Through Thick and Thin
The two-storey building painted yellow stood tall and healthy. Its roof shielded off from the weather elements with black aluminium. The inside coated with white paint. Of a truth, it was a striking beauty that conspicuously stood out from the rest.
Obinna is dark-skinned, tall and was average body built. His dark-coloured beards were well-trimmed and gave him a stunning look. He's a third-year student of Economics in Abia State University, abbreviated as ABSU.
He sat watching television on the second floor of the building. This time, the entertainment was coming from a well-known black motivational speaker. There was something he said that left Obinna in doubt. Thus, he said. "You are about to make a difference. Don't give up on your dream". This statement didn't only draw and join Obinna's attention in nuptial bonds but he was buried deep in the base of his memory, fresh and new. He was soon lost in his own thought and pondered how one could make a difference in this corrupt and spoilt world. Not making any headways, he smirked weakly and resigned to the couch.
He was enjoying the short vacation that the school gave them. He was left on endless ponder over what he heard from the television. And he kept gesturing with his hands as a choirmaster would do in front of the choristers.
It was already in the afternoon on a certain Thursday. He got up staggering to the kitchen to take the food that his mum already prepared for lunch. The message of the motivational speaker kept coming to him like flashes of light as he was eating. He was still buried deep in thought when his phone started ringing, 'br br br, br br br,' it came so laudably like a shrill-cry of a woman that lost her husband. Ebuka his Course representative was the one that called. He's a close ally of Obinna. "Obinna, how are you?" Ebuka asked over the phone. Obinna was about replying when Ebuka snapped that there was a problem.
Obinna's heart sank to his chest. 'What could be the problem?' he soliloquized.
''Uche Ken, the lecturer handling ECO 306 had threatened to fail any student that refused to show him, love. (Meaning to pay to pass the course).
"Ebuka wait, please!," Obinna interrupted. "What kind nonsense is this? That man who hardly comes to lecture. We even had to read his textbook cover to cover, line by line and word by word. And even burned midnight candles to understand his course, to be able to write something in the exam" Obinna said as he feigned annoyance. 'Please, tell him that I'm not paying anything,' he grumbled aloud like though his course representative was the said man.
Ebuka waited, cleared his throat in and continued. "Obinna, please don't allow this course to mal your grade. Please, co-operate with the man so that you do not get stuck in 300 levels forever," he advised.
Obinna stood his ground that he'll not dare to compromise his beliefs. He told the course rep., in clear and understandable terms that he was not going to "sort" the man before he hung the call.
"What nonsense! corruption-riddled society!!" he yelled, fighting for his breaths. (While will he fight with his breath?) Use more appropriate terms.
After three weeks, the school resumed and Obinna was back to campus. The result came out and was pasted on the notice board. It is a popular notice board in the school that was tagged the BBC of the school. He drew closer, meandered through the student crowd that stood checking their results. His eyes glanced up and down in search of his name for the ECO 306 to see his performance. It was so unfortunate that failure was the best fight his name could muster. He protested that he would report the lecturer to the school authority. He wrote a letter to the head of his department reporting what had happened to him. The Department, as well as the faculty Head, overlooked the case. Obinna wrote to the Vice-chancellor of the school reporting the case.
The Vice-chancellor called for an emergency Senate meeting to look into the report. Both Obinna and the lecturer was called to the council to defend the case. In the end, Obinna lost the case and was expelled from the school. Everyone blamed and despised Obinna for taking such a perilous step towards a lecturer. Obinna left the school and his dream to become a great Economist was shattered while he watched people trade on it.
After a year, he forgot about his past believing that if the yam used in sacrifice does not die prematurely, it will eventually germinate. He made up his mind to sit for another Joint Admission and Matriculation Board Examination, called JAMB in its abbreviated version. Though, his aim was to be admitted into another institution. Two months after purchasing the JAMB form and was making preparation for the exam, he got a call from an unknown number. The caller called him by his full name, with his former school registration number. It was the Secretary to the new Vice-Chancellor, who had decided to review his case. Obinna reported to the school as directed by the caller. His personal god was truly with him as he won the case against the evil lecturer. And this is how he was promoted to a new level. The school awarded him with a scholarship from his current undergraduate level to his master's degree.
The university promised to recruit him as a lecturer based on his integrity and the type needed to change the society for good. Although Obinna suffered one year for his fate, his keen determination to make a difference became a reality when a different kind of personality ascended the throne of the leadership of the university community. His chi or personal god smiled at him once more.
