“No, that’s not mine, I wasn’t involved in any
form of malpractice” Gabriel tried to explain
himself to the attendant.
“I wasn’t expecting you to say you were involved in the first place, we know your types” the attendant let out a laugh, a mockery laugh. “You guys will be…..” she was still saying but Israel who had been quiet all these while suddenly interrupted her.
“Shut up!!!” Israel shunned her, “He wasn’t involved in it” Israel shouted at her, she was surprised, was this not the same Israel who had been treating her like a Queen before now? What suddenly came over him?
“Gabriel, let’s leave here, I think there
might be a problem somewhere” Israel drew his friend up. In as much as Gabriel tried to conceal the tears that were already forming in his eyes, they still fell. As he walked out that Café that day, he had tears on his cheeks and he didn’t bother to wipe them off despite the number of people staring at him. It was unusual to see a guy of his age crying in public, those who saw him continued to stare at him until he was out of sight, Nigerians.
“Israel, believe me, I wasn’t involved in any form of malpractice” Gabriel said to his friend the moment they entered his compound,
“I know that Gabriel, I know you were
not involved in it, I think there is a miss up
somewhere which needs to be rectified” Israel
patted him. Together with Israel, Gabriel walked into the main house, his dad and mom were in the sitting room discussing.
“Why is your face like that?” his mom asked him getting up slowly from the couch,
“I was accused of malpractice in my Jamb examination” he said and his Dad sprang up immediately,
“You were accused or you were involved?” his dad asked him, Gabriel opened his mouth wide in shock.
“That was too harsh” Mrs. Helen turned to her husband.
“Mom believe me, I wasn’t involved in it, mom please believe me” Gabriel begged holding his mom’s hand.
“I believe you son, I know you won’t do such a thing” she rubbed her hand on his head,
“we can’t be so sure “his dad interrupted, “Get
ready, tomorrow, we will both go to jamb office
at Lekki, we will confirm there” he added and
walked away.
“I trust you son, I trust you” his Mom said to him as she walked briskly to the room to talk to her husband.
“Gabriel, I think I will be going now, take heart bro” Israel patted him, he had been observing the whole drama all these while.
“Thanks Israel” Gabriel hugged his friend,
“Thank you so much” he added as he
released him and allow him leave. The moment
Israel left the sitting room, Gabriel buried his
hands in his palms and shed hot tears, first, his
girlfriend Nkechi broke up with him and now,
Jamb is accusing him of what he knows nothing
of, it has been a really bad month for him.
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********
Their sitting room wasn’t as furnished as those
of high classed people, but nevertheless it was
very much comfortable. There is a big center
table at the center of the sitting room, it was
surrounded with couches, couches of different
type. There is a small dinning corner in a corner of the sitting room, it was made up of a plastic reading table surrounded with four plastic reading chairs, a typical dining table. An old black and white television could also be seen in the sitting room, it got spoilt a long time ago, it was just there to occupy space.
Queen and her mom sat opposite each other, the only thing separating them was the center table.
“Mama, we have been staring at each other for the pass ten minutes now, have you forgotten you called me to have a word with me?” Queen asked her mother,
“I know I called you” her Mom started, “I want us to talk about your life” she added.
“What is wrong with my life?” Queen asked her,
“Everything is wrong with your life Queen, is these how other girls of your age behave?” her mom asked her angrily, Queen only smiled.
“Mama, those other girls haven’t seen the light” Queen told her mother as she got up from the red couch, her mother was sitting on the blue couch.
“Queen, come back here!!” her Mom shouted at her as she made to walk out of the sitting room,
“Mama please, leave me alone, am sure you also haven’t seen the light” Queen laughed and exited the sitting room. She has obviously seen the light.
******
The journey to Lekki wasn’t meant to be long, but the traffic and condition of Lagos’s road made a journey of 30 minutes turn into one of one hour.
“This journey has taken longer than
expected” Mrs. Helen said to no one in particular, she was with her husband and her son Gabriel, they were all in her husband’s car heading to Likki, to the Jamb office.
“I told you not to follow us, we didn’t force you to come so don’t complain” her husband smiled,
“I must be involved in anything pertaining my son’s education” she said patting Gabriel whose head was tinted backwards, he was lost in thought.
They got to their destination at about 20 minutes later, the slow manner at which Mrs. Helen walked out of the car showed that she was exhausted, Gabriel on his side didn’t look like he was tired, he was looking vibrant and walking like he was about to jump on someone for a fight. After series of questioning by some of the staffs there, they were finally directed to an Office occupied by a fat man.
“Good morning” Mr. Jason greeted the fat man, the fat man murmured some sort of reply. “We are here on an issue concerning my son, he was accused to be involved in some sort of malpractice” Mr. Jason said while the fat man looked up to them for the
first time.
“What do you want me to do, if he is
accused of examination malpractice then he
certainly indulged in it” The fat man said.
“If I was involved in examination malpractice, then the board wouldn’t have uploaded my result for me to see in the first place, I was just about printing it out when the notification came up that I was involved in it” Gabriel explained, the expression on the man’s face showed he was paying attention.
“What was your Jamb score?” the man
asked him,
“320” Gabriel said as he opened his
phone to show the man a screenshot of his
result, he had actually asked Israel to screenshot it and send it to his phone the previous day when they had initially checked the result through Israel’s phone. His parent were shocked, he never told them he performed so well in the exam, he only told them he was accused of malpractice.
“I won’t lie to you guys, from what
this boy had said and from this evidence he had provided, it is obvious that his result was sold” the man said. Mrs. Helen placed her both hand on her head, Mr. Jason didn’t react, he only stared at the man expecting him to continue.
“From what he had said, the result was sold at
the exact time he was about to print out the
result, he only missed by some seconds. That
was why the result first came up and after some minutes, it showed the notification” the man explained and Mr. Jason nodded this time,
“Is there any remedy to this?” Mr. Jason asked, the man nodded slightly and took a quick glance round his office, he then bent his head towards them.
“You know, this is Nigeria, there is always a remedy. You can as well buy someone else’s
result” the man laughed, Mr. Jason also laughed and shook hands with the man,
“Now you are talking” Mr. Jason laughed, “let us proceed with the transaction” Mr. Jason added still laughing,
“No dad” Gabriel interrupted, “I know how I felt yesterday, I know how I felt when I was accused of such despite my hard work, I won’t want any student to feel the same way” Gabriel said and got up from the chair. Truly, this is Nigeria, everybody be criminal.
