Can you briefly talk about Justice Godwin Ude Ononiba?It is a long story, a long story in the sense that I was not born intoa Christian family. My parents were none Christians. So, I was just avillage boy that attended church because my father told meto do so. He did not choose any church for me. There were only twochurches – the CMS and the Catholic Church then. I choseCatholic Church and was baptized there in 1945. Before then I wasalready answering Ude as my name and some people called me Udegbunam.Some called me Udechukwu and others called me Udeye. So, I wasn’t quitesure which one was the right one and I decided to call myself Ude. Ishortened it and did not enlarge it. I just left it as Godwin UdeOnoniba. That is my name and was the name I carried on until I gotinto Government College, Umuahia. As for the date of birth, I am noteven sure because there was no registration of birth when I was born. They wouldonly tell you this one is older than you and then you take a bearing.That was how I took my own bearing because there was no birthcertificate, no record at all at my birth. So I took a bearing of theman said to be older than me because that man was born in 1932, hisbrother happened to be a teacher so he recorded it. There was no otherrecord, so I took my bearing from him because they said he was olderthan me. That is how I took my date of birth to be 1937. I adjusted itin order for me to be qualified enough to be admitted into the FederalGovernment College, Umuahia, which said you must not be more than 11years. I calculated it so that I will be eleven in order for me togain admission into the college. Thereafter, when I was about to pass out of Federal Government College, Umuahia, Shell came tothe school, in the final year, December 1956. Some Shell personnel came to the principal’s office and requested to see me. The principal invited me to the office and said: “These people are from Shell and they said you would work for them. I started arguing with the principal but was told to keep quiet because when they aretalking you don’t talk, you keep quiet and listen. I can stillremember it was 1956. That was before Nigeria’s independence. I just took theinstructions but told them I was preparing to go and study Engineeringat the University College,Ibadan. Immediately I said that, they said “don’t bother about it,Shell will train you” and the matter closed without argument.Thereafter, I followed them and that was how I started work with Shellon 2nd January, immediately after New Year, in 1957. The rest is justdifficult to understand because I was just moving from place to placeand white people just liked me and I made progress beyond my owncontrol. I can’t say I contributed anything but was just moving. Ididn’t know how much they were paying me. I worked with a team and they were justtaking us to the bush after which they would just callme and say, “this is your bush allowance”. I had no idea how theycalculate it but I was collecting the money. When I got up to threehundred pounds, they asked me to go to account and sign. I signed and wasgiven the money. I asked my boss, an Australian who was about 26;what the money was for? He said he didn’t know, but informed me thatit was my bush allowance. It was surprising to me because I do not goto bush every day. They gave me the amount every month whether I went tobush or not. When I took the money, I dropped hundred pounds in mycupboard, took two hundred pounds and raced home back to my father’shouse. I put it in an envelope and wrapped it with old newspaper. When myfather queried me about what I was doing, I told him it is money. Heasked me how much? I said “Akpa ego n’ abo” (two hundred pounds). He began to open it, then declared: “Thismoney will not sleep in my house”. When I tried to explain, he said,“shut up. People who have been working before I was born have not beenable to make this amount of money. Now, you, after working for a few months youare bringing this to me. Go and return this money to where you stoleit from. In my family we don’t steal and for you to steal you have finishedyourself and if I find out you are a thief, I will disown you.” I wastrying to explain to him what happened but he did not listen to me;instead, he threw