Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 33
January 2003. I was short listed amongst
the candidates that applied for the direct
short service commission into the Nigerian
Army, having graduated with a second class
upper degree in Business administration
and management.
My wife had given birth to my second child
whom we Christened ‘Luke’ after Oga Inside
for bringing Amaka into my life, we named
him Kayode after Baba Dayo because he was
the Father I know, having stood faithfully by
me and mama through thick and thin, we
named him Chukwuemeka because
everything was the Lord’s doing.
Menopause caught up with mama as she
had two successive miscarriages after her
third born. The Doctors had to warn her to
stop trying to keep a pregnancy that would
not stay, so she gave up and focused on the
three with her.
I went to the Nigerian defense academy and
spent another six months on training and re
orientation into the Officer cadre of the
Army. My performance was outstanding and
I won the Chief of Army staff Sword of
honour as the overall best Cadet on the P.O.P
day.
I was posted to the Finance Corp
headquarters in Lagos from where I was
subsequently sent to the Army Pension
Office Yaba. My arrival to the pension Office
was greeted with resentment, the news had
gone round that I was the Soldier who
dismissed and jailed two serving Officers
and two retired and three serving Soldiers
and three retired and also demoted a
Colonel in Enugu, I was given a cold
shoulder in all the Offices in the department,
I was treated like a leper, I was in the wrong
place, everyone was avoiding me. The most
painful thing was that no one mentioned
the fact that I was imprisoned for over six
years and denied re absorption for over five
years by these men, and during all these
years, these people were eating my money.
After spending six months in Lagos, I was
confirmed as a full lieutenant and given the
responsibility of the A.O pension office. It
was at this new role that I knew that the
Army was not meant for me any longer; the
level of decay and corruption at the pension
Office was alarming! My seat was a very hot
one because it was my responsibility to
send the monthly gazette of Pensioners to
Finance HQ, my C.O, a Brigadier general
called me to his Office and told me to simply
sign and send the Gazette based on the
status quo.
But on my own I took time to verify the
records of all the Pensioners on the Army
payroll. I had not even done that of two
states when I discovered a whole lot of
irregularities. First of all, thirty percent of the
Pensioners from Edo and Delta states were
no longer alive and their families had
stopped receiving their monies, but the
Pension Office still send their names to HQ
for payment.
Secondly Many Soldiers that have left the
Army by way of absconding or early
retirement without pension are being paid
pension by Army HQ.
Thirdly many Soldiers that have died in
Active service either at a peace keeping
mission or at home are being paid pension
meanwhile their families are still waiting to
hear from the Army.
My Job was to certify that all was well and
instruct the Army HQ to release such funds
daily! It was like sitting on a keg of Gun
Powder!
No wonder many Soldiers in Finance would
give their right arms to be posted to the
Pension Office, I was told that many Officers
that have sat on my seat are billionaires with
investment all over the Country. Even a
private Soldier in Pension Office goes home
monthly with loot of a million naira, most of
them have fleet of cars and houses in town
to the envy of Soldiers in other units.
When I thought over all of these, I knew this
money was blood money and I did not want
it! This was exactly what was done to me
that led to the incarceration of nine Soldiers.
I summoned courage and went to my C.O to
explain my findings to him and the reason
why I would not sign the status quo and
send to HQ. What he told me baffled me. He
asked if I had come to dismiss and jail him
and his team too. I begged him to post me
to another section or out of the department
entirely but he said he does not have the
authority to redeploy me to anywhere
because I was an Officer like him. He said
that only Finance HQ can redeploy me but
warned me against going there with my
findings; he said I would be shooting myself
on the foot if I tried it.
Eventually I agreed to sign and send the
status quo to HQ but I do not want any
share of the monthly loot. My Commander
refused! He said my monthly share is three
million naira raw cash and I must collect it
as that would guarantee that I would not
sabotage them. I had no choice but to drive
home with two “Ghana must go” bags
containing three million naira cash at the
end of my first month as a full Lieutenant.
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!
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
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.
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