Must Read: Thorns In My Boot

Episode 6 years ago

Must Read: Thorns In My Boot

I could not sleep all through the night as I kept vigil looking at the money stacked away in my toilet. I had never been so close to such enormous volume of raw Cash, even when I was compensated with my eleven years Salaries and benefits worth Seven million naira as a Soldier and twelve million naira as settlement for five years inconveniencies suffered, the whole sum of nineteen million naira was paid into my bank account, I did not see it as raw Cash. Even when I gave Baba Dayo the sum of Five million naira to help demolish the Village mud house and build me a Duplex, I wrote him a Cheque and not raw cash. The smell of raw Cash filled my room that night that I had to move it to the Toilet. I was scared.


The next morning I drove from work to the Bank to open a new account for the loot, then I went back to work as if nothing had happened, but my Boss was uneasy with me, he called me later to his Office and told me that I was being watched at HQ Finance because I was unstable and thus a potential danger to certain big red necks that benefits from the monthly booty too. He warned that I should keep my lips sealed else I might meet a mysterious end in Lagos, either diabolical or physically. He said anyone who wants to take away food from his mouth should rather die!
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I was granted my annual leave of thirty working days in August 2004, I travelled to the east to be with my family in Enugu, my Girl was five and my Boy was two years old, I spent a week with them in Enugu before we all moved to Abakaliki to spend few days with my Parents. It was at this point that Baba Dayo told me that he went home with his Path finder and the whole Village marveled at his transformation. He had told them that I was now a senior Army Officer and had sent him to the Village to build my House for me, he said he built the whole house within seven months and locked up the gates after furnishing all the rooms and Kitchen, he said the money was very sufficient due to cheap labour and cost of materials in the west that he had to build a three rooms Boys quarter behind the duplex, he dug a bore hole and erected four giant G.P tanks, two tanks supplied water into the house and two tanks are channeled to outside taps for the community.



He had used that opportunity to see mama’s kinsmen and when they heard his success story and the fact that mama was doing well with three other Children, they sent her younger brother to Abakaliki on one of Baba Dayo’s visits while building my house to ascertain mama’s real condition at Abakaliki; he went back to the Village with new clothes and shoes and goodies for other family members as evidence that all Baba Dayo had said in the Village was true, he told them that Mama owned and drives her own Car too, they had no choice but to call a family meeting and decide to welcome mama back into their fold.