me out of his house. That was the first time myfather scolded me because as a child he used to pet me. I was shockedat that moment and took the money back to Port Harcourt that evening.Less than two weeks later, my brother who was a carpenter at Nsukkacame to Port Harcourt, Rumukrushi, to be precise, where I was workingbut I was living 11 miles away. When my brother came, they told me Iwas wanted at the gate. I went to the gate and saw him. I thoughteither my father or my mother was dead and was terrified. I asked whyhe visited and to know if all was well but he replied that everythingwas fine. Initially, I did not believe him until he said let’s go toyour office. The office was in cubicles but good enough for a civil engineer. There was no strong building; it was all cubicles. My own cubicle was as good as my own boss’s. When mybrother came in, first of all, he was terrified because it was airconditioned but I made him calm down. He said my father sent him tofind out if I had returned the money I stole. I was shocked. I tookhim to the next door where my immediate boss, Mr. Garnar, fromAustralia, a young man of almost my age, was. I got into his office and heasked me who the man behind me was. I said, “he is my brother”. He thensaid, “okay, but what does he want?” I asked him to call somebody elseto interpret because I did not want to interpret. When they asked mybrother again, ‘why are you here?’ He was looking at me to advise him onwhat to say. I told him to tell them what he wanted to say. He wasafraid that if he said it, I would be sent to prison but I urged himon. He then told them that my father sent him to find out whether Ihave returned the money I stole (laughter). The white man turnedand looked at me, then said: “He didn’t steal any money. The white manasked my brother how much the money in question was. He said twohundred pounds and the man looked at him and said ‘no, it’s threehundred pounds, not two hundred’. Mr.Garnar said to me, ‘why didn’t you give them three hundred’ but I replied,‘that it is my money’. He turned to my brother and told him the samething. My brother and I went back to the house. We had launch and heleft. But before he left, he asked me, ‘how about the otherhundred because I understand that it is three hundred pounds”. Ireplied: ”Is it your money?” I brought out the two hundred they drove me away with.The incident had a lot of impact on me and it changed my life completely. I realized my father was always telling me that in our family, if one steals, that one will be caught.So, while he held to it, I was listening to it as ordinary story
though I had no intention of stealing.
Again, it was forbidden in school. If you steal anotherstudent’s pencil, teachers would flog the hell out of you. So it waspure discipline for a man who was not a Christian, who did not go tochurch to emphasize that you must not steal. It was, however,jubilation when my brother returned and told them the story that Ididn’t steal. He was very happy but I learned from that. I can neverdo anything like stealing in my life. I had to be very tough. You knowNigerian environment. It is a difficult thing to escape being a thiefbecause the thieves guide you, thieves are your boss, and thieves areeverywhere and that is a terrible situation. It was difficult but myfather really helped me, because even in Shell, the rumor spread allover the place. It helped me and the period I was in Shell was like areference point. I was preparing to go abroad to study Engineering butI had to first acquire National Certificate. In Umuahia, we heard about people
who were doing B.Sc in Engineering, B.Sc. in Chemistry,
that was what I knew. Some were talking about HND in engineering but I had no interest in such. Shell wanted to send me to a polytechnic in England but Ideclined because I didn’t know what it was. I preferred to go toIbadan to read B.Sc. in Engineering, nothing short of that. I must saythere was element of arrogance, childish things in those days and tohave gone to Federal Government College, Umuahia, was a special accomplishment.You don’t believe any other person is more than you because Umuahiawas first and always first. When I had this experience with Shell,
that I should go for HND, I refused.
