Before I gained admission into the tertiary institution, I was involved in many things at home in a bid to fatten my pocket, and one of these acts was following up with political campaigns, which appreciated my pocket very well at the end of the day, week, or month, as the case may be.
My activeness in it got me noticed, and I got a quick promotion from a "floor member" (ordinary member) to the assistant and secretary of a particular unit.
There was a particular campaign that we organised, and the turnout was massive because we were assured by our candidate of a good share of money, which helped us convince the multitudes to turn up.
After the event, we were given a huge amount of money to share with all participants.
Being in charge of the money, I went to meet my boss (the leader of the group) to discuss how to share the money.
"We have 200,000 naira in total; how are we going to share it? I asked
"Keep 150,000 naira for us and share the remaining 50,000 naira with the people," he replied.
I was sure I didn't hear him well, or maybe he made a mistake in what he said, so I asked him again,
"I mean, we have 200,000 naira in total; how are we going to share it?"
He smiled, laughed, and replied, "I heard you the first time. Keep 150,000 naira for us and use 50,000 naira to distribute among them."
We are talking about a crowd of almost 100; how do we give them that little portion? My soft conscience began to fight me.
I tried convincing him to make it fair for everyone, but he gave me the common slang of that party "share the money".
I was left with no option but to do as he said, and the worst thing was that I was the one to share the money with them.
I summoned my courage and gathered them for the distribution of the money to them. First of all, I had to address them, and it went like this:
On behalf of Chief Romanus in our party, we would like to thank you all for turning up during the rally. He dropped a little sum of money to show appreciation. It's not much; you all will manage it till a bigger one comes.
"Eeeeehhhh!!!"
All of them echoed in jubilation.
I sat down, took my book, opened it, and called the first name; it was a woman. She came forth, and I handed him one note of 500 naira.
She collected it, shelooked at it, looked at me, and asked, "Just 500 naira?"
The question pierced my heart like a knife, and I felt like topping it up from my portion, but if I do that, we'll be exposed. Guilt enveloped my soft heart.
"Yes, let's manage that for now. A bigger share will come as we keep doing good," I replied to the woman after a few seconds lost in thought.
Mtchwww!
She hissed and left, and immediately, everyone of them began to murmur. I could hear them, they knew that we had taken the bigger portion, and they were pointing their fingers at me.
I couldn't bear the faces and murmurs at all, I felt like confessing to them, but I was scared of the outcome too.
I braved up and continued to share the money with my guilty conscience.
Suddenly, the leader (my boss) walked in, and the intensity of their murmuring increased, but my boss hardened his face and behaved like it was none of his business.
I used all the money feeling guilty, but after a long while, I came to understand that it's actually a 'political money' and... (feel free to fill in the blank to your taste). Lol😄)
Thank you for reading.
I hope this does not interfere with the "NO POLITICAL DOCTRINES" rule.