Chapter 3 JOBLESS

Looking for a job after seven years of isolation wasn't an easy thing. I practically went to every office in Ibadan in a vain search for a job. My first class university degree in economics became useless to me once it was discovered that I was an ex-convict.

In one of those offices, the recruiting officers couldn't help laughing openly when he discovered that I was convicted for rape. I told him with an edge to my voice that I did not commit the offence and that I was jailed for nothing. That made him laugh even more, for the man seemed thoroughly sure in his mind that I was lying.

One day after roaming the town from morning to twelve mid- day, I decided to go back to my house and settle on my bed for some hard thinking about how to get out of this terrible situation. It was at that time that the landlady's daughter brought a letter to the. I got my letters through my landlady's postal box.

The letter came from my friend Tor Kwaghtagher who worked in the Lake Chad Research Institute at Maiduguri. I was told to rush down to Maiduguri if I wanted a job. Excess jobs abound in Maiduguri concluded the letter I jumped up in excitement as if I had already got the job. Then I remembered that I had no money to transport myself to Maiduguri. I thought very hard on how to get this money. Weighing all the options left for me. I thought about becoming a temporary street beggar until I was able to raise the money

through charity. I brushed that option aside because I consider able I bodied men and women who beg in the street ridiculous. One of the options which I decided to explore was to request

my landlady to lend me the money so that when I got a job in Maiduguri I could send it to her. So when she returned from the market in the evening, I went to her with the letter and gave it to

her to read. She was suprised because I had never given her any of my letters to read. 'This means you'll soon get employment' she said after reading the letter. I told her that this would depend whether I could go to Maiduguri at all, and requested her to loan me some money for transportation. She asked me how much i

needed and I told her that thirty naira would do.

My landlady took up her pillow and produced seventy naira which she handed to me. Do not worry about paying back. All I want is that you

should be gainfully employed. It is not safe on depending on other ways of making money'. Although I did not know what she meant by her last remark, I took the money and thanked her,

leaving her room in great happiness. I nearly collided with Madam Ladapo on the door-step.

Madam Ladapo was one of the closest friends of my landlady. I had great regards for her. This was because she had the time to from ask me about my progress in job-seeking. She did the same this

evening and wished me good luck. I see you as a very good person. What we believed about a person may be different from what he is, but it is good for you to be good... You will get a job' she said. Madam Ladapo then looked at me matron, and went into my landlady's room. I left and went into my room. My room was next to my lady's.

This made it possible for me to overhear most of the conversations which she had with her visitors. Infact, it was as a result of this that I came to know that she was a very rich lady. Most of her business discussions were known to me I guessed

wasn't aware of this because if she was, she would have move to the empty room downstairs. Indeed the only discussion in her room that escaped me were those she held with her lovers

and those were really not conversations but whispers that often punctuated with the excitement of love-making.

When Madam Ladapo entered her room that evening I heard the excitement with which she received her. I was not particularly interested in this excitement so I picked my novel and started

to read. As soon as I began to read, the mention of of my name in my landlady's room jolted me to attention. I heard my landlady saying they promised him a job in Maiduguri. I had to give him

seventy naira free. That is better than harbouring an armed robber in my house. The man i certainly an armed robber and he may decide to rob me one day!" Madam Ladapo burst into

laughter and said 'You have done very well. I suspected him to be a robber long ago. I didn't know you thought the same . Giving him seventy naira is safer than keeping him here. The shock I got from what they were discussing was difficult to describe. "Even a child will know that he is a thief" said Madam Ladapo. "I know said my landlady 'he takes his three square meals without doing anything or have any job. Where does he get all the money from?" Madam Ladapo went on to say that from the cleanliness of my dress and the manner I changed clothes like a manager of a fashion store, it was evident that I got my money from evil sources. 'I pray he doesn't bring his gang to rob me before he departs for Maiduguri," said my landlady. 'Do you think he is really going to Maiduguri? He is going to stay in another part of Ibadan, may be Odo-Ona. That's what they do!", said Madam Ladapo. I was becoming restless on my bed. My first impulse was to break into my landlady's rooom, give the two of them a thorough beating which would remain in their memory for life. I knew I could do it, because even two cannot stand my fighting technique Will he rob me after he has packed to Odo-Ona?" My landlady asked. 'He may and he may not' Madam Ladapo answered "As I gave him seventy naira will he still rob me?" They can do anything 'But for giving him seventy naira surely he knows I am a good person?'

Robbers have no respect for anybody, Good or Bad"

'What am i to do?' 'Force him to go to Maiduguri immediately, or Odo-Ona?'