Turning point
They said they would require special permission for me to go to a university. My goingto university was waiting for approval when I visited a friend who wasa legal practitioner. I don’t want to talk about him because he wasnot particularly a successful one. He was an Igbo man married to awhite woman but he couldn’t maintain the white woman and there wasalways problem about money coupled with his rickety car. By then, Ihad bought a car which I didn’t need. I bought it because I wanted tofeel good as a youth and because I was being paid two guineas a day astouring allowance by Shell. Some of my contemporaries hidtheir bush allowances when they returned from tour but I gave my own tomy boss each time I returned, because I didn’t believe in lies and suchwas the training I gained from CKC, Onitsha. The day that I visitedthat my legal practitioner friend I bought a bottle of drink because Iknew that my friend could not afford one. When we were drinking in hishouse, somebody sounded a horn, he stood up and peeped out through thewindow and said, “Goddy you have to start going, there is a lawyerfriend coming to see me.” I was shocked at that utterance; that a manthat I was practically feeding just dismissed me because a lawyer wascoming to see him. I did not say much. I just picked my car key andstarted going down the long staircase at the backyard. As I walked,the thought of my dismissal revolved in my mind and l couldn’t bear it.That was how I made up my mind to study law. It was the turning pointof my life and it was later that I found out that the man that got medismissed had no degree in law. He was just called to the bar as done inthose days. I walked down to my car, drove straight to Nimo to tell myfather that I had resigned my appointment and that I wanted to travelto England to study law. My father told me he had no house or land tosell to sponsor the trip to study law but I was adamant and assuredhim that I had money that could see me through. Then, he sent me to call mymother from her hut. When I brought my mother to his Obi, my fatherordered me to repeat what I had told him in her presence. I repeatedmyself and she started shedding tears and asked “is it not after goingto overseas that someone sits on the throne of the white man but now youare already sitting on the throne, what are you going there to do?”This question moved me and I had no ready answer to it. It was myfather that came to my rescue and told her to leave me to go where Godhas sent me and that was how I was allowed to travel to England. If he had said I should not go, that would have been the end to it. Immediately he gave me that blessing, I drove to Port Harcourt and the next day, I resigned my appointment with Shell. I gave them one month notice as was the custom in Shell andsurprisingly, I was the first black man to have a send forth party organized for him
by the firm and even given gifts.
In London
I remember the engineers gave me five hundred pounds as thank you for my services. Immediately I got to England, I started my Law degree programme in the London University. I first started as an external student because I had small money in mypocket and was afraid because ‘once it finishes, I’m finished’. Thosewho had rich parents were taking it easy but I hadnobody to help me and so I advised myself. Again, most of our peoplethere who ran out of money worked, because there was provision to workwhile still going to school. Because of the limited money I had, Ididn’t take it easy and within three years, I finished my A level, mydegree, and was called to the bar and then started heading home immediately.
When did you graduate as a lawyer in England?I graduated in 1962. I got three degrees there, the A level, my degree
and call to the bar. I did not go to the law school. Actually, why Idid it fast was that in 1962, the attorney general introduced a lawthat if anyone gets law degree in England, that when such person returns, he will goto law school but if the person passes the bar final before September1962, the person will not go to law school. So, all my classmates werethe first set to go to law school except me because I was determinednot to go to the law school. I tackled the exam before hand and wasable to scale through and finished before the September benchmark.That was how I became senior to all my classmates because once you arecalled to the bar and you return, you will be registered at theSupreme Court and the Chief Justice will admit you as a lawyer.
Government College Umuahia where you did your secondary school had a lot of prominent Nigerians who were and are still successful in their different callings; can you mention some of your contemporaries at the college?
I remember meeting the Traditional Ruler of Oko Community, IgweLazarus Ekwueme. He was two years my senior and was so much interestedin music. He played piano in those days and that made me describe him as astrange human being. I was not interested in music and each time he went toplay piano, I go away because I see music as a complicated thing. There was also Nathaniel from Obosi. He was my good friend too.In fact, weentered school the same time and did things together but ironically, Ihad Catholic upbringing while most of my friends had Anglicanbackground but we never had religious issues ordifferences in those days. Also, there was Alex Nwaosisi who was a firstclass man in hockey, football and cricket. He was an all roundsportsman. I remember Paul Mbaenyi who was very good in history and heended up being professor of history. We also have Gab Menakaya, asurgeon who was the first black man to teach at Federal Government College,Umuahia. He wrote a book in Geography and was the first Igbo man, asfar as I know, that has a degree in Geography. He was our Geographyteacher then and ended up becoming Chief Education Officer in theEastern region. We have so many others like Cornel Agwuna, AlexMaduekwe and the rest.
What about your contemporaries as a law student in England?
