, the white girl became pregnant. She eventually had a boy. “Although my wife at home has a girl but a typical Igbo man prefers a son” Destiny confidently asserted.

“I betrayed the pact I had with my wife” he faulted himself. Surprisingly, his Nigerian wife didn’t mind as far as her husband was going to divorce the white girl and then take her and their daughter to the US. Destiny told his story in a tearful manner as he claimed that he did all those for his wife and daughter. He said that even if the white girl had his son, he still loved his wife.

Woodlawn

The Asaba man divorced the white girl and agreed to pay the regular child support. He finally got his wife and daughter to the US twenty-one years ago. They had two boys afterwards.

Still basking in the euphoria of his success, the camel broke loose when the woman gained her ground as a registered nurse in a reputable hospital in the state of Texas. Destiny was only a correction officer who was not educated in the US standards. By virtue of this, he was later to earn lesser than the wife. ‘Responsibilities tripled’ as he put it.

Baltimore Inner Harbour

“I was devastated from the moments I heard reports of my wife’s infidelity” Destiny said. In a sad tone, he said “a man dropped off my wife one night, then I confronted her”. It led to a serious tiff which eventually resulted to his wife calling the famous 911.

NYC

For slapping his wife for the first time since they were married, the police barred him from the house he labored to acquire for years. This is not excluded from paying child support for his children who were under the age of eighteen.

These are some of the few stories of Nigerians who do anything for papers in the US.