cash matters

He was in year three secondary school when his father died. Not long after the civil war started, his mother took them from Enugu city back to their village to escape House bullet like they usually refer to Nigeria soldiers. They were four in that family. Two boys and two girls. Jude was the elderst of his siblings. After the war just like other Biafrans, many were struggling to make ends meet. To find who to apprentice for was not easy thing then. Many business collapsed and may ceased to exist. Jude was lucky when a friend of his dad that was layed off from government work for being surpluse to requirement came for him. The man has started a retail business from the little money he saved before the war started. He was selling women bags. Jude started well, learning very fast and soon began noticing that other boys beside their shops were living fine as they use to say and started picketing his master’s money to meet up with the class of other he has joined. high life has started; and his master shop was feeling the impact of his picketing. His master was not blind to all these changes both in Jude and his pocket. He decided to take a decisive decision between his survival and friendship. He reached a decision that Jude has to go. He was given ten percent of what would have come to him and sent packing. He went back to his village and after staying there for about three months, decided to sell off some of the cloths he bought while with his master and supplement the proceed with the ten percent given to him. and went back to the city to hustle. He joined his three friends that were sharing four bedroom flat and made them four in the flat. Four months later, he was told that he will be paying house rent with them. That was how he became co owner of the flat. He soon, noticed that one don’t need to be a salary earner before spending money. He is now his own master with social and personal needs to meet. As he build up the little money he came with, so is his test being built up too.from observation,he found out that his flatmates are No more his class. He started following those more wealthier than him. He often remanded himself that, for one to be a millionaire, you must think and behave like one. So ,his action are justify. No one will accuse him of living above his income. He soon joined those friends of his in their fraud business popularly called 419 business. Jude and his group were into all manner of obtaining money by tricks and deceit. They were into local ponzi schemes they refers to as daily collection. Some call it Robbing peter to pay paul. You collect from A to pay B and after that you collect from B and hand over to A and so fort.

           The scheme was moving fine, the local law enforcer were on their payrole and all turned blind eye to their operations. Jude got married and started planning for his wedding. On the night of his wedding, the state security service officers landed in his house and arrested him after given his house a thorough searching, they took away some document. he told his wife and guest that it was minor misunderstanding, that he will be back in an hour highest. That was the last time he saw that compound till the next five years. He later learnt that one of the daily collection customer was tired of being told come today come tomorrow.he went to his former classmate who was in sokoto and laid the matter to him. The man being a senior officer in military, landed with his troops and whisk Jude and his friends away. All their landed properties, known and unknown were confiscated. Jude and his friends was sent to detention house, after nine months, they were all sent to courts and from there to prison after being handed eight years prison terms each. The wife on hearing the sentence, decided that time don’t wait for anyone .no matter the love. She wiped away Jude’s bank account sell some of his landed property that escape police notice and call Jude’s family and told them that she is no more interested in the marriage. That eight years is too much for a woman of her age to wait. She apologize for any inconvenience her decision might have caused them. That was last she was seen and heard from by any members of that family.

After eight years in prison,to his surprise, he found out that his wife and officers wiped away everything he took years to accumulate, after recuperating for some month, he went in search of his former wife. His search took him to benin republic where to his surprise, he found out that his wife has two kids ,for she married two years after his problem. The worst of the story was that his former wife was married to the same man that sent him to prison. On investigation, he found out that both the wedding he was planning to do on the night of his arrest and the man that came into his business life as a customer was all orchestrated from day one by both his wife and the man for they had known each other since their secondary school days. So he was set up to wipe away his money. A con man had been coned by a more experience con man.

           When he threatened to get Benin police involved, the couple beat him to it by calling police first and when he was threatened with prison term, he ran back to Nigeria. Back in Nigeria, the friends he went to prison with are all like him now. Penniless. The ones he was sharing flats with ealier refused to have anything to do with him any more . some has progressed in life and he is no more their class. One gave him bible and advised him on how to trust in God for his unknown future. His former boss refuse to have anything to do with him. The only option available to him was selling of his family land in their village to start life. He went back to village to raise money, his mother refused outrightly to his plan. his siblings refuse to support him. he become angry with his family, and overrules their decision and reminded them that he is the first child of the family and according to the tradition, he has right to sell his land without their consent. After a bit of shouting march from both side, he ended up selling the land to one wealthy man from their village and went to the city to start all over again. He joined those going to Asia for importation of all manners of goods into the country. He will do market research here in Nigeria, then he will go to china to secretly produce another companies goods and import that goods into the country. Within two years, he has became rich again. He build houses both in village and city, bought cars, many of them and was coasting in life. one day, the companies he was secretly producing their products in china invaded his warehouse and shops. he was alerted by friends. he ran to Ghana and the companies frozed his bank account and ceased the house he built in the city pounded all his car to recover their losses. when Jude felt that the coast is now clear for him to return to Nigeria, he sneaked into the country and decided that he should consult a spiritualist to find out what is actually causing this rise and fall syndrome in his life. He was told that his grandfather shade blood very long time ago that they should do Abolation to appease the dead. He went to ask his mother about it and his mother told him that their father mentioned in passing something like that. She told him that story had it that: when their grandfather consulted a spiritualist to prepare charm for him to protect his family from enemies, The spiritualist came in the middle of the night for the ritual. After digging ground and burying all he asked his grandfather to buy, when their grandfather thought that all has finished and wanted to cover the hole, the spiritualist told him that it remained one thing. When asked what that one thing is, he told him that it remained human head. Their grandfather asked the spiritualist if that one cannot be replace with another things the spiritualist said no .their grandfather pushed the spiritualist inside the hole and covered the man alive. he told the spiritualist that his own head will do. Jude father was around four years when this incident happened.