It is early morning in school. Students are going about the affairs of their education. In a local bar, Chiadi and his friends are singing in high spirits. Shabbily dressed girls surround them while they take hard drugs and drink alcohol.
A Life Built on Hard Work – Chapter 3
Obiora: (Intones a nasty song as they sing and dance. They convert the empty bottles to improvised musical instruments to aid the songs.) This life is sweet if you know how to live it and drink it like cold juice. My brothers, the world is sweet and fun if you have someone like Chiadi to enjoy it with.
Chiadi: (With pride in his rather tipsy state.) This life is not hard. This life is not supposed to be hard, my brothers. Chop this life because e no get duplicate. Chop this life because if this life catches you, it will chop you. I have money. I came back from the village well-loaded.
The money i came back with won’t finish! Amen! (They cheer. Obiora intones a line of the song about the money that will never finish and they sing the first Jew lines and stop at his instance.) The money will never finish, so ladies and gentlemen, eat, drink, smoke; everything is on me. I came back with bullets, guns, and grenades.
Ngozi: Really! The mayor, you said bullets and grenades?
Chiadi: Did I say you should not tell anybody? I am loaded. I came back with cool cash and it is for me and my brothers. You know, my mother is equal to the task.
Obiora: (Flatters him.) You are the boss of all bosses. The mayor of the campus, taa, who wants to try you! Mayor, after you na still you! Ride on, boss.
Chiadị: (Pleased.) My mother is equal to the task. Her password is my dream of becoming a medical doctor. I just slotted in the card and my mother vomited money like ATM machine.
Obiora: The mayor! This is why you will remain the mayor of this campus. You see this coming weekend, I will carry my lamba to my parents.
What I will do to them will not be good. Even you people will be shocked. They want me to be a lawyer, no problem, but they will pay. How many people are lawyers in my mother’s and father’s lineage combined? It is me they want to sacrifice to cram all these law terminologies, study cases, and know all the sections, codes, and paragraphs in different law books. Yes, they have to pay!
Chiadị: That is the spirit. They must pay!
Obiora: The mayor, ogene people no dey apply makeup naa. This time around, if they no sell land to finance my education, then call me a bastard. I have written everything I need down. If everything goes well, I will host all of you for one month. Mayor, see my list, check am out. (Chiadi takes the list and inspects it.)
Chiadi: (Shouts at the outrageous and non-existent things written in there.) Finally, I have seen whom I am better than. This is the real wicked guy!
Obiora: Bitter leaf heart that is my new name ooh! I will be a lawyer but all man must collect!
Chiadi: So, we now have a different book called Book of Law and a separate book called Law of Contract and Another one known as Contract of Law? Each of them has volumes 1 and 2! Then we have the Book of Civil Law and Law of Civil volumes 1 and 2. Then we have Oxford Learners, before Advanced Learners and Kindergarten Dictionary of Beginners.
Obiora: (Proudly.) Stay there na! What do you know?
Chiadi: (Amused.)Nothing! I am not smart. I don’t know anything! Good luck, bro. (Obiora collects his paper.)
Another student, Agozie, Joins the Discussion
Agozie: You people are lucky to have illiterates as parents. My parents are Chike Obi and the rest of them. They are knowledgeable in almost every field and both are ICT compliant. My mother is a lecturer and my father is a pharmacist.
My mother pays my school fees by herself and my father pays for my books straight into my HOD’s bank account. You know, my two younger brothers are also in this university…
Chiadị: (Cuts in.) You are the one who keeps quiet and continues to swallow their excesses. I have told you many times, Agozie, you are a big boy now.
You need to stand up and defend your right, now or never. I will summon you and your brothers to teach you people the way. Shine your eyes, all of you. You should tell them about the accreditation fee, excursion fee, and regional due, association annual progressive due, and burial levy. There will be a lot of coded fees we can come up with, and even your mother as a lecturer will surely fall for it.
It is your right, my brother… (He is still speaking when Okwute, one of his gang members, enters.) Okwute my guy! How far now? Where have you been? We have been here all day and all attempts to reach you failed.
Okwute: Mayor, I went round the class searching for you people!
Ahmad Nwabuzor is a Nigerian author and storyteller with a strong passion for writing and sharing meaningful stories. He is a graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), where he studied English and Literary Studies.
He writes across different forms of storytelling, including cultural narratives, emotional fiction, and moral stories that teach life lessons. His storytelling style is rooted in African life and shaped by a deep interest in how traditions influence people’s choices and emotions.