Bad Market – Episode 20

It was three days after the ugly incident that occurred at Dad property on Amosun street, Ojota, albeit things hadn’t attained normalcy. Asides the fact that dad had been discharged from hospital, mum was still observing rest in another hospital while Timi was still cooling his heels behind bars.

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Now that dad was back, at least it was expected that he would gird up his loins in bringing back sanity to an already dire situation. However, the question was; how far could he go?

We still needed to appease the supposed tenants who had been duped by my brother. Folake, one of the ladies that was duped by Timi was hell-bent seeing a concrete end to the case, while the other lady whose boyfriend is my learned friend wanted the matter settled in court.

Since Timi was able to forge dad’s signature on the lease documents and even had the original lease documents to work with, the lady’s boyfriend believed they had a case.

Timi had collected a whooping sum of 1 million naira from the three tenants who had fallen for his whims and caprices. My brother was so greedy that he gave out the apartments at exactly the same amount Mr. Shina was mandated to charge for rent. He even went ahead to collect legal and caution fees amounting to 100,ooo naira from two of the aggrieved tenants. Folake was the only person that asked for time to offset the remainder of the fees levied for the apartment she supposedly rented.

A day prior to dad’s discharge mum had asked me to secure Timi’s release from Jail. His bail had been put at 300,000 thousand naira by the unscrupulous Police men that were handling his case and mum was prepared to make payments just so that he doesn’t exceed three nights at the Police station. The Police men had made us believe Timi would be transferred to Kirikiri Maximum Prisons if we don’t provide the money in three days

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“Dele make sure my son is not moved to Kirikiri maximum prisons o! by that time they will no longer be requesting for 300,000 naira as bail,” mum said painstakingly while lying on her hospital bed

“Mummy they can’t transfer him to Kirikiri when he hasn’t appeared in court”

“It’s like the law you read in UNILAG has made you lose your sense of reasoning. This is Nigeria son! A place where unlawfulness is the new Justice. I don’t know if the law you read only gives you the liberty to argue a matter to the very end without finding any solution to the problem. I guess you only succeed in creating another.”

“But what have I said now or is it my fault that your son landed himself in police net? Am I the person that forged lease documents?”

Mum always felt I enjoyed too many privileges from dad than any of her other kids and was always quick to come to their defense whenever I came in the picture. This was the reason why she seldomly gave me credit for anything even though I was the golden child of the family. She had this unconditional love for Timi that was unshakeable even at times when he was clearly caught in the act.

“Oh God! I need to get out of this hospital as soon as possible. Nurse please when will this bandage be taken off me head?” Mum spoke to a nurse who just stepped into the ward.

“Tomorrow morning ma”

“Cool!”

“Look Dele make yourself useful, let us feel the impact of the law degree you earned or were you awarded the degree on a platter of Gold? Please just do the needful and get your brother out of that place. This is the third night he will be spending there”

“But where do I get 300,000 naira from?

“You mean you don’t have 300,000 naira in your account to lend me?”

“Hell no!”

“Okay help me bring my wallet from my handbag over there.” I stretched out my hand to take mum’s handbag from the position it was on her bedside ward table, then searched for her wallet.

“Take my ATM. The pin is your date of birth”

“My date of birth?” I was shocked that mum could use my date of birth for something as significant as her ATM pin. I wondered if I secretly her favourite child and she was just being too egoistic to show it.

“Yes! Your date of birth. Don’t start feeling important there o! You know I couldn’t have used your brother’s date of birth. The criminal could easily have figured that out. Now, go fast and withdraw money before they move him from that Police station”

“Ehn! That will be their loss na. Shebi na them wan chop the bail money.” After mum’s explanation on why my date of birth was used as her pin, I couldn’t tell if it was just a ploy to stop me from feeling like the golden child I was, which was my trademark or she was actually being frank with me. Anyways a part of me told a different story from mum’s…

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That day I couldn’t secure my brother’s release because the officer in charge of his case was not on seat, so I had to chill till the next day. On getting to the station that evening, my brother’s appearance was pitiful.  I noticed he was being victimized and humiliated. Timi’s condition had really deteriorated, I feared that his continual stay there could spell doom. I left the station hoping he would survive another night in cell.

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Dad did not even wait to rest when he returned home following his discharge from hospital. He had started making several calls and had even set up an appointment with his caretaker, Mr. Shina.

“Dad I need to get to the Police station,” I said as I picked the car keys from the dining table whilst he was engrossed with the news on TV.

“What for?”

“This is Timi’s fourth day at the station, the officers handling his case are demanding for 300,000 naira before he can be released from their custody”

“300,000 naira? What for? Did they reach an agreement with the people that were duped?”

“I’m not sure dad”

“So what happens to the people he duped if we give the officers 300, 000 naira? Will we still be expected to pay them back too? I’m sure Timi would still have some money to refund them right?” Dad bombarded me with questions he knew I had no answers to

“Dele we can’t bail your brother from that place. We have to be sure he has the money to pay back or else this will boomerang”

“I was shocked at my old man’s conclusion. “Dad! so you want him to remain there? You know the implication of that right? Your son might end up in Kirikir o!”

“Who cares? Is that not where he ought to be all along? Look I am not spending my hard-earned money to remedy a case that was dead on arrival. Your brother is a criminal, let him be treated as one. Let the full weight of the law rest on him.”

“But mum already asked me to pay the money to secure his release”

“Your mum gave you 300,000 naira?”

“Yes.”

“Okay let’s go to the station together” Dad got up from the sofa in one split of a second

“You want to accompany me to the station?”

“Is there a problem with that?” Dad asked.

“No! but considering that you just got discharged from the hospital I would strongly advise against it. Moreover, I am not sure this is the right time to confront Timi. I saw him yesterday and I really felt sorry for him. He’s really been dealt with at the station. Those officers have me to deal with after this.”

“Look Dele, forget the fact that Timi is your brother, it still doesn’t change the fact that he is a criminal”

“Dad that has not been proven yet and they don’t have any right to treat him the way they are”

Are you going to let me go with you or would you rather I go on my own?”

“No it’s fine, but please dad… don’t go fighting him there”

“What do you take me for? A British Bulldog?”

“Dad relax, it has not come to that. Anyways let’s go before he dies in police custody.”

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I should have known that my dad had a sinister motive when he offered to accompany me to the station. As soon as the officer on duty appeared with Timi, my old man grabbed the sidearm of the officer which was a service pistol he wore in a sheath around his waist. Before anyone could stop him, dad had fired two point blank shots at his son. The police station was thrown into pandemonium afterwards as Timi dropped to the ground beneath in a pool of his own blood!