Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 35
EPILOGUE Part 2
I had gone back to Lagos after my annual
leave in 2004 and resumed duty as the A.O.
Finance. The monthly booty kept coming
and I kept putting it in the separate bank
account I had opened for it. I continued
working while I monitored activities at my
farms and residence. I sneaked into Ibadan
or Esa-odo on free weekends and public
holidays to monitor the work in progress.
My palm seedlings survived the first scourge
of dry season and rain season, they
developed new roots and I was assured that
they would grow well, the weak ones and
the dead ones were replaced while I handed
the Farm over to an Igala Man that has being
in our Village for as long as I could
remember, we called him Baba Agatu.
The Farm at Ibadan was also completed in
due time and the House at Eleyele too, it
took us a whole year to get all these in place
and I was ready for our plan B.
I made up my mind and went to meet my
C.O with a mini tape recorder in my breast
Pocket. I once again told him of my fears
and my desire to be posted to another
office. He went berserk and started to
threaten me.
Look lieutenant! He said; I have had enough
of this your silly talks about not liking what
we are doing here and wanting to leave the
pension Office! Did I bring you here in the
first place? Look if you are not comfortable
here you better resign and get the hell out
of here!
Think I will resign sir! I said; I have a feeling
that all of these will back fire some day! I do
not want to go to Prison again, not now
that I have a Wife and Kids that look up to
me!
Anything you want to do, do! He shouted;
but let me tell you, people like you that have
tried what you are trying to do are six feet
below the earth now! And yours will not be
an exception, I promise you that! You will
just disappear! Where is captain Adekunle
now? Where is staff sergeant Adamu?
Where are major Isiaka and Corporal
Johnson? They all tried to be stubborn but
they forgot that the stubborn fly follows the
Corpse into the grave! My friend, go and ask
questions! Do you know the caliber of
People that are involved in this cartel? Do
you know how many heads that will roll and
the number of families that will be shattered
if you sing? My friend, this is not 82nd
division Enugu o! This is Lagos! He shouted;
my friend, leave my Office this moment
before I charge with something that you will
not be able to explain.
I stood up and saluted him, and then I told
him that all the monies paid to me are still
intact in my account, I asked him if he
wanted it paid into his account. He was
furious and he lost his cool and punched me
in the face. I fell down on my butt. I got up
and asked him why a general could
condescend as low as to physically assault a
fellow Officer.
I will give you another blow! He shouted: in
fact I will slap you! And with that, he slapped
me in the face, I screamed and fell down
again.
In fact! Ojo, you are dead meat! You are
dead meat I promise you! He fumed as he
left his Office and banged the door while I
was still on the floor rubbing my cheek.
I went home to meet my Wife who had
flown down for the execution of plan B, and
we replayed the tape recorder and heard all
that transpired between me and my C.O.
We did not sleep at home that night; we
went to a Hotel outside the Barracks and
slept. The next morning, I went and
submitted my resignation letter to my C.O.
The beauty of it was I had done a total of
over fifteen years in the Army and I was
pensionable. I would have loved to get to
the rank of a more senior Officer before
retiring but I guess that was not my destiny.
I submitted the letter to him with a Copy of
the tape recorder in a compact disc; I
saluted him and left his office as abruptly as
I came in.
He knew my wife was a Lawyer, he knew
she was the one that instigated the move at
Oputa panel that eventually led to the
dismissal and jailing of nine men and the
demotion of a Colonel to Captain. He also
knew she must the brain behind the
recording of my discussion with him, he
knows he was doomed if anything
happened to me.
He called me after two hours and asked that
we met and talked at the Officers mess
immediately, I told him I would be available
in the evening, he was so scared of my every
move that he drove straight to my house to
meet me and my Wife.
We talked for sometime but I told him that
my mind was made as per leaving the Army.
I told him I was not going to expose the
decay and corruption at the pension office
but if anything happened to me or my
family, then the tapes would circulate and all
hell would be let lose. He agreed to protect
me and my family until his dying day. He was
on his knees asking me to beg my Wife for
him as he does not trust Lawyers especially
female lawyers! He wished he could swallow
all the words he uttered in the tape. The
General was begging and crying like a small
Boy before a Lieutenant and his Wife!
Amaka later promised to bury the hatchet
and he left our house with thanks and
prayers for us.
I officially resigned from the Army in the
month of March 2006 as a pensioner and
came to settle with my family at Ibadan.
Today my Wife speaks fluent Yoruba and is
working for the state government. I have
over fifty permanent staff on my pay roll. We
sell eggs daily in thousands of crates, we
supply fresh fish and Chickens to over
twenty fast foods, it is a matter of first
booked first served.
Traders in the Market book our Turkey,
Sheep and Goats in advance. The grass
cutter and the Snail farm are Money
Spinners. My major challenge is to meet the
demand of Customers. Politicians book my
turkey and Ostrich months before they are
matured so they can use them as gifts to
their Political God fathers. Ostrich lay an egg
in a year so it is very expensive.
I give lectures at symposia on Agriculture
and Aquaculture, I have regular inflow of
students on industrial attachment; I have
investments in chains of businesses and my
fifty million naira booty realized from the
Army pension Office is still growing in the
fixed deposit account. Indeed life, they say
begins at forty. I guess I was not destined to
stay in the Army because whenever I wore
those boots, things go sour for me; it is like
there are thorns in them that I had to pull
them before I get some comfort. But the
Army prepared me for my today; it was a
means to an end for me.
THE END.
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