Chukwudi Onye Ije

“Chukwudi Oko…..nko,” the British policeman yelled out. He was trying to call Chukwudi Okonkwo in the prison roll call.

Chukwudi was surprised at how the mighty had fallen. How did he end up here?

Fast forward to five years ago when he moved to UK to better his life as that was the trend among Nigerian youths. He had graduated with a second class upper but couldn’t get a job even seven years after graduation. One day he met a classmate of his back in the university. Sheriff was now driving a big car and speaking through his nose with plenty of bling-bling on his neck and wrists. Chukwudi instantly became curious about how Sheriff got his conne.

And Sheriff told him that he had to leave Nigeria and join them in UK where money grows on trees. When Chukwudi came home that day, he was so excited and he told his mother that he wanted to travel out to get a job.
“You have not gotten a job for the past seven years you graduated. Is it now overseas that they will give you the job?” she asked him. Chukwudi tried to convince his mother that he made the right choice.
“Be careful my son, the cow eager to go to America comes back as corn-beef,” she finally said after much persuasion from her son.

Six months later, Chukwudi landed in Heathrow airport. His joy knew no bound. He felt he had finally arrived and he was determined to pluck all the money on the trees. Sheriff picked him up from the airport to the slum where he lived with about 30 other black men.

When Chukwudi came inside the house, he was shocked. Sheriff noticing the expression on his face and laughed hard. “Guy calm down, oh na here we they take hold body, you don come London be say you don come oh,” he said.

“But I thought you were a GM in a bank here,” Chukwudi muttered as Sheriff laughed his ass off.

“Shioorrr….guy you dey burst my head! GM fit mean many things na! E fit be gate-man na”.

Chukwudi got confused. Days passed into weeks and weeks into months and Chukwudi did not get a job. He roamed the streets of London looking for job opportunities. One day, one of the black boys living with them had pity on him and brought him to their office where he was employed as a taxi driver. Chukwudi started work as a taxi driver two days later. One day, he was dropping off an old lady and they started talking. She was surprised at the level of his intelligence. They became friends and before Jack could say, Robinson, they started having an affair that led to marriage.

Two years into their marriage, he got his green papers. He felt fulfilled he had finally achieved his aim. It was as if the scale on his eyes fell and he realized his wife was too old for him. Chukwudi started doing things that would irritate her and make her seek a divorce. The more he tried, the more his efforts came to naught.

After four years of their marriage, Chukwudi filed for a divorce which the wife didn’t consent to. He started thinking of ways to eliminate her from his life. One day, he murdered his wife while she was asleep.

“Chukwudi!!!,” his cellmate shouted and tapped him to answer his name. It was then reality dawned on him. He is in prison and will soon be deported.

Photo by Denny Müller on Unsplash