TRUTH AND FICTION (PART B) CHAPTER ONE

LAWRENCE

27-09-2013 9:45pm

Life is good, Lawrence Umunachi thought to himself with a smile on his face as he sat back on the executive leather chair of his office. When he bought this office complex seven years ago on the Island, the selling point had been the great view of Lagos he could get from the top floor which was where his office was situated. It simply didn’t get any better than this. His wife Prisca had finally laid off him for keeping late nights, she didn’t ask him where he disappeared to when he didn’t come home for days on end without any explanation… she just stopped asking questions which was exactly how he wanted it. His thoughts drifted off to Antonia; the 24 years old mistress he kept in a serviced apartment in Lekki. He would visit her tonight. She knew how to stroke his ego when he was feeling down or how to make his blood boil when he needed passion… he loved her youth, the way she smiled at him like if he was the moon and the star when he came home to her twice a week. He loved how perky her small breasts felt when he held them in his palms; not to big but firm enough to encourage activity in his pants. She was uncomplicated and the sex was heavenly. Life really couldn’t get any better.

If only he could figure out a way to get Ebube out of his life for good. His second son who was now a vegetable confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life after a ghastly road accident. He hated looking at him, how his face hung without any purpose to it, his eyes always so empty when he stared at him and if they weren’t they were filled with so much hate it made Lawrence uncomfortable to be that close to him in the same vicinity. He had been trying for two years to put Ebube in a special home so he could be out of his life for good and only perfection would surround him but Prisca had flat out refused so he gave up on that end, accepting that he would have to live with seeing that vegetable around his house for as long as he had to.

Suddenly, there was commotion outside his office. He could hear the voices of his tax and audit officer Kunle Owoyemi and that of his secretary Florence Apata talking rapidly. Their voices were gradually turning to a screaming match which no one seemed to be winning. Tired of the ruckus they were causing, he stepped out to see what was going on.

“Ehen! What is it with the two of you! Eh! Does this place look like Yaba market to you that you will be raising your voices like Fulani cattle that cannot shit manure!”

“What is the noise about?” He screamed

“Ehn Oga”… Kunle started, his voice was wavering, his eyes blinking in fear… he was perspiring more than usual in nervousness and this in turn raised alarms in Lawrence’s head.

“Spit it out now you little cockroach!”

“The SEC and FIRS are unto us. They have been working together behind our back and it seems they finally have enough to indict us because my contact within the FIRS called me thirty minutes ago to tell me that they are coming here today.”

“What!” Lawrence screamed. He lunged for Kunle, grabbing his neck by the lapels of his shirt. His eyes were flaming red with anger and if looks could kill Kunle would have turned to melted wax in that moment

“Why am I just hearing this right now? You good for nothing porcupine! Have you forgotten where I picked you up from!?”

“I am sorry Oga, I just didn’t know how to tell you”

Lawrence ran from the office, his Flowing agbada dragging him back a bit. He rushed into the office of his Deputy Head of Accounts, Benedict Walker.

“Ben! Have you heard what that stupid fool Kunle just told me?! The FIRS and SEC are coming here today to blindside us. Quick! Bring out all the documents that might incriminate us, all the customer folders, financial reports, everything that has numbers in it, bring it out to the back yard right now because we are going to burn it all!”

Benedict stared at his boss like if he was crazy; yet he was not really shocked because he knew that at some point the crimes they had been committing for five years would come to light, it was just a matter of time.

He first met Lawrence Umunachi when Lawrence had come to London on a vacation with a young woman who seemed to be in her early twenties. They had met at a stockbroker firm where Benedict had just been fired for trying to steal money off some of the customers. Lawrence had sympathized with him and quickly offered him a job in Nigeria to work in the accounts division of his company. Benedict was British and white, thus Lawrence reasoned he would give his company a face that would not arouse suspicion but trust. Yes, Benedict would be the perfect poster boy for his business in Nigeria. He was without any scruples and he was smart. He was the reason why the SEC and FIRS had been frustrated in their efforts to find anything that could indict his company for such a long time. Benedict was a very good book chef.

