Between hardship and experience

My last night experience

Few weeks ago, as I alighted from a bus at the junction of my street, I realized that one of my phones was missing. I immediately stopped a cab and began to chase the bus. But behold, the bus was nowhere to be found. I brought out another phone and dialed by number. It rang just once and the line went dead. My 7days old Blackberry Classic was gone. More painful was the fact that the phone hasn't been fully paid for. I just took it from a friend who deals on mobile phones, paid a token and promised to transfer him the balance upon my return to Asaba on Monday.

That day isn't a day to remember. Everything was annoying. I picked offense at whatever people did. To crown it all up, Chelsea lost at home to an unknown Burnley. I was devastated. How will I pay debt for a phone I never used? How do I get money to acquire another phone as my businesses need uninterrupted internet and sophisticated mobile gadgets? How do i queue for hours in MTN office to retrieve my lost line? So many questions sprinted through my mind as dragged my blanket to cover my ass.

The next morning, I tried to use my IPad to transfer some money to a business partner only to discover that I was having insufficient funds in my First Bank account. Guess what had happened the previous night. The criminal who picked my phone bought recharge card with my number to the tune of 12,000. I didn't receive an alert cos the line was with him or her. Please am using this medium to appeal to First Bank to change that method of merely typing numbers in a line tied to an account and without demanding for any code or password the line is credited immediately. Away from that, the criminal between Saturday night and Monday morning when I retrieved the line, had depleted the credit and left just N14 for me.

Yesterday, I boarded a Sienna mini-bus from Warri tô Benin. As I was about to step out of the vehicle, I saw two mobile phones. I was the last in the back seat so it was safe to conclude that my co-passengers must have left them. Surprisingly, one of the phones was a BB Classic like the one I misplaced, only that this one was newer. The other was a Samsung Galaxy S6 edge. Both phones I later leaned belongs to a 300L BIU student whose dad is a prominent politician in Delta.

I took the phones and on a closer look, u realized they were both off. I pocketed them and headed straight home. Getting to the house, I charged them and early this morning, I turned them on expecting any call that may come in. All through the night, so many thoughts ran through my mind. So many temptations. I placed their price tags at about 120k if I were tô Sell them. And as a lover of gadgets, I thought about the satisfaction of using such sophisticated phones. I tried to use my ordeal weeks ago to justify listening to the devil. I couldn't sleep. So many thoughts, so many questions.

In the midst of my confusion, I related the issue to a friend. I was shocked by his outburst. "Palmer, ogun go kill u if u return those phones. Na dis kyn hard times dem dey return phone wen person see for ground? You nor get any pressing problem wen u fit use 100k solve just now? Waiting dey worry u sef? I dey come your office, I go collect d phones go help u sell for Abuma".

Immediately I got to work, one of the phones rang again. The caller read "daddy". I picked and told the man to get across to his son to come pick his phones. I described by office for him and in a twinkle of an eye, he was here and I handed his devices to him. I couldn't stand running against my conscience. I would have lived for a long time been sad knowing I took what never belonged to me. The harshness of the economy almost forced me to run foul of my believes. I thank God I had the grace to resist the temptation. Now am free and my heart is light.