In the space of time - Episode 10

 

When Ada got home, she found Odogwu in the living room, sitting and looking so helplessly sad. He sat on the floor of the living room, on the rouge actually, but she knew something was definitely up. She remembered how he sounded on the phone and hurriedly went towards him. ‘’Sweetheart, what’s the matter?’’ she asked, dropping the bag of foodstuffs she had purchased earlier from the market on a side stool in the living room. Odogwu was wearing his shirt with about three of his top button undone . ‘’where is Tabitha?’’, she asked looking around and wondering whether something bad had happened to their daughter. ‘’Ifeanyi! Ifeanyi!’’, she shouted. She knew he was around because the car was parked outside. Odogwu put his hand on her lap, signifying for her to stop. ‘’Tabitha is fine, she ate and now she’s sleeping’’ Odogwu replied. Then what was the matter? ‘’Odogwu, gwanu m ihe n’eme nu(tell me what the matter is)’’, she sounded desperate now, she heard the sound of desperation in her voice. Odogwu didn’t speak, he just picked up a folded white paper and gave it to her. She opened it and read the heading, ‘’Letter of suspension from the Nigerian Navy’’, what? Like what? Why? What had he done? What was they going to do?

TEN
19TH March, 2019
It was exactly one week since Odogwu got his suspension letter

