Dr Freaks Journal - No Condition Is Permanent.

 This story is a great lesson for the deep ones.......

Caveat Lector:

Please be informed that this piece (i) does not seek to mock the subject; (ii) the writer does not seek to feel like a "superstar". It is a great lesson for the deep ones.


2010:


I was at the time working in the law offices of a past President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and had just taken delivery of a brand new car. Few days after, I drove into the Total filling station at Keffi junction, Ikoyi to refuel.


On getting to the filling station, I noticed that a certain guy was trying to catch (arrest) my attention. Ordinarily, I do not readily relate with "strangers" (my mum asked me not to play with strangers when I was young)


The "stranger" was seated at the "owner's corner" of a yellow cab and he initially had his hands wrapped around the neck of a lady who did not look like someone coming from an office at that time of the day (feel free to insinuate whatever comes to your mind here) but he swiftly disengaged his hand from that "unholy" spot (who even made me a Judge over Israel?) and jumped out of the vehicle. 

As he approached my direction, memories streamed back! Behold, he was an old friend -"ML"! He looked weather-beaten, but he was still "living the life!". One could tell that life had not treated him well. The meeting was short. I was rushing down to Ikorodu (my place of abode at the material time) and he was heading towards Victoria Island (his "place of abode". We shall come back to that shortly).

 We exchanged telephone numbers.


I had some friends in the car and they saw all that I did not see. They concluded that the lady I sighted in his vehicle was a practitioner of the "oldest trade" and that the guy was giving me a kind of guilty look. They could see guilt in his look, but I was only seeing an old friend, despite the bad memories.


Let me remind you that I went back to school, same University of Benin four years after graduation to study Law. At the time, my friend was already a big banker. He worked with UBA and four years later (by the time I was in 500 Level), he was already a Bank Manager or Assistant Bank Manager (I'm not so sure now) but he was already a big boy. He had an official car and personal cars. The first time I ran into him was at his first branch somewhere around Ugbowo.

 When I sighted him, I was so excited, approached him to exchange pleasantries but the moment he discovered that I was a mere undergraduate (200 Level), his attitude towards me changed and each time I visited his branch, he avoided me like a plague. At a point, I respected myself and stopped saying hi to him.


Four years later, a very dear Egbon who lectures at the Faculty of Law had just lost his dad and we had just returned from the village where we had been for the funeral rites. As we were drinking and gisting in his apartment, my old friend who was already a bank manager at the time walked in.

 I got up to shake hands with him, but he ignored me and walked up to Egbon  Well, it was a business visit, so I actually raised an excuse on his behalf. Unknown to me, Egbon saw the drama and he inquired from me after his departure. I told him my side of the story and that made him to change his mind about the transaction. He then tried to encourage me that it was not the end of life and that he was so certain that we were still going to meet in life someday. I moved on.

 This happened in December 2004.


Six years after, 30 minutes after our first meeting, I had received two calls and one text message from my old friend. The first call was to ask me to save his no.

 The text message had his account details. The second call was an instruction -send me money to pay for my cab now Ore. I remember sending him something without even asking questions. I think like two days after, my old friend called me again to share his catalogue of woes with me. 

He lost his job, he sold his cars, his wife left him, his wife took his children away and he had just got a job in Victoria Island, but his employer was yet to pay him his first salary so I was to sustain him till the end of the month. Let me state that he is not deserving of any assistance from me, humanly speaking, but hey no, we all pray to God everyday to forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Innit? I still gave him the little I could afford.


Few days after, a colleague who had just completed her NYSC in the firm was travelling to the UK for her LL.M and being a karaoke lover, we had chosen a spot for her sendforth somewhere in Victoria Island. I think about six of us from my office and some other friends converged at the Bar for the aforementioned event.

 We all got there early and behold the security detail who ushered us into the karaoke bar turned out to be my old friend, the former bank manager. (Please note that I'm writing this piece with all sense of sensitivity and deference to all security details. I do not intend to denigrate the person of any professional here.)

 My old friend was not so happy seeing me around, having refused to disclose the nature of his "new job" to me the last time we spoke, remember? He did everything possible to be around me and each time he attempted to stay beyond what his employment permits, his supervisor would instruct him to relocate back to his duty post.


It was a very deep lesson for me. In life, no condition is permanent. Wherever God/nature has placed you, remember that it is for a reason and a season. You and I are not better than anyone out there. The only difference between you and those who are lowly placed is grace and or time and chance.

 Dear Lord, grant me the grace to remain humble all the days of my life. Amen.

Its Kunle