THE COUNTERPLAY
Mino was a con man. As a young boy, he desired to become a lawyer so he can make big money like big name lawyers. Unfortunately, his poor academic ability deprived him of the opportunity. He was too lazy to study and couldn't pursue any meaningful skill except to buy and sell. He was a greedy person. Initially, his greed and cunning craftiness made him some money in his trading business, but his avarice eventually caught up with him, customers went away and his business nosedived. He was too dubious to sustain a business.
Before his business crashed, he made some money, had good clothes and a good car, he spoke a few English terms, though often mix them up poorly. Shame made him relocate to a very poor and rural area populated by illiterates. Accommodation was quite cheap and he got one easily. He began to look around for what he could lay his hands upon as work. He visited a few beer joints and was noticed by the illiterate population. He spoke bad grammar but they were impressed, thinking he was an highly educated person. He immediately commanded respect due to his car and good clothes. He made a few remarks about law and everybody assumed he was a lawyer. He saw this as an opportunity and decided to explore it further. He began to put himself up as a lawyer who came to help the very local, remote and illiterate community with his service. He arranged his two room accommodation to look like a chamber with a simple desk, table and a very old and archaic computer. The villagers were impressed. The village had a poorly funded Police station with few hungry officers as staff. He met some of the Policemen at the local beer joint, bought them a few drinks and he had them in his pocket.
There were no courts in the village, the nearest court was in another state. Nobody had the money and time for that. He began to tell the villagers not to worry anytime they have problem with law, with a little amount of money, he will ensure their cases never get to court. The people hailed him. He had agreement with the Police officers, they should arrest as many as they could on various legal and illegal charges and send them to him for help. He will charge them money to kill the cases with the Police, while both him and the officers will share the proceeds. Business began to boom. He made money, the Police officers too made money. Village life was cheap. He bought a plot of land cheaply and began to build. He improved his house furnishing and repainted his car to make it look more classy. He was happy, he was doing well. One day, while cruising around in his car, he saw two village young women called Joy and Julian quarreling with a third woman. There were heated exchange of words. Joy and Julian shoved the woman slightly, not meaning any harm. The woman suddenly slumped and died. The shove did not kill her though, she already had a health problem non knew about.
Mino observed all these at a distance, but did not intervene. The moment the woman slumped and died, he saw his chance to make money. He quickly alighted from his car and went to the now frightened and crying women. He touched the dead woman on the ground, pointed angrily at Joy and Julian and rolled out some big words in bad English. "This is a casaphorious, killacious, embecaucus issue. A legal primordium". The two women cried the more, not understanding what he meant. A few people had began to gather. Everybody was afraid. They began to beg him to help solve this problem. "Yes, I can help solve this problem, but the body must first be taken to the Police station, some money must be made available for me to travel and bury the case in court in a legalicious, jettisarious manner. It will cost you people huge money. This is an holigrammic matter". Of course, he was deceiving them. Once the corpse gets to the Police station, the Police will scare the women and their relatives with death sentence in court, they will be forced to sell properties to pay him to settle the matter. The money will be shared by him and the officers, he will pretend to travel to court to kill the case, return after a few days and the matter will end. The dead woman's relatives were gullible and illiterates, both him and the Police will find a way to scare them off.
While this was going on by the roadside, a car drove by. The man inside the car was a real lawyer with years of experience at the bar. John by name. He had contacts and friends at Police formations in other states and had the direct line to the Nation's head of Police command. He also had links to the Supreme Court, having handled murder cases for various clients. He was a rich man and well travelled. Actually, he left that village as a young boy after his parents died. He was an indigene of the village. His uncle sent him off to a far away state to serve as an houseboy, having no means to raise him. The people he served loved him and trained him to university level. Everybody in this village thought he was dead. Years had passed and he decided to return home in search of his uncle. No one recognised him. He noticed the fracas at the roadside, his now old and hungry looking uncle was one of those kneeling to beg one man that seemed to be controlling all of them with big grammar, Mino. Mino's grammar caught his attention. He quietly parked his car and observed carefully. No one noticed him. He listened as Mino kept talking, " the saga of the impralus in this comatose is highly exeterious....". John's years of experience in law made it easy for him to easily spot a con man. He looked at the ground, saw the corpse, saw the now crying Joy and Julian now the more frightened by Mino's big grammar and the people begging the man Mino to help them. He began to understand. He noticed a small boy playing nearby and called him over. The boy ran to him. He asked him what happened and the boy quickly summarised the scenario, saying the man Mino is the village lawyer and had been helping them kill cases with the Police and in court. He let the boy go. He came down from the car and quietly joined the crowd around Mino. No one knew who he was. His uncle did not recognise him. John witnessed Mino in action, saw them move the body to the Police station for further negotiations. He returned to his car and drove to his uncle's house. The uncle met him at home and his mind was refreshed to remember him. He brought lots of good things and money for him and his now grown children living in different parts of the same village. John got more information about the incident and other incidents from his uncle. He told the uncle that Mino and the village Police were deceiving and defrauding them, that Mino was fake, he explained the case is not yet a murder case until proper legal procedures had been followed. He instructed his uncle to keep all these a secret until the right time. Since Mino was a player, he will play him back.
John drove back to the city that same day, contacted the commissioner of Police, reported the matter and together they hatched a plan. The next day, Mino was back at the Police station, the two women Joy and Julian locked up overnight in the cell. Their husbands and relatives were there with some money to beg and settle. Mino met two new Police officers, the previous ones were gone. Unknown to him, John and the Police commissioner were inside the office listening and recording everything through a hidden camera. The new officers told Mino at the desk that the officers he was working with took ill and went to the clinic, they were standing in for them till they returned. He should not worry, they understand the game and have been briefed. Mino smiled, happy things were still on course. They began to negotiate how much they will charge the people outside and the share percentage for both of them. They agreed at a huge sum. " To scare them into paying this huge sum, we have designed a legal document that state the entire incident the exact way it happened" one of the new Police officers said. "That is good. It should help get us the money we want". Mino replied. "The document is ready, just read and sign and then we can proceed", the Policemen said. Mino was overjoyed. These new ones are better, they are smart, he thought in his mind. He was in a hurry to sign. They gave him the document that read thus:
"I Mino, a lawyer with years of experience saw two women named Joy and Julian quarrelling with a third woman by the roadside. The third woman fell down still aspirating on the floor. I, Mino knelt beside her, barred her human snout with my hands to asphyxiate her. She became inert and deceased all in my hands and by me. This is the true testimony. My willing statement, fully read and understood".
Some of the words were big grammar he couldn't understood. He signed, happy money was coming. The Police officers, in a friendly manner, then led him into the office, where to his surprise, he met real lawyer John for the first time and the Police commissioner. He was promptly arrested and whisked away to the city to face the full wrath of the law on many charges with many witnesses, first degree murder, one of the charges. Joy and Julian were never prosecuted.
Copyright
Tosin Oke
All names and character fictitious.
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