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That particular night, fate and fumes from my neighbour's lousy generator set conspired to keep me wide awake. Lying in my little bed, I reached out for my earpiece which curled unconcernedly on the rugged floor. I plucked it's base into the tiny hole of my Nokia touch-light phone, shoved the piece into my ears and turned ON the radio player. A Nigerian lady who spoke with both British and American accents was dutifully reeling out relationship advice to a certain girl, whose boyfriend had demanded anal sex as a proof of her love for him.
"Fakeness and fictitious stories", I thought.
I changed to another dail, Celine Dion's classic, "The power of love" filled my ears. I liked the song but loathed the audio quality of the station which sounded like people whom are talking with closed nostrils. I switched to another station, but it seemed as if they had gone to bed.
Hissed. Tuned to another dial. To another and to another. Silence and stillness reigned supreme. Turned OFF the radio and mopped in the dark without any definitive thought.
Tired of the corrupt and choking air which smelt like burning paper, I got up, dropped the phone on the bed and reached out for some drinking water. I gulped down the water, opened my door for more air and landed back on my bed. I looked at the screen of my phone and it was already 10:33pm. I turned back ON the radio player and a rich deep male voice seeped into my ears. He was introducing his guest to the programme he called, "CARELESS WHISPER". I listened still.
He introduced his guest as Jerry Nwakobi, Orimiri Atata Nteje Aborgu,a business mogul, a radical philanthropist, a father to multiple Charity Homes, a man devoted to ensuring the well-being and training of the motherless and less privileged, and a Ground Patron to Careless Whispers. I became interested and listened more.
"All these commendations for one man?", I thought. In mini seconds, I tried to imagine the kind of air around this man and what he looked like. Within these seconds, I tried to imagine his whole life. But the deep voice of the anchor, whom later introduced himself as Magic Finger, bursted my thoughts.
"Atata Aborgu is in town and was passing by, but decided to stop by the station to talk to us for a moment" he announced.
After a short break and more talks from Magic Finger about CARELESS WISPHER; an Awka based Non Governmental Organisation(NGO), whose mandate is to cater for the needy and poor amongst us, to assist or empower them financially, the studio phone lines were opened and calls came flooding in. The first caller, a man, who mixes both English and Igbo, told a sad story of how his wife had abandoned him and their three kids because he lost his job as a security guard, and needed money to start-up a business.
"Dika ego one ki choro?" Asked the anchor in Igbo after listening to the man.
"Any amount sir" replied the man.
"Any amount is not an answer" reeled back the presenter mildly.
"OK, N50,000 ga ezuru m ibido something" replied the man...
TO BE CONTINUED....
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