When Eze left Gudu for Lagos, all he carried with him was a small travelling bag, N35,000 in savings, and a dream that had become too heavy to keep postponing as the years went by after completing his university degree, many of his classmates seemed to be doing well especially at least on social media but it just felt like his life was just stagnant.
At twenty seven years old, he was tired of watching his younger siblings abandon their dreams because their parents could barely afford food. Some of his siblings even had to drop out of school to pick up some hand work in the community. His father had died three years earlier, leaving his mother to manage a small roadside kiosk. Every time Eze called home, she assured him that things were fine, even when he could hear the exhaustion in her voice.
Eze hustled!!! As hard as he could no job was too low for him and no pay was too small, he was hardworking because he had always been told that hardwork always pays, at least in theory. A childhood friend who he was staying with at the time introduced him to a man who promised him a job with a logistics company in Lagos. The salary was attractive, the accommodation was supposedly provided, and all Eze needed was enough money to cover his transportation and registration.
He as such borrowed money from an uncle, packed his belongings, and travelled south. Eze of course expected challenges , at least at this point in his life he knew that life was not just a bed of roses and he had learned to minimise his expectations in life but he had not even tasted any joy when the nightmare began two days after his arrival. The man who had promised him the job stopped answering his calls, he could not wrap his head around it, like why make someone leave where they are all the way to Lagos and just ghost them. The office address turned out to be an abandoned building, and the supposed logistics company did not exist.
Eze had been cheated, and he was stranded in a city where everyone was for themselves and was so expensive to do anything. For weeks, he survived on cheap meals and the generosity of his friend who reluctantly allowed him to sleep on his floor. He searched for work everywhere, but every opportunity demanded experience, connections, or money he did not have.
One evening, while sitting outside a betting shop, Eze met a young man called Kelvin, because one thing with Eze was that he liked talking to people and meeting new people. He liked sharing experiences and learning from other people. Kelvin wore expensive clothes, drove a flashy car, and seemed to have it all.
“You're suffering because you're trying to make money the honest way,” Kelvin told him. Eze laughed at first but when Kelvin explained how he made money through online fraud, the laughter disappeared. Eze knew it was wrong, he had heard stories about people being deceived online, but he had never imagined becoming one of those responsible. To be honest he had always cursed online fraudsters with every breath he had but here he was considering it. Still, he thought about his mother, his siblings, and the debt he owed.
He convinced himself that he would do it only once and that was it, he would use it to kick start a business or something and quit the illegal work. The first payment changed everything, he had never seen such money in his bank account before, he could not contain his excitement. Within weeks, eze was sending money home. His mother called one afternoon, crying with happiness because she had finally repaired the leaking roof above their bedroom. His younger sister could return to school, and his brother no longer had to beg their neighbours for money to buy textbooks.
For the first time in years, Eze felt useful, the money came faster than he had ever imagined possible. He moved into a better apartment, bought new clothes, and stopped worrying about the cost of meals.
Whenever the wave of guilt washed over him or threatened to disturb him, he reminded himself that he was not the only person doing it. Kelvin and the others laughed about their victims, calling them foolish people who were too trusting. Eventually, Eze learned to laugh along.
Then, one Tuesday morning, he was scrolling through his phone when a news report caught his attention. A middle aged man in another state had taken his own life after losing his family's savings to an online investment scam. He had left behind a wife and two young children. Eze barely paid attention until he saw the man's photograph.
It was the same man he had scammed three weeks earlier. He remembered their conversations, the man had told him he was saving money to expand his small business and pay his children's school fees. Eze had pretended to be an investment consultant, promising returns that never existed. The man had begged him for a refund but Eze just blocked him and now, the man was dead.
That night, Eze could not sleep, whenever he closed his eyes, he saw the man's face. He imagined the widow sitting alone, explaining to her children why their father would never return. He imagined the children growing up without understanding why their family's future had disappeared. He imagined the children towing the same path he did and suffering the same way he did
Soon, eze began seeing danger everywhere. Every unknown number seemed like a police officer. Every knock on his door made his heart race. When a black car parked outside his apartment, he spent an hour watching it through the curtains, convinced someone had come for him, he even stopped eating properly and began drinking endless cups of coffee to stay awake, afraid that sleep would bring the same terrible dreams.
In one dream, he had when he managed to sleep, he stood in a dark room surrounded by people whose faces he could not see. They demanded their money back and when he tried to explain himself, the dead man's voice rose above the others.
“My children are asking for their father. What should I tell them?”
Eze woke up screaming.
Days later, Kelvin noticed the change in him.
“Forget that man,” Kelvin said casually. “We have another deal coming. Don't allow emotions to make you poor.”
That evening, Eze opened his banking application and stared at the money he had accumulated and he felt empty, their was no joy in him. The money was enough to support his family for years, and start a legitimate business back home but it was also money built on somebody else's suffering. He thought about confessing. He could approach the authorities, surrender the money he still had, and accept the consequences or he could remain silent and pretend that the dead man's family was none of his concern.
For hours, he sat motionless, staring blank into the wall. Finally, he picked up his phone and called his mother.
“Mama,” he whispered when she answered, “what would you do if your son made a terrible mistake?”
She was quiet and finally she said
“Every mistake has consequences, my son,” she replied, “but hiding from what you have done will never make it disappear.”
Eze began to cry, the following morning, he contacted a lawyer and told him everything. He knew that confessing would not bring the dead man back or erase the suffering he had caused. He also knew that accepting responsibility would not guarantee forgiveness.
As he walked towards the lawyer's office, his phone vibrated with a message from Kelvin.
“Another update dey. Big money. Are you in?”
Eze stared at the screen before deleting the message. He put the phone into his pocket and continued walking, with so much courage and as he opened the door all he wanted was for the nightmare to end. He ended up telling his lawyer everything and implicated all those he knew were involved in the crime ring. His confession led to arrests and eventually for his cooperation Eze was sentenced to only three years imprison, eligible for parole in 12 months.
Image was gotten from Gemini