“Kunle! Kunle! Where are all our tax documents! You better have them all up to date!”

“Yes sir! Everything is updated.”  

“Good", Lawrence replied. He knew that this was the end of the road for him and his business. When the SEC made public their allegations all his customers would quickly take their accounts elsewhere. The only thing he could do was ensure that he could minimize the effect of all the problems they were sure to have soon.

He watched as fire razed all the papers and folders eating them all up. The SEC would have nothing from his end to indict him with. He would not be seeing Antonia this night or any other night for that matter. She would have to move out of the serviced apartment in Lekki because he would not be able to spend that kind of money anymore. Who knew what he would be left with by the time these leeches were through with him?

“So is this the end sir? From here on we are doing only damage control?” Benedict asked as he walked up to his boss.

“Yes, this is the end Ben. At least it was a good ride while it lasted.”

“Have you called your son to notify him? I know he wasn’t supposed to come in today but who knows if they have people tailing him right now trying to arrest him so they could get information from him or use him as a bargaining chip in a bid to get you to crack.”

“Good Lord! You are right Ben, I have not even thought of him in the midst of all this chaos…”

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IKE

11:50 am

Ike hated his Father. It might seem unusual but he drew comfort from the fact that Lawrence Umunachi was not a man who was loved among his children and wife. Ike was running from the FIRS… he was on the way work this morning at Blue Water Investment Company when he got a call from his Father.

“Ikechukwu! My son! Where are you? Have they gotten you? Don’t say anything to them! I have called the lawyer already!”

“Dad slow down, I am driving to work right now. By the way what are you talking about?”

“Oh thank God! Thank you Abba Father! The Living God I worship will not allow my family to be brought to shame like chickens!”

“Ike where are you right now?”

“I am around Yaba, I should be heading to third mainland bridge in 15 minutes”

“Park your car on the side of the road right now and run! Don’t tell me where you are going because they might have bugged my phones. The FIRS and SEC are unto us Ike; it is over, they have finished us ooh!”

Panic rose in his chest…it was finally happening. The crash and burn that they figured would never come to fruition. He joined his Father’s company four years ago to head the accounts division. It didn’t take long for Ike to figure out that what his father needed wasn’t an accounts chief but a book chef. Someone smart and trustworthy who could make all the illegal deals going on within the company look legal while keeping the FIRS off their back. He confronted his father when he found out that not only were they avoiding tax payments but they had also been cheating the customers by taking 15% off the profits that were supposed to accrue to them via the stocks or investments they had made. The icing on the cake was when he found out that his father wasn’t investing some of the money from customers legally but was dealing in oil bunkering in the south via a contact Kunle had acquired for him.

“Father! What is the meaning of all this!” Ike screamed as he marched into his Father’s lavish office, ignoring the voice of Florence who was telling him that he couldn’t go in without an appointment.

He dropped the documents on the table and was satisfied that the loud thump of the papers on his father’s mahogany desk was enough to get him to jump slightly from being caught off guard.

“Ike! Are you stupid, foolish or just being a plain hard head! How can you walk into my office like that! Onwe ife ne eme gin a isi”

Ike stared at his Father, happy that he was frazzled because he only spoke Igbo when he was extremely nervous or very angry.

“I just found out some very uncomfortable dealings we participate in right here at Blue Water and I have to say Father that this was not what I signed up for! Do you have any idea what this means? We could all go to jail for fraud and tax evasion! Is that what you want? And oil bunkering…how can you Father? How can you stoop so low? Don’t you read the news? Don’t you see all those young children who are dying from hunger because their fathers and mothers cannot farm the land or fish from the rivers because of the activities of oil bunkering? How could you father?”

