39 The Promotion

You've got the car?' he asked

'Yes sir'

You've gone to the house?"

'Yes sir'

You've collected your money from Union Bank?"

'Yes Sir,

And you've got your driving licence from Muktar Yusuf?"

I told him that Alhaji Muktar Yusuf told me that the issue of my licence could be arranged later on.

'Muktar Yusuf did not get you a licence?, he asked in incredulity. I repeated that AIhaji Muktar Yusuf said he would arrange the licence for me later.

'He stands sacked from his job" I heard.

Pardon?' I had to ask to ensure that I heard him properly. Muktar Yusuf ceases to be my employee. He is dismissed with immediate effect' Mohammed Ali said with evident finality.

I had no wish to put myself in trouble with Mohammed Ali so, I resisted the temptation to point out to him that this was a very arbitrary dismissal. For all I knew he had not heard Alhaji Muktar Yusuf's reason for failing to provide me with a driving licence.

The only thing I knew from Mohammed Ali's dismissal of Alhaji Muktar Yusuf was that I wasn't going to last ten days in the company before getting sacked.

Alhaji Muktar Yusuf was a responsible looking man. So responsible was he in his appearance

and attitude that I had to equate him with Mohammed Ali himself.

Now he was being sacked for failing to secure a driving licence for me. Presumably Mohammed Ali must have instructed him to do so.

After he had departed with his wife I went for my

Mercedes-Benz where Mmembe was waiting for me. I took her to her flat. It was there that I told her all the details of the events of the day.

I gave her the number of my house and told her to make sure she visited me under cover of darkness to avoid detection by Mohammed Ali's agents. She nearly fainted when I told her that Mohammed Ali knew all these days that I had been living with her.

Why hasn't he sacked me and why did he still employ you after knowing this? She asked.

This was a question I had asked myself. Mohammed Ali could sack workers for a minor offence as noise making. I could not understand why he employed me after I had gone against his major rules, neither could I explain why he still

retained Mmembe who had committed a grave crime by harbouring a man.

I took her in my car to her flat, and I drove from her flat to my flat 29 residence, a house I considered temporarily `mine.

I was sure I wouldn't be its owner for long because I knew this arbitrary man was. eventually going to sack me in a matter of

days.

I was feeling so hungry that I couldn't wait to cook. Instead I drove to a restaurant in Kumshe ward around, Lamisila police station.

I was soon to start driving back to my house after eating my fill. After packing my car I entered my room like a stranger because the comfort of this air conditioned room was new to my experience.

I couldn't believe that an ex-convict from Agodi

prisons could end up in this type of room. I strolled across the parlour to the bedroom, and laid on the large family bed,

suddenly a bell rang. I went to open the door and was confronted with Mohammed Ali.

Had he come to give me a sack notice? I wondered.

He entered the room and sat on a chair. Bringing out a letter from the pocket of his Agbada gown he gave it to me. The letter bore the letter-heading of Ali Group of Companies.

I opened the envelope with trembling hand It was a short letter which simply announced to me that I had been appointed a the Assistant Managing Director of Ali Group of Companies.

It was signed by Hajia Aishatu Umar. I bowed to Mohammed Ali and thanked him, although there was an urge in me to ask him whether it was one of his humours.

Mohammed Ali cleared his throat and said, selecting his words one by one 'I have removed all the workers in my company for laughing.' I didn't have anything to say to this. I was merely

looking at him after I had nodded my head to indicate to him that I heard him.

Mohammed Ali continued There are only two

people remaining in my Company now. The two people are my wife Aishatu and your girlfriend Membe. I didn't know where to put my face.

I nearly apologised for befriending Mmembe. The

action I have taken against those idiotic workers is causing me a loss of $20,000 daily. I do not want this loss to continue beyond five days' he said and stopped as if he wanted me to say some-

thing.

He kept looking at me. Discovering that he really wanted. me to say something in response, I told him it was indeed nor good for his business if the sum $20,000, was lost daily, Mohammed Ali nodded his head, by which I understood he endorsed my view.

Tell me how I can regain the lost $20,000s and how to stop losing more.

When he said this I thought he said it in a manner of speaking. I was to discover that he wanted me to answer the question. It was like the riddle of the sphinx to me. I thought very hard. How could he ask me to tell him how to regain twenty

thousand dollars that was already lost? As for his question on how to stop losing more I had an answer.

He only needed to recruit an equivalent number of workers to replace the ones that were sacked. I thought hard again and told him that he could stop losing more money by recruiting new workers to replace those who were sacked, and that moreover, if he wanted to regain the lost twenty thousand dollars he could pay his new workers meagre wages.

''I do not pay meagre wages to my workers. It is against the injunction of Allah, I heard.

I started thinking faster. I suddenly remembered that Mmembe had done overtime with.

'That's a good idea.'

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