CORPORATE TEARS (Part 2)

One million naira! That was all that was on Angela’s mind as she boarded the bus back to Benin. Pristine bank was one of the highest paying banks in the country, if she could secure the job her monthly salary will be in six digits figures. That was enough money to take care of some basic needs, offset some old debts and something to send back home to her parents every month. It was a job worth fighting for. With God on her side she will raise the money.

“Angela baby how did the interview go? gist me na” Susan was at her place that monday morning eager to get the details.

“It went fine, I was successful!”

“Really? Congrats girl! I always knew you had it in you!” Susan said in a raised voice, her face brimming with smiles….but wait you don’t look too happy Angela, why are you depressed?

“Susan small wahala dey o, there’s a catch; we are supposed to open 10 accounts with at least 100k in each account within two weeks, they said this is the criteria for qualification to the training school”.

“Dammit!! Susan shouted as she sat down on the edge of the mattress, “when did they start imposing such conditions before employment? It’s the high rate of unemployment in this country that is responsible, that’s why they can impose anything they want because there’s a large pool of unemployed youths to always pick from”.

“You are right Susan, labour laws in this country favours only the employers”.

“Girl give it a shot, you never know you might even raise the money in one week”!

“Thanks for the encouragement Susan, I need it now more than ever, abeg help me follow search for th oe money”.

“No wahala you know say i be your person”.

Angela drew up a list of possible account openers. Madam Jasi the proprietress of Gifts academy, Pastor Ahigbe her church pastor, Dr Ben Olokun her lecturer in school who supervised her final year project and Mr Oyoyo a local businessman whose shop she bought food items. She wished the list was longer but she wasn’t much of a socialist, none of her few friends had rich parents that would have bailed her out. She regretted not having a boyfriend, it would have been much encouraging to have a man by her side sharing her burden in this time of need. She had told her parents everything and they were also on the fund raising mission, however she doubted if anything substantial could be realized from their side as they were in the village and the people there preferred saving their money using old fashioned methods.

Madam Jasi despite her strict disciplinarian posture was an amiable woman easy to get on with, she was a deaconess and the head of the prayer band of Christ warriors church inc. Angela waited for her to finish the evening prayer meeting and related her plight to her.

“This is just sad, meet me at home tomorrow evening…I’ll give you 100k” Madam Jasi said.

“Thank you ma, God bless you, i am very grateful”

She leaped up with joy. Thank you Jesus! her first 100k was secured.

On Wednesday morning she went to the University of Benin to track down Dr Olokun. She had lost his contact when her phone got stolen in nysc camp four years ago.

She found Dr Olokun’s office in the central academic block locked. She decided to make inquiries at the Department’s central office on his whereabouts. “Nothing ever changes around here”, she said to herself as she entered the office, everything remained exactly the same way she saw it the last time she came around.

“Sorry Dr Olokun is no longer with us, he got a teaching offer overseas two years ago, he is now in Ukraine” Mr Odion an office staff informed her.

“Ok, thank you sir, I just wanted to check up on him”.

She thought of  entering other offices to market Pristine bank accounts but decided otherwise, her marketing skills was below par.

Pastor Ahigbe listened with a sympathetic ear on Thursday evening and gave her 50 thousand naira as his account deposit, he also offered prayers for her. Angela was very grateful.

“Hi Tayo, what’s up, how is it going?” she messaged Tayo on whatsapp.

 “Girl its not easy” he replied, “I have been able to raise 300k and now i am at my wit ends, dunno where to get the remaining balance”.

“You are lucky, I have only been able to raise 150k so far” she messaged back.

“Just keep trying”.

Yes, she will keep trying but in the present harsh economy situation getting someone to open a new bank account and deposit 100,000k inside it wasn’t an easy task.

With the days drawing close, it will take a miracle from God for her to offset the remaining 850k balance.

Mr Oyoyo was a hard nut to crack, it seemed he had unpleasant experiences/beef with Pristine bank. When she tried talking him into opening an account, he told her he had sworn never to have anything to do with that bank. She had to let it go.