Louis … was my bosom friend and we went to law school together withSenator Onyeagbobi. I was also there with Nsofor from Oguta, Ejimoforand the rest.
How would you describe your law career after returning from England, both as a private legal practitioner and civil servant?Good. I did not tell you that I got married while in London. The truth
is when I arrived in England in 1959; I had to live with a family. IfNigerian government did not give you where to stay, it is preferable tostay with a family. With time, I found the place not only boring buttotally distasteful. I was fed up with their food and I realised I wasin trouble because I never bargained for it. I sought for a way out of myproblem. So, l visited my friend. I told him my problems and afterlaughing at me, he told me ‘let’s go and eat.’ He took me to theirdining room and brought out Garri and Egusi soup. I descended on it. Itwas after eating that I asked him how he managed to get that kind offood. He told me “it is done here”. He took me to a shop where all those
items were sold.
Wife
But I had no idea. We bought few things but Ihad no knowledge of how to cook. That was why I sent for the girl Iwas betrothed to who joined me over there in London. So, she came toEngland and we wedded and that was how I escaped eating the Englishkind of food. We had our first child in London a year after. By God’sgrace, the little Uzoamaka later became a High Court Judge.So, I came home with a woman and a child and because of that, it wasdifficult for me. I was young but that would not be an excuse for notgiving my family a comfortable living. I thought I would be able tocope like others but did not know that I couldn’t and few things I hadleft in the house before my journey to England were dispersed in a wayI did not want to talk about. I remember I had two taxis thatwere running for me before I left for England. They all disappearedand I wasn’t prepared to go and start quarrelling. I remember itwasn’t difficult to get appointments in England in those days, and duringone of our vacations, you could choose where to work and I choseemployment in the Department of Internally Generated Revenue.I worked there briefly and they told me anytime you want to workpermanently, we are ready to take you. But before I left England, theNigeria High Commissioner contacted the students who had finishedtheir programme and asked which job we would like to do. Because ofmy previous stint in Internal Revenue, I chose to work there andafterwards they came and interviewed me and told me as soon as I gethome, I should go and start work there. They paid my transport toreturn to Nigeria and when I returned, I had a short stint at PortHarcourt and then decided not to waste my time there and left. I wentto the internal revenue and became their adviser for few months andwas not excited either. I needed an opportunity to go to court. Ireasoned that if as a lawyer, I don’t go to court, then I am notfulfilled. I needed the court experience. So, I teamed up with SirLouis Mbanefo law firm. If you had worked with Mbanefo, the man will bullyyou with questions as if you are writing exam. So, you have to prepareas if you are going to court every day. I later joined the Ministry ofJustice and worked in the Department of Public Prosecution, headed byG. C.M. Onyiuke who was the Director of Public Prosecution in theEastern Region and it was an independent department. He was the man who taught me the rudiments and was sending me to court everyday without break. Before three months, I had acquired skills even more than lawyers who were there before me. I wasgoing to court everyday and it prepared me in a hard way which paidoff. Again, I did not appreciate it those days and was grumbling. Heonce ordered a white man who was then commissioner of police to giveme full loyalty at every point in time that I needed him and with that,I developed a very cordial relationship with the police. Those werethe days when the police were very efficient and I remember going withthe White man to Calabar where we prosecuted a policemanfor taking bribe of 2 pounds and 6 shillings; that shows you how the system wasworking.
What was the outcome of that prosecution?
The policeman was convicted and he went to prison. The worst was acase of a man from Rivers State called Golden Sobolare. He was asolicitor general and a permanent secretary of the Ministry ofJustice. He went to Lagos and made claim about discharging a person,eventually, it was discovered that he went to Lagos once and not twiceand so the claim he made was false and he was charged to court. Ihad to prosecute him and he lost his job. That was how perfectNigeria was working in those days but politicians have destroyed thesystem today. Politicians of those days were men who were in the Housesof Assembly and the Parliament. You would not dare attemptstealing public fund then. It was when we got these so-called modernpoliticians that diversion of public fund started.
