"Mr President, this is how it is done. Cooperate with me like your predecessors and let both of us smile at the end of the exercise." Hajia pushed a basket of fruits to my front where I was seated as she continued in her efforts to convince me to compromise on my stand on the issue of paying bursary. "If we do this, we are only helping ourselves. It won't be good if our pen begins to write something negative about each other." She continued while opening the fridge to bring out an assorted wine for me.
"Writing something negative about each other? What does this woman mean? Is this a threat to make me do her biddings?" I asked myself multiple questions.
"Ojo, you need to have the record and evidence of everything that transpired here today." My instinct told me to maneuver my phone carefully to the application for recording and I began to record future conversations.
I was the president of the students of my state of origin studying in the University. The state government had a bursary scheme through which a stipend is given to each and every student annually to assist in taking care of some financial needs.
Hajia was a civil servant working in the bursary department of the state ministry of education. She was in charge of taking the money to the universities in Northern Nigeria and would liaise with the president of the students there to pay the money successfully to every student that is eligible.
Before her arrival at the campus, I had enquired from my predecessor in office about the procedure for the payments. I had walked up to him while he was driving out of the students' car park in his recently acquired Toyota Camry.
"The procedure is not cumbersome. Once both of you are on the same page, the payment will be done seamlessly. A document containing the names of the beneficiaries would be brought by Hajia. You will meet with her and work on the document and payment of the bursary begins for the lucky beneficiaries that scaled through."
"What work are we doing on the document and what do you mean by the lucky beneficiaries that scaled through?" I asked him.
"Nobody told me those details and I won't tell you either. Meet Hajia and you will know what I am saying." He tapped me on my chest and pears of laughter burst from deep within him. "All I know is that your financial state will not remain the same after the payment." He concluded as he bid me goodbye and drove off.
This conversation gave me the snippet of what I was expecting to see. I was convinced that there are some shady deals in the process.
Upon her arrival the following week on campus, Hajia invited me to her hotel room to have a discussion with her. "Call me when you are at the gate," she had told me.
A few minutes after calling her while at the gate, a Toyota Prado drove out of the hotel premises and parked. My phone rang and it was Hajia that was calling. She waved to me and I joined her in her car and from there, the driver drove back to the hotel.
"You are welcome Mr President. Please have your seat." She ushered me into the luxurious room.
"I believe you know how we do this thing. This is the document containing the names of beneficiaries. We are going to reduce the number of the pages 50% before pasting it for the beneficiaries whose names appear on the pasted list to come with their cards and claim their money. The money meant to pay the 50% of the names that was removed would be shared between your team and myself in the ratio 30:70 respectively." She went straight to her agenda for the meeting.
There was wrinkles across my forehead I gawked in disbelief.
I collected the document and went through it. I realized that the total amount to be paid in total was about 7 million naira. Reducing the numbers of beneficiaries by half meant that we would pay about 3.5 million naira and share the balance of 3.5 million naira in the ratio she mentioned.
In the previous year, I never dreamt of becoming the president. I benefited in the bursary and the 4000 naira that I received went a long way to help settle some bills.
"What does it benefit me to block the chance of some people?" I asked myself.
Though I was only lucky that year to benefit because many colleagues of mine came without their cards but couldn't find their names on the list of beneficiaries that was pasted. The reasons for their names missing became clear with my encounter with Hajia now.
After reflecting on all of these, I outrightly rejected the corrupt ridden method of paying the bursary.
"I am sorry ma. I can't do this. Everyone whose name appears in this document has to be paid." I stated my position before slamming the document on the table.
With what I interpreted as a subtle threat, I calmed myself and initiated some discussion in order to get presentable evidence on my voice recording.
"If at all I want to consider this, how do we go about getting the names of those to be paid and those not to be paid?" I asked Hajia.
She positioned her veil properly and drew closer to me. "Mr President, now you are talking. We will remove half of the names starting with each and every alphabet. It will be removed across the whole content of the document," she explained to me.
"Okay Hajia, let's talk about the ratio of sharing it. We need to make it 50:50. I have my other members to settle."
"Mr President, your 30% will give you more than a million naira. That's the tradition. Don't let us start negotiating this." She insisted on the 30:70 sharing formula.
"I will discuss with my team members and get back to you."
"Please give me feedback on time. We need to pay the money on Monday." She concluded as I left the hotel.
I stopped the voice recording as I stepped out of the room. I intentionally didn't conclude the discussion with her in order to create room for getting more evidence.
After a few hours, I called her to inform her that I have consulted my team members and we have taken a position.
"Hajia, we have resolved not to partake in this fraud. When you are ready for the proper thing to be done, you call me to meet you on campus." I told her on the phone.
"Mr President, call it whatever you want to call it. You are too rigid and arrogant. Let me tell you, if you love yourself and you are willing to acquire your degree from that university, do my biddings else, you are in for the consequences."
I threw back my head and let out a loud humorless laugh as I ended the call. The call was recorded. Another evidence in my cofer.
All these happened on Saturday and between that day and Monday, she called me countless times without me picking her calls.
The way the payment was structured by the government is that payment can't be done without my knowledge because after the payments, she would write her report and I would write mine and both reports must correspond.
I was thinking of the next action to take when I was summoned by the Dean of students' affairs of the university on Monday morning. I rushed to his office and he handed me a letter written against me by Hajia. I had been accused of sabotaging her efforts to pay the bursary.
"What do you have to say about what is written there?" The Dean of students' affairs asked me.
"These allegations are false Sir. It was Hajia that was demanding my cooperation to shortchange the beneficiaries and I refused."
"The motto of this university is 'Discipline and Dedication," the Dean reminded me. "It's an act of indiscipline to demand a bribe before doing what is expected of you. If you are guilty of this, you are out of the university."
The Dean called Hajia to his office and the issue was being addressed with other professors on the seat.
"I have evidence of whatever I say here. Permit me to play two audio recordings."
A shiver ran down Hajia's spine with the hearing of audio recordings.
As the audio was playing, her body shook with a chilling realization that her game was up. After owning up to the audio as truly hers, the dean and other professors lampooned Hajia.
The university took up the fight on my behalf. The Dean gave all my actions regarding the bursary payment a clean bill of health.
The following day, the bursary was paid and each and every eligible beneficiary got his or her money.
Image is mine.