“Take your problems to the Lord for he cares for you”, that was the lyrics of a popular Christian song and that was what she was going to do. The good lord surely won’t disappoint her.

“Angela call this number, a man will answer you, meet him anywhere he wants you to, he’ll help you out” Susan said as she handed over a complimentary card to her. It was the weekend of week one. She had seven days left.

“Who is he?”

“He is Chief Bob Ito the owner of Bobito group of companies, he is a philanthropist”.

Angela stared at the card, the card was a gold coloured embossed paper, the equisite design and fonts used on the card indicated that the owner of the card was a moneybag.

Chief Bob ito was the owner of the popular Bobito hotel & resorts with branches spread over five southern states.

“Where did you get this Susan?”

“At a wedding reception earlier today, he gave it to me himself”

“Thank you”.

The voice wasn’t what she expected, it was the voice of a young man who answered her call, probably it was his personal assistant, she thought in her mind.

“Hello am I speaking with Chief Bob Ito?”

“Yes go ahead”.

“Sir, i got your number from your business card, please i want to see you on an important business matter”.

There was a pause at the other end for some moments…..“he is probably wondering what kind of business does this young woman want with me” she thought to herself.

“Meet me at my office at new haven street by 2pm on Monday…and what’s your name?”

“Angela’ she replied.

“Alright, till then” he dropped the call.

She had to convince Chief Bob. He was a multi millionaire, rich enough to single handedly open an account with one million naira initial deposit.

Angela was preoccupied with getting her task done that she hardly noticed the beauty of the edifice that was Bobito group of companies head office.

She took the lift to the fifth floor where his office was and went through the security scans and checks at the door manned by two policemen. She was ushered in by the secretary into the large expansive office. The interior décor was breaktaking. Seated on a swivel chair behind a glistening desk was Chief Bobito.

“Well i see you are surprised to see me, you thought i am an old man in my late 50’s or early 60’s?” he said with a warm smile and continued “that’s what everybody thinks when they hear my name, as you can see i am a young titled chief”.

He looked barely 40 years, firm eyes, a slim body on a three piece suit, he looked every inch the executive.

“Sit down, what can I do for you?”

“Thank you sir”

“Don’t call me sir, call me Bob”.

She narrated everything to him.

He seemed deep in thought, then looked at her and said “I’ll help you”.

“I’ll deposit one million naira into the account and I’ll give you 500k to play with.

“Did she hear him well? this was too good to be true!”.

He continued “but there’s a catch….you will have to give me what i want’.

“oh no not another catch!”

“What do you want?”

He stared at her….”you are a beautiful woman Angela…. ”

She looked into his eyes, she saw what he wanted. He wanted to sleep with her.

“Sorry I can’t give you that”.

“Then this convo is over…but if you changed your mind anytime soon, call me”. He swiveled around on his chair.

The incorrigible womaniser! Why can’t men give help to the opposite sex without expecting sexual gratification in return was the thought that burned through her mind as she hurried off home.

She told Susan everything.

“Angela if I was in your shoes I’ll do it, it’s a one time thing and beside you need the money”.

Angela was shocked. She had been brought up in a devout Christian home and lived her life by Christian values and virtues.

“Susan I thought you were a Christian!”

“I am just being real. God forgives our sins Angela, his grace is still available. Besides, Bob is rather cute”.

On Thursday morning, with two days to go and nothing like a miracle in sight, Angela struggled with her Christian conscience and found herself dialing Chief Bobito’s number. He sounded triumphant on the phone, he told her he had been expecting her call. He made all the arrangements and picked her up at her place that evening, he took her to his private suite in one of his hotels.

Despite her flimsy protestations, he had his way with her. As morally reprehensible as it was to her she endured it, she had crossed the Rubicon. The corporate job was the main prize, the alternative of teaching for 20,000 naira per month in Gifts academy was no longer a feasible option for her.