Could you tell us how you rose to become the Chief Judge of Anambra State?
I never thought about where I will go. I was only interested infeeding my family and being relevant. I have told you how I got intopolitics and if you are in public practice, you are living onspeculation because no one knows what will happen next. As a man whosechild was born in London and wife used to Western life, I had to startscratching in order to feed them. I was comfortable feeding myselfbut in order to feed them (wife and child) I had to go into service.So, they gave us quarters and where we lived was the same standardas obtainable in England and I was living in a Government ReservedArea (GRA). That was how my career started. I was in the internalrevenue department but resigned because I had wanted to learn the job insidecourtrooms and not outside.
How long did you work with the Department of Public Prosecution?
I started work there around March 1962 and by 1963 I was in charge ofpublic prosecution. Then, after the war, I appeared before JusticeAgbakoba, the then Chief Justice of Old Anambra State and was workingin the Department of Public Prosecution as a State Counsel. Now, Iappeared before Agbakoba as a prosecutor and worked under Omereonye
Nwokedi who was the Director of Public Prosecution.
Senior Magistrate
At a point, Agbakoba, the Acting Judge then, liked me and subsequently appointedme as the Senior Magistrate. After the appointment, he informed theSolicitor General who objected, saying that I should not leave my position tobecome Senior Magistrate because I would develop the habit of taking bribe. We then wrote a petition to the attorney general, Nnaemeka Agu, that the man was accusing me of having the intention to take bribe if I become the Senior Magistrate. I made himknow that as a prosecutor, I could have been taking bribe but I did not, becausel did not possess the character to indulge in corrupt practices. Against theaspersions, I wrote that “this man that is accusing me of badintention has never worked in a place where his integrity could beor opportunity of him being corrupt is tested and that he was only aredress officer. The Attorney General, Nnaemeka Agu, ordered theSolicitor General to answer the questions I raised line by line and theSolicitor General started battling for his position. That was how Ibecame Senior Magistrate Grade II and from there I was promoted to
Senior Magistrate grade 1.
AbiribaI was later transferred from Enugu to Umuahia. I was covering Abiriba,Arochukwu and Ohafia. I was covering the three areas with base in Ohofia. I had alot of experiences there. Abiriba, for instance, are people that trade on ‘drinks’ and when the Chief Magistrate ofUmuahia, Anisiobi arrived, we visited the various places including thetraditional ruler. The monarch gave us cartons of hot drinks each andMagistrate Anisiobi called me aside and said,’is this not the drinkthat was described as …? I said ‘yes’ and he suggested we returnit but I convinced him we should not, for security reasons. Again, thepeople of Abiriba are very rich and there was a Magistrate Courtoffice that was established in Abiriba that time but the High Courtdid not sit for one day. There was a police station there but noreport was brought to the station for once. The cells were emptybecause there was no criminal. A book that was bought for record ofcases was the way it was when it was bought. So, the person that wastransferred there stayed for two weeks without entering the court todecide any case and left because he had nothing to do. That was my
experience in the Magistrate.
The Gambian experience
Then, Aniagolu, a former Chief Judge of old Anambra State called me toinform me that then Head of State, Yakubu Gowon wrote to him andrequested that he wanted a Chief Magistrate from Anambra State thatwould go to Gambia to work for Gambian Government. Initially, Ideclined the offer until I was asked the conditions that could make me tochange my mind and I wrote a bloated list of allowances for myself, wife and children. Sometime later, Justice Aniagolu called me to hisoffice for the documentations. He told me that if he had known that myconditions would be granted, to be honest, he would have gone by himself. We were formally received by the Nigerian ambassador toGambia and I was subsequently invited for discussion in a hotel by one elderly
citizen.