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/in-the-space-of-time

. He had gone to enquire about the cause,  Adaugo had pushed him to do this. She said the government would not just suspend a staff of theirs for no reason, that Odogwu should find out why the suspension letter was drafted and clear his name, because she was sure he was innocent. She was right, he was. On the letter, they had written, ‘gross misconduct’, but the misconduct committed there was not explicitly stated. So Odogwu traveled to Lagos the next day, to find out what the suspension was all about. He asked to see the rear admiral in charge of commanders (people in his rank). Rear Admiral Hassan knew Odogwu from his early days in the Navy. When Odogwu just joined the Navy, the rear Admiral was just a captain then. He liked Odogwu for his honesty and efficiency. This was before Odogwu met Chituru.  When, Chituru came into Odogwu’s life, Rear Admiral Hassan had been transferred from Sapele to Kaduna, the school of defense there. Odogwu was however shocked when he heard the news(because it was news to him), and saw the facts that the rear Admiral presented before him. Right there on the table was the budget allocated for the building of the hospital and the money for the expenditure and also the money that was left. Something was wrong. The facts in this log book presented to Odogwu now, was by far different from the ones Odogwu had. In summary, a total of 12 million naira was missing. And all the figures pointed to theft or fraud. Meaning, they had suspected that Odogwu being the team leader, had diverted the sum of 12 million naira from the budget account elsewhere. ‘’where is the money, commander Chuma?’’, rear admiral Hassan had asked, Odogwu didn’t know what to say, here were figures that were popping out of nowhere to implicate him, how could these things be? ‘’honestly sir, these figures are new to me, everything we did was recorded in my log book, the financial secretary (the bursar) was in charge of recording’’, the rear admiral however didn’t seem convinced. ‘’Who was in charge of the account?’’ Odogwu had handled the account but there was no sign of any missing money anywhere. The materials they had purchased were the same amounts recorded, and the calculations they made added up at the end of the day. ‘’I was in charge of the accounts, but believe me sir, these figures are manipulated, I can call the finance secretary to confirm’’, Odogwu pleaded desperately, ‘’ehmm, that wouldn’t be necessary, you see we already had her here yesterday, and she testified that you knew all about the changed figures and you encouraged her to keep quiet about it’’. 
‘’What? That is not true sir, believe me you know I am not like this’’, Odogwu couldn’t believe what was happening. Thirteen years in the Navy, how could he just go down like this and for something he did not do. He was obviously being set up, but by who? ‘’Exactly, I thought I knew you, but commander I must say, I am very disappointed. Even if your salary isn’t enough, you would have come to meet people you trust like me for help, and I would be willinmg to lend to you if you really need the money, why would you steal from the government? a whole twelve million naira? Haba, this is too much now’’. I didn’t steal sir, Odogwu wanted to voice out but he just couldn’t. ‘’Anyways, the official car would be taken away from you and also the house in Abuja, until your suspension is lifted, and I’m afraid, even though I want to help you, I cant. The decision came from the disciplinary committee, you can only be called back after you have been vindicated’’. Odogwu knew he definitely would be vindicated from all these accusations. God never allows an innocent man suffer without bailing him out. ‘’I just have one question sir, please just be honest with me, I would go afterwards without disturbing you again’’, Odogwu knew the financial secretary didn’t like him. He had refused her s*xual advances several times. She wanted to be his lover, but he didn’t accept. He told her he could only offer her friendship and since they were stuck working together for about two years, he didn’t want to have her as an enemy. She had said she was cool, she had acted like she was cool, she had even asked of his wife and kids on several occasions! What he didn’t know was that she was colliding behind his back to get him off his job. ‘’Of course, go ahead and ask you question, I’d give an answer if its in my power to’’, Odogwu went ahead to ask. ‘’who raised the alarm? who was the whistle blower?’’, ‘’why do you want to know that? Will it help? You were in the Navy long enough to know that we cannot reveal the identity of our informant’’, Odogwu  turned back to go, he was already at the door, when the rear Admiral said, ‘’the person is occupying your former office right now in Abuja, if you’re really innocent, prove it, that’s all I can do to help’’. Odogwu turned and smiled. ‘’It’s enough, thank you sir’’, and with that he left the office of the rear admiral. 
This was last week, Odogwu was now in the living room of his house in Enugu reading the daily devotional book to his family. The topic read, ‘’how much do you trust God?’’, Odogwu  knew the topic was speaking to him, in the past one week he had been throwing a lot of complains here and there, scolding people unnecessarily. Pastor Kalu had even tried to speak to him but Odogwu was just said, he kept saying he wasn’t treated fairly and life wasn’t fair to him. Two things caused this bitterness he now suffered, one,  in order to recover the missing twelve million, the Navy had frozen twelve million of what was in his account. Now, Odogwu barely had up to one million naira, he had sold his car just yesterday, he could pay Somto’s third term fees. The car was worth about five million but he sold it at 3.5 million because of the urgent rate at which it was let out for sale. He had opened a trust fund for Somto and Tabitha but he didn’t want to touch that, it was for their future. If he didn’t get a quick solution, he would have to move them from the expensive schools they were in now, to a less expensive school. Just a few months ago he had gotten a promotion that doubled his salary and now he was selling off his things to live, how could these things be? He knew why, the devil had come in form of his friend, Chituru to destroy his life. This takes us to the second reason for he is current bitter state. The person who was currently occupying his former position in Abuja was his former friend Chituru. In fact Odogwu thought, Friend and Chituru shouldn’t be placed in the same sentence. He wondered what he had done to Chituru in this life to deserve this kind of stabbing from him. Apparently, Chituru had a thing with the financial secretary of his team and they had both manipulated the figures and done away with any evidence or trace of the original documents, anything that could vindicate Odogwu. 
The devotional he was reading to his family was talking about Job the faithful servant and how he trusted God, even when he had nothing, when he lost his family, his wealth and was even afflicted with sickness, when his wife even said to him, ‘’curse God and die’’, Ada would never do that, but then again he wasn’t Job, Odogwu couldn’t imagine loosing his family, he coyldnt live without them. They had been a source of strength and joy for him. God was now telling Odogwu to trust him. Maybe God had a plan to restore all he had lost? Odogwu was grateful for the fact that he still had his family, he still had his loving and supporting wife and then his beautiful kids, but he really badly wanted a miracle to happen, at least let his name be cleared, let the whole world know that he wasn’t a thief, now even his juniors in the navy looked at him with so much disappointment and disrespect, this needed to change!, ‘’Daddy, are you crying?’’, it was Somtochukwu, he was around. His school was on break, ‘’Daddy don’t cry, God will clear your name’’, that was Tabitha, she was touching his legs now, wait, Odogwu thought, how did Tabitha know he was waiting for his name to be cleared, she had strictly told Ada not to inform the children of was going on, ‘’Tabitha love, who told you that?’’, Odogwu asked, he was really curious. ‘’I had a dream last night that you received an award of excellence and the man kept apologizing to you, he now gave you a pink flower and said your name had been cleared’’. What? Tabitha was just six years going to seven and she was already dreaming? ‘’C’mon dear, come to momma, don’t worry, your daddy’s name will be cleared soon, ehnn’’, Ada said carrying the child and placing her on her laps. Odogwu finally gave in, okay God, I will trust you, I have decided to trust you, Odogwu thought. 