True to his word he opened a new account with Pristine bank and did the necessary documentation with her. He transferred five thousand naira into her account, money wasn’t an issue to him. She left for Lagos, this was going to be her grand entry into the corporate world.

Mr Biodun James, the personnel manager surveyed the crowd of would be graduate trainees waiting for him to address them in the conference hall. Out of the initial fifty, thirty six were able to meet the target, seven had various sums ranging between 100k – 500k, three had fallen by the wayside and didn’t turn up. Collectively they have brought in N40.6 million naira into the bank coffers.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome! I have been directed by management to brief you on recent developments. We are sorry to announce that we are putting a freeze on the current recruitment process and have started the process of downsizing and consolidation. This is based on the advice of our international partners, the present global financial realities demands that we follow this standard procedure.……

“What the hell is he blabbing about?” A fair complexioned lady whispered to Angela.

“The truth is, you all can’t proceed to training school yet. We’ll get back to you as soon as we get pass this present hitch, we don’t know how long it will last but we appeal to you to keep faith with Pristine bank!”.

“What happens to the money we’ve brought in? The tall bespectacled fellow sitting at the back asked.

“The money stays with the bank, those are legitimate account holders and we are grateful to you all for your ingenuity”.

Dammit!!! Angela shouted as she stood up and walked menacingly towards Mr Biodun.

“Do you know the sacrifice I made to raise that money and you are talking about a freeze in recruitment?!!” she was livid with anger and grapped his tie.

“Security security! He screamed as he struggled to free himself from her clutches. The hall became unruly as the would be trainees all voiced out their displeasure at the turn of events and demanded their money back.

“I will sue your asses! The tall bespectacled fellow screamed.

In a short while peace reigned as the security men cleared the hall and led them off the premises.

“That was quite a show Biodun”. Dr ogbonna the chairman board of directors of Pristine bank said as he blew smoke from his cigar. He was a fat man wearing an agbada attire, sitting with him on sofa was Mr Green Akpan the MD of Pristine bank, they had watched the proceedings on a cctv from the comfort of mr Green’s office.

“Well sir…that lady almost strangled me” mr Biodun said adjusting his tie.

 You must admit my idea was a novel one, Mr Green said to Dr Ogbonna.

“Yes it was brilliant”.

How far have we gone with the damage control Biodun?

“Sir we control the press boys, any outcry by the candidates will be silenced by our paid hacks. We’ve got the chief justice in our pocket which means no court troubles. The governor is no trouble, we financed his re-election last year and we’ve got dirt on him, all the details of his money laundering schemes are with us. Also we did a thorough background check on all the candidates, none of them has the clout to start any trouble”.

“Good job Biodun but we can’t do this again this year. Let’s talk about sharing the 40 million bucks”.

 “Green as usual, you will discreetly deduct N40 million from our yet to be declared end of the year profit and spread it into these new accounts opened by these guys while we share this other largesse”, Dr Ogbonna directed.

…and you people shouldn’t let my wife know about this, she wants to go on vacation to Venice this Christmas, i told her that i am a poor man and can’t afford it”.

 They laughed out heartily.

“Will God ever forgive me”, Angela sobbed in her room, the guilt & disappointment overwhelmed her, instead of the corporate joy she desired and fought for, here she was shedding corporate tears. She felt empty inside…….”will God ever forgive me?”……Yes she will go to church and confess all to the good lord, he will surely forgive her and the 500 thousand naira Chief Bobito gave her will be used to start a business venture, she wasn’t going back to Gifts academy.

EPILOGUE

The young man drinks a bottle of Coca cola sipping from a straw, he turns to page 23 of the “Daily Report” newspaper and the headline reads; ARP promises to creates 2 million jobs in one year if elected in 2015. He frowns his face and angrily exclaims: “Rogues!...Liars!...kleptomaniacs in waiting! This is the same thing PAP promised when they were campaigning for votes in 2011!” He shakes his head as he turns over to the sports column on the backpage.

THE END