happened to him please?
CALLER: I’m Tunde, a legal practioner.
ME: so what happened to segun please?
CALLER: He purchased a stolen phone
from someone,
ME: a stolen phone?
CAlLER: yes, that’s not all, the phone
was inside a SUV and both the car and
the phone was stolen at the same time.
So the phone was traced to him. So he
has been charged for armed robbery.
ME: huuh, when did it happen?
CALLER: since last week.
ME: where is him now?
CALLER: he is in the police custody and
may be charged to court any moment
from now unless we find the person who
sold the phone to him or we settle the
police so as to prevent the case from
getting to court, but I’m not sure the
second option will be possible because
the owner of the phone and car wanted
the matter to get to court,
ME: heeeeeee.
CALLER: since I’m the lawyer working
on his case, he gave me your number to
call you and inform you about what
happened to him.
ME: eyah, I have been trying his line
since last week and it wasn’t going
through. I have been so worried.
CALLER: yes, the phone is with the
police. let’s just keep praying we find
the seller of the phone because he
eloped immediately he heard segun was
arrested.
ME: ok sir, thank you sir, is this your
number?
CALLER: yes
ME: ok thanks, I will save it and give
you a call.
CALLER: no problem. Bye
I became so weak and restless.
“He must have been badly beaten by
now”
” Na crime to buy phone from someone
now oo”
“I just wish I can see him right way”.
” He must have been seriously injured
by now”.
“And I know segun too well, he doesn’t
do crime except for some minor “yahoo
yahoo” he did in the past”.
“But why must he purchase phone from
someone?”
“What if he will be eventually sentenced
to jail?”
“Who would be his replacement in my
life?”.
I was so lost in thoughts until one of my
team members came to my desk and
banged the table, that was when I came
back to reality. I just managed to finish
my daily target at work that day
because I wasn’t happy and I wasn’t
myself, my only best friend is in police
custody and might go to jail. Funmi
noticed my mood that day and enquired
about what was happening to me but I
told her I was fine. I closed for the day
at 6pm and I went home. I was still
worried and unhappy, I thought about
everything that had happened between
us, how we have both went through the
thick and thin together, everything we
shared and I was shedding tears as my
best friend was on his way to jail. I
prepared noodles that night and I
couldn’t eat it.
At around 8:30pm, I picked my phone
and wanted to talk with the lawyer and I
discovered my phone was off, I then
remembered I switched it off
immediately after receiving his call when
I just didn’t feel like talking to anyone. I
switched on the phone and I got a
message from the lawyer saying “hi, I
have been trying to call you but your
number is unreachable, please call back
when you get this message”.
I got scared again and was thinking
what could be happening, I checked my
airtime balance and found just 4naira
credit on my phone, I flashed the guy
and he called back.
ME: hello, I just saw your message, my
phone has been off since.
TUNDE: yes, I called you but your
number wasn’t reachable. I wanted to
give you updates after leaving the police
station this evening.
ME: ok, what is the update?, any good
news?, has my friend been released?,
TuNDE: the police said if we are able to
raise 100k before friday evening which
is tomorrow, he will be released and the
police will forget and scrap the case.
ME: haaa, that’s too much money oo.
TUNDE: you just have to act fast,
because after tomorrow and the money
is not available, he will be taken to court
on monday morning, and from the look
of things, its likely for him to get atleast
6years jail.
ME: ok, have you made any contact with
his relatives?
TUNDE: no, none of his relative is aware,
he said he doesn’t want them to know
about it so as not to put them in
tension.
ME: haa,
TUNDE: please, don’t inform his family
please, only his few selected friends are
aware of it.
ME: so what do we do now?
TUNDE: just try and arrange for the
money and send to me tomorrow
morning so as to work on it faster. The
earlier the better.
ME: I don’t have that much at hand at
the moment sir, what do I do now?
TUNDE: just try and send the money to
the account number I will send to you
as a text after this call, its very
important if you don’t want your friend
to go to jail.
ME: ok sir, let me see what I can do
TUNDE: just do something fast about it.
And please, don’t inform any of his
family please.
ME: ok sir
TUNDE: ok, I will call back tomorrow
morning. Pls try and get something
before then.
ME: ok sir
TUNDE: bye.
A text came in after the call and I
checked, it was an account number from
the lawyer. I sat down on my bed and I
started thinking of where to get money
before the next day to send to this
lawyer. The only person that came to
my mind was bimpe. “But how do I tell
her that I needed that huge amount?,
and the worst thing was that how do I
tell her I needed it for segun?. On the
other hand, I began to think this could
be a scam. How can someone be locked
up and his family would not be aware of his arrest?.
To be Continued