  **************************
30th March, 2019
Odogwu was watching the morning news, He had just dropped Tabitha off from school . Today was Ada’s day off at work, so she was in the kitchen, preparing akara and pap. Odogwu was job searching. It had been three weeks since he was served that suspension letter and there was no news from the Navy. He needed a job to still cater for his family. Right now he was running low on cash and he needed money ASAP. Ada had transferred 1.2 million naira to his account yesterday. Odogwu had told her of the plan to set up his own firm but how he needed capital and she just sent 1.2 million to him. Odogwu was surprised, he knew her salary wasn’t up to that and he trusted his wife, he knew she couldn’t be collecting money from men. So he asked he where she had gotten such huge amount of money. She said sha had been saving from the allowances he gave her every month. 1.2 million wasn’t such a big money to Odogow before now, it was something he could use to buy a gift for his wife, but her now investing in him back only showed the selfless nature of Ada. He had married a good woman. Good women were rare to find, but he was sure he had found one, and made her his wife, particularly the one the bible described as a good thing. He felt really bad for not allowing her to work all these years, he felt like he had been keeping a blessing to the world hostage, like she would have been very productive in the society but she had obeyed her husband all through for ten long years, she was patient with him, until he came to see things the way she did. He hoped she would forgive him, even though he had already apologized when he realized how wrong he had been. He hoped God would forgive him. 
His phone rang, he looked at the caller ID, there was no name just number. He picked up, ‘’Odogwu!!!’’ heard from the other line, ‘’Odinaka?’’, it was definitely Odinaka’s voice, Odogwu talked with him for about eight to ten minutes before finally ending the call. ‘’sweet heart!’’, he screamed, ‘’Ada m!!’’, Adaugo rushed from the kitchen to the living room, ‘’because of Jesus, everyday na shakara I dey do, double double heavenly blessings na im I dey receive, ah ah eh eh, God, your grace and mercy, always dey follow me’’, he was singing now, that was Eben’s victory song, Eben was a gospel musician Odogwu loved. ‘’Odogwu what happened?, whats the good news?? Tell me na!’’, Adaugo was smiling even before she heard the gist. She looked beautiful today. In fact she always looked beautiful, full stop. ‘’I just spoke with Odinaka now, and’’, Adaugo seemed really interested in this gist. She moved closer, ‘’wait honey, which Odinaka, like Odinaka Odinaka?’’, Adaugo knew him. They were close, but Odinaka had been abroad for a while, he was back in Nigeria though, there in Enugu. ‘’yes dear, apparently, I had sent my CV to his company, unknowing to me that it was his company o, you know I told you he opened a company in Enugu, some years back and then has been looking for a civil engineer to partner with, he said he ruled me out before because I worked for the government but he saw my CV and..’’, Ada was already jumping now, women… Odogwu thought, he hadn’t even told her the good news yet but she was already dancing for joy. ‘’And?’’ Ada asked, even though he was pretty sure she already knew what would come after the ‘and’, he continued anyways, ‘’And he wants to partner with me!!’’, Ada ran to hug her husband, she had vegetable oil all over her hands but she just didn’t care. This was God!
 

After two months, Odogwu was settled in his own office, he had begun work. They received contracts to construct buildings, roads and even bridges. Depending on the number of contracts they got in a year, Odogwu was earning far more than what he received at the military. This was God! Odogwu really couldn’t explain it, he had gone from bitterness to joy, from selling his cars to buying cars for people as gifts. He bought one for Pastor Kalu and ofcourse for his beautiful wife. He often wondered what kind of person he’d have been without Ada, she was indeed God’s gift to him. He couldn’t ask for me. He was blessed in every which way and he was doing what he loved, his passion, and he wasn’t working for anybody. He was a boss of his own. Chituru had seen him one day, while he drove in to greet one of his former bosses in the Navy who had just been transferred to Enugu there, he apologized to Odogwu, apparently the financial secretary from Odogwu’s team that he had collided with to frame Odogwu, had gotten tired of Chituru and framed him too, revealing all his past manipulating endeavors and how he had gotten away with it. They had both been dismissed from the Navy and sued too.

Read " Kenny's Story " by the same author ( Ijeoma Okorie )

. They were to be brought before a military court. Chituru was in the Enugu Naval dockyard to get his documents of employments, according to him, this would mitigate his sentence. He pleaded with Odogwu to forgive him. ‘’it was the devil’’, he said, of course, Odogwu knew, but the devil had failed miserably. Odogwu told him he had forgiven him and he was free to come to him for help of any kind, that if it was within Odogwu’s power he would do it. Odogwu wasn’t a saint but God had been merciful to him. Showing mercy to others, shouldn’t be a big deal to him now, ‘’I forgive you’’, he said, and walked inside the premises to see his old friend and boss. The navy had called him back, saying they had cleared his name, but Odogwu had an established company of his own, which he was now managing, Odinaka had gone back to manage the branch in the US. All things were really working together for his good, Glory to God. 
             THE END!
P.S;   WATCH OUT FOR THE EPILOGUE. Thank you for reading. You are loved.