Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 28
I passed my J.A.M.B with 290 points; the
cutoff point for Business administration at
U.N.N was 260 points. I also passed my final
prelim examination at I.M.T
I settled for U.N.N and I registered at the
Business administration department as a
one level student at the Enugu Campus.
I focused on my academics and my Okada
business. My aim from the onset was to
come tops in the department so I ensured I
did not miss any test or assignment. The
knowledge I had acquired from the
preliminary studies at I.M.T came in handy
because it was like a repetition of the
courses I did in I.M.T at the one hundred
levels U.N.N.
1999 elections was over and Obasanjo had
been sworn in as the Civilian president of
Nigeria but I was scared of going back to
headquarters to see the G.O.C, the hostilities
I faced trying to reach him had been too
daunting.
I was happy that Amaka was pregnant but I
was sad because it will distort her plans to
further her studies abroad, she had hoped
to get her master’s degree before settling
down. But she did not seem to bother, but I
was because I had wished for a better and
more comfortable life for her, I was still
trying to succeed in life, she did not even
leave me with the choice of terminating the
pregnancy as she had gone all the way to
tell her father about it. I just wished I would
not let her down; I wished all the ill luck that
fate had endowed on me since childhood
will end and not consume her too. These
were the challenges I tabled before mama
and Baba Ekundayo as I visited them in
Abakaliki to mark Ekundayo’s first birthday.
They encouraged me and assured me that
money was not the problem and indeed it
was not because Baba Dayo had hit it big in
Abakaliki.
Having set up his Shop at ‘sperra n deo
“junction with a big showroom facing the
ever busy road, it was not difficult for his
works to be seen and admired and
consequently the deals started coming in
torrents. The first big hit was a contract to
furnish the new P.D.P (Peoples Democratic
Party) secretariat at Abakaliki; all the rooms
in the Building were to be furnished with
wooden office furniture. He was the
successful bidder after going through the
due process screening of contractors as his
price was the least and most realistic.
Baba Dayo as I now call him travelled down
to Ogbomosho in Oyo state and Akure in
Ondo state to seal business deals on supply
of plywood and timbers to his shop at
Abakaliki. He also went to Villages and
bought matured tress in the forest; these
were felled and pruned by professionals
before transporting them down to Abakaliki.
He then got a paid agent based in Sarki in
Oyo state whose job was to be going into
villages and buying matured trees and
sending the timber to Abakaliki.
Consequently Baba Dayo became a Timber
Merchant in Abakaliki, supplying other
traders at the Timber Market on Ayim Street.
The contract price that was awarded to him
to furnish the secretariat was twenty million
naira even though he quoted twelve million
naira, he knew he had to return the excess
money to certain persons once he is paid, in
fact they demanded he paid them upfront
before commencement of the Contract but
he begged them as this was his first and he
did not have such capital so what they did
was to act as guarantor for him as he
collected a bank loan to finance the project
but they collected their eight million naira up
front all the same.
At the end of the contract, he was paid his
balance and he made a profit of four million
naira, having used eight million naira to
execute the job and settled many people.
But he was a busy man as many of the
Politicians wanted him to furnish their new
houses and hotels that were springing up at
Abakaliki. He had over twenty workers on
his monthly pay roll and many hired hands
that come in handy for urgent jobs that may
need him to travel out of town.
He was also told that the contract of
furnishing the new government house
being planned at Nkwagu will be given to
him as long as the quality of his job does
not fall and as long as he is willing to grease
the necessary palms. The Government house
contract was estimated to cost over three
hundred million naira.
If not for the school I had started in Enugu, I
would not have gone back! For what? When
my parents are millionaires already? Baba
Dayo was controlling Money and controlling
money means controlling People, his life was
changed forever! Abakaliki was expanding,
P.D.P was in charge of the state and he was
their favoured contractor! He had his hands
full as almost all the Local Government
Chairmen and Councilors wanted him to
handle the roofing and furnishing of their
new houses because he used the best wood
in town and his job was very neat and
unique, his style of design was not common
in Abakaliki so they all wanted something
different.
Baba Dayo was also building his own house,
a four room Bungalow at Nkwagu close to
the Army barracks. He had ordered for two
fairly used Cars from Belgium through a Car
dealer in Abakaliki, an SUV and a Saloon for
mama.
As I left for Enugu on Monday morning, Baba
Dayo gave me a Cheque of two hundred
naira for my upkeep and School expenses.
He said whenever Amaka and I are ready,
we should tell them so that we can all go to
Awka and see her father and his Kinsmen
for Amaka’s hand in marriage. He also said
he would be visiting Esa-odo with his Wife
and Kid by Christmas time; but as I kicked
started my bike and pumping the throttle in
readiness to zoom off, mama ran to me and
whispered in my ears that they would not
be going to Esa-Odo come December
because she was pregnant but her husband
does not know it yet, he had been busy
pursuing business. I laughed out loud and
gave her a peck before zooming out of their
compound. I was so happy, I sang all the
way to Enugu with my two hundred
thousand naira in my pocket.
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