The man told me that the Christians population in the country is justfive percent and that the rest is fetish and even wear it onthe body. He told me that why the Gambian government imported a Chief Magistrate was that no Gambian lawyer agreed to take the post of Chief Magistrate because the last person that held the position was killed. Ironically, the request fromGambia came after the civil war and Gowon decided to send an Igbo manfor the work. The elderly man told me the reason for the advice was toclear his conscience and that I was like a son to him. He told me tochoose taking up juju to do the work or go home. Instantly, I becameworried and refused to tell my wife what I heard because if I didshe would insist we travel back to Nigeria that night. Then,something occurred to my mind. I told myself that before this peoplecan get me, they have to get God first and I took the decision toembrace God without telling my wife. After I took the decision, I wastransformed and started witnessing magic in my life. That was when Iunderstood the phrase that even if a Christian gets a faith as little as a mustard seed,that he can order a mountain to move and it would obey. My stay inGambia became a myth to the citizens. On one occasion, the InspectorGeneral of Police in the country told me there was a native doctor theywanted to arrest and that if he was arrested, would the court tryhim? I told him to bring anyone they arrest, even if it is thepresident; that my role is to try anyone brought before me. Iremembered an occasion we wanted to try a fetish man. He had areputation for fetish practice and people were scared. I called theIGP and told him to get his men ready that we are moving thecourt to Kudan (the fetish man’s village), to try the suspected fetish
man. The IGP told me that we are taking a big risk going to the place.
What if the villagers attack us? I was not moved and I told him wehave armed police to protect us. We moved and got to a certainplace and had to drop our convoy and trek on foot. As we walked, thefetish suspect turned and said to me: “You are like a son to me. Iwould not like to destroy you. Did you ask people who I am and youare going to my house?” I told him he can’t destroy me for I was onlydoing my job and may destroy him. By the time we got to his house,
the IGP was visibly shaking and refused entering the man’s house.
I personally entered his house and tried him there. So, a lot ofthings happened in Gambia but the fact is that I did somethingdifferent from what they were doing. When I checked the court register of theprevious Chief Magistrates, I saw that they only gave fines to peopleconvicted of stealing and other crimes and it was a lucrative businessfor them because they were fined below what they stole. However, theystopped having space in their cells when I took over.
How long did you stay in Gambia?
I spent two and a half years there.
Did you continue as a Magistrate on your return to Nigeria?My wife and children left Gambia six months before me because my
children had to start school in September of that year. They took homemost of our property including the car I came with and I had to returnwith only a small suitcase. I left Gambia as a Senior MagistrateGrade One and when I came back, I went back to the judiciary where Iretained my position as Magistrate. I was posted to Abakaliki asthe Magistrate in charge of Abakaliki District and that was in early1976 but it was short-lived. I was there for two weeks when a newAnambra State was created. One Ihejiekwu was Deputy Chief Registrar incharge of old Anambra State. When Anambra and Imo States were created,Ihejiekwu went home to Imo State to become their Chief Registrar andhis earlier position became vacant. I was yet to settle in any housein Abakaliki when Justice Aniagolu asked me to move straight back toEnugu. There I was appointed the new Deputy Registrar of the OldAnambra State to work with Clement Ike who was the acting ChiefRegistrar then. He was from Ndikelionwu.Afterwards, I noticed that Aniagolu was not on good terms with Clementand was sending Memos to me directly which was not right. To putmyself out of the delicate situation, I made sure I passed the Memothrough the Chief Registrar after I signed it and he would forward toAniagolu, the Chief Judge. Eventually, Clement resigned and became thetraditional ruler of Ndikelionwu in Old Aguata Local Government Area.However, I became uncomfortable with the situation and turned down offer from Aniagolu to become the Chief Registrar. I advised him tochoose from the hierarchy of the Chief Magistrates among who wereNwazota and Uyanna. He sent me to go and invite Nwazota from Onitshaand afterwards he was made