“Oh wipe that look of disappointment off your face right now Ike! This is how the world works… how do you think you can afford to pay for your 2013 Edition Range Rover? Or the $110,000 salary a year income that Benedict gets. Do you think I just like to pay my staff a ridiculously high income!? This is all a front of affluence, when the customer brings his money for me to invest, he doesn’t really care what I invest it in as long as they get an alert from the bank telling them I have paid in their earnings. Do you think they care that I take 15% off their profits exclusive of the high retainer fee I am on. They don’t Ike! Because all they want is money! So get off the high horse you are riding on right now and smell the coffee because this is how the world works! You either an Elephant or grass and you know which one i would rather be.”

“Tell me you don’t like your life right now…the beautiful Piano in the media room that your sister Ego loves to play such despicably sad music on, or the expensive club of wheelchair losers that I pay for so that your brother Ebube can join his band of vegetables in feeling useless or the $18,000 tuition I pay for your sweet sister Dinma at that British secondary school in Lekki or the trips to Europe your sisters Amaka and Ifunaya take on a whim! How do you think I pay for all that? How do you think I keep you all happy? This is how it is done.

Lawrence looked at his son with remorse… for bringing him into his world of financial crime, he would have love to shield him from all of this in an ideal world but this is simply how things are.

Ike hated how his father used him; he hated how his father liked to think that he was doing them all a favour by providing an affluent lifestyle for his family to cloud his guilt of being an absent dad and a terrible role model for his children. They all knew about his mistress in Lekki. His alcoholism which they had seen the worst of especially his poor mother. He loathed the man standing before him, yet he stayed with blue water for his family.

He parked his car just outside Yaba market. He was being followed; the hairs on the back of his neck pricked and his gut was telling him the same thing. He followed his gut and walked as quickly as possible into the market. Thankfully, he knew this market inside out because his best friend Kenneth owned several shops around Yaba and Lagos Island vicinity. They had walked around this area for months on end trying to find the perfect shop that had a good location with a fair price. He called Kenneth to find his location.

“Ken! Where are you my man? I need you right now! Some officers are following me, I need you to hide me for a few days please.”

“I dey warehouse Ike, wetin dey happen na”

“It’s my father’s business; remember the issues and fears I discussed with you a while back. It is finally happening Ken”

“Aaarh! Yawa don gas ooh! Oya dey come, I dey wait you.”

 He turned into the area where the Igbo boys sold okrika shirts and quickly bought a pale looking, sky blue t-shirt for N300. He removed his white Versace shirt and ties and swapped it for the t-shirt just to throw the officers following him off his scent for a little while. He took a few wrong turns on purpose just in case they were behind him before he maneuvered into the massive warehouse where Kenneth stocked his wares in wholesale.

“Kenneth! Kenneth!” He screamed.

“How far? I got your call, is everything alright?”

“My stupid Father, the whole business is crashing; I need a place to hide for a few days till I get word from Father about the next step to take.”

“Ok, no problem, follow me. I have a small room where I usually sleep if I close late here and don’t want to go home.”

“Thank you my friend… I will not forget this favour.”

“Haba Ike! Why are you talking like this na! Have you forgotten that you gave me five million Naira to inject into my business when I started out and you refused to collect it back despite all my pleading? What are friends for? Come, let me show you the room I was talking about.

Ike felt drained and emotionally exhausted. He didn’t have the energy to take in the sparse furnishing of the room Ken was showing him. Thankfully there was a TV in the room with DSTV subscription and a small bed on the far right corner.

“Have you eaten? I can send Njideka out to get food for you?”

“No I am fine Ken, I just want to lie down and think about all these for a while.”

“Ok, I will leave you alone for now but I will come and check on you around 3pm to see if you need anything.”

“Alright my friend, thank you.”

Ike took off his shirt and put his head in his hands as he wondered what would happen from here on. As he drifted off to sleep, images of his brother Ebube in his wheelchair, his eyes empty of emotions kept running through his mind. Their life as they knew it was over.