the Chief Registrar. When Nwazota was later appointed judge, the position of Chief Registrar became vacant again. There were qualified candidates to fill the position namely: Moses Nweje from Nnobi and another Mr. NwejeFrom Onitsha. Mr. Moses Nweje from Nnobi was senior to Mr. Nweje from Onitsha. Then, it was Chief R.M.C. Chukwura from Onitsha who was to make recommendations to Governor Atom Kpera. Chukwura was the acting Secretary to the State Government. He recommended Moses Nweje thinking it was the Nweje from Onitsha. When he realized the mistake he appealed to the governor, Atom Kpera to substitute Moses Nweje but the governor rejected the request saying even the two people are from the same parents the most senior should go.Later, the appointment was confirmed and I remained the Deputy Registrar.When he (Nweje) came in, he did not understand the systemic flow of administration of the office of the Chief Registrar, being all along a field magistrate.The court had its language and it was difficult for him to cope. When he came, he was avoiding me and I avoided him too. He thought I was beingangry with him and he was doing everything alone without delegatingduties to me. He didn’t know that his appointment was on error andthat the court had wanted to appoint another Nweje from Onitsha. So, l seized the opportunity to secure a N45, 000 housing loan thededuction of which from my salary was spread for over 15 years. I knew about theloan because the secretary of the body, Mrs Carol Ugochukwu, told meabout it and no other person in the judiciary knew they could equallyaccess such loan. Then, Muoneke from Ihiala was in charge of thecommittee and he helped to facilitate the loan for me. I used the loanmoney to build a house on the land that I bought on my return fromGambia. There was nobody in the judiciary that knew about the loan policy then, even the Chief Judge and the Chief Registrar had no knowledge of it. I knew about itbecause I was friendly with the administration officer. I had workedin the Shell with the husband of the admin officer and that was whereI knew her. I used the N45, 000 loan to purchase a piece of land atUwani at N6,000 and started building a house. I also had two plots ofland at New Heaven presently. It was Edward Nnaji through Mogbo thathelped me acquire the land after he gave it to me to pay by
installments and I was able to complete the payment after heavy struggles.
When Aniagolu returned from leave and saw what happened, what did he do?
He didn’t do anything. You know this is civil service and unlike nowthat things are being manipulated, there was nothing he could do.Then, the man was Acting Secretary to the State Government. I was Deputy Chief Registrar then and was standing well. I used theopportunity of Nweje’s attitude to start buildingthe house because I was not busy.What I did was to read newspapers and after reading newspaper in themorning, I went to my site for inspection of work and returned to theoffice to continue with my paper.Eventually, Nweje summoned courage to call me. He asked if anythingwas the problem between both of us, I responded to him, “diokpa, havewe been enemies before”, I asked him? “Before your appointment as theChief Registrar, you were a Chief Magistrate at Awka,” I told him, andhe responded in the affirmative. I asked again, “when you had problem wasit not me that helped to solve your problem?” He said yes, again. I thentold him if I do not like him, I could have destroyed him at thatopportunity. I told him it was because he did not campaign for theposition he was occupying that made him not know the value and that itwas because somebody wanted to put someone from Onitsha called Nweje not knowing that the Nweje he mentioned was not theone from Onitsha. He asked me, “so you are not angry with me?” and Ireplied, “why should I”? I told him it was not his fault and that if hewas ready, he would learn the job the same way I learnt it. After thatmeeting, we became friends as we ought to be and I started workingfrom that day. I thanked God for that problem I had with him becauseit gave me the opportunity to build my house. Every situation haspositive and negative effect. Some people only study the negativeaspect of situations and leave the positive side. Look at mypredicament, I was supposed to be promoted from the Deputy ChiefRegistrar to the Chief Registrar but was denied the opportunity. So, Iused the opportunity to explore the outside opportunities to build myduplex at New Heaven and my boss (Chief Registrar) did not have even aplot of land to his name. It was not because I was too clever, but the
act of divine intervention.
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