The Presidential Ambition

Chapter One

Chapter One

0930

April 9

Las Gidi.

It has been a week since Chief Albert Babatunde Ogunseye was laid to rest. It had been a well attended and colorful funeral, with dignitaries coming from all over the world to attend. Even the Federal Government sent a representation.

Chief Albert, despite his humble beginnings, did achieve greatness in life. In death, he would achieve much more.

Uka stood beside the large window in his office at the seven storey building, that housed the head office of Monarch.

Looking down at the people, was a habit he had picked up from Chief Albert. He could stand there for hours just staring at them and taking notes. He learnt a lot studying them when they weren’t aware of his gaze.

From Albert, he had developed a taste for whiskey. He favoured the Macallan 12 Year Old Fine Oak Highland Single Malt Scotch Whiskey, and had poured some into the glass he held in his hand.

Watching people has helped him to understand how people think. He could anticipate a reaction, depending on the situation that presents itself and would know how best to deal with it.

Chief Albert was able to understand how people behaved, and used that knowledge to build himself and his empire.

The door of the office opened without announcement, and Chief Albert’s sons came storming into the office. They slammed the door behind them.

“Ukachukwu,” the eldest Shola fumed. “What’s delaying the reading of my father’s will?”

Uka turned away from the window. He had been wondering how long before they came charging at him. He walked over to his chair and sat down. He pointed at the chairs in front of his desk, but the Ogunseye’s were clearly not in the mood to sit down.

“It is necessary you sit down gentlemen,” he said calmly staring from one person to the other. “We have a lot to talk about and I don’t think you can stand through it.”

They hesitated for a moment, then Shola waved his brother to one of the chairs, and sat on the remaining chair.

“I hope you gentlemen remembered the talk we had with your father before his demise,” Uka said. “First, I must inform you, that as stated by his will, which I will read to you now, and give you a copy of, as well as give you the video version, where he read it himself, I have already administered the section of the will mapped out for your sisters. They have been very well settled.

“That leaves the two of you, for whom, your father built all of this, and for whom, he set a vision in motion.”

He opened his drawer, and brought out two envelopes. He handed one each to the brothers. They opened it and brought out their father’s will. There was also a disc inside the envelope.

“You can read it for yourselves,” Uka said. He sipped his whiskey, as he gave them time to read through the document.

Shola finished reading first. He looked at his brother, who had the same expression on his face.

“You will retain the running of your various departments and divisions of the firm, as stated in the will, while I will be supervisory CEO of the firm for 15 years, before I hand over to you Shola.”

“This is bull s**t,” Shola exploded.

“Please watch the tape in your spare time,” Uka said. “That 15 years, is the period, within which, your father’s vision would be fully achieved, and you Shola, would become president of Gongola.”

“What madness is this Uka?” Shola shouted at him. “What are you talking about? What kind of idea did you put in my father’s old head that made him start chasing illusions?”

“The whole idea was his,” Uka said. “I’m just the executor of his will, and your fall guy if things don’t go as planned, even though I don’t see why it wouldn’t. I don’t see why within the next 15 years, you, Shola, would not be sitting in FCT, running the affairs of this country.

“Your father’s vision goes beyond Gongola. It stretched into West Africa, and when we get there, his vision encompasses Africa. The Ogunseye name will become a household name in all of Africa, and leave a mark on the world.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve gone mad too?” Albert Jnr said.

“It’s not madness Junior,” Uka said getting to his feet. “Your father was ingenious. He was a very brilliant man. A genius. He came up with the most elaborate plan nobody could have ever thought of. It took him years to come up with it and perfect the plan. Now, the plan is ready for execution, and that is where I come in.”

“What is this plan?

“It was set in motion during the last election,” Uka said. “It has been happening during bye-elections across the country. We have been taking over legislative seats across the country. Already, we have 10 senators and about 50 Federal Representatives we have firm control over. There would be more bye-elections, and we will be ensuring that our people will be put into federal legislative positions, from there, we will gain control of the country, and manipulate the system to ensure you are made president of this country. This is the short version of the plan.”

“What do you mean by “there would be more bye-elections”?” Shola asked.

“There are details of the plan,” Uka said. “That is best you don’t know about. Be rest assured that your father has only the best plans for you, and like he said, when everything falls into place, you’ll thank him for his vision.

“I suggest you both watch the clip on the discs in your possession now. Your father spoke much more there, than his last moment with you. There are certain things he explained in there too. I will strongly recommend you watch it in your privacy. You’ll understand when you’re done.

“Now gentlemen, there’s somebody at the other end of the country, critical to our mission I must attend to. We will discuss more later, after you finish the video. Shola, you’ll start making some political statements on your social media.”

“But, I...”

“Don’t worry about that,” Uka said. “Somebody will be at your office within the hour. Let him have access to all your social media accounts. He knows what to do.”

The Ogunseyes rose to their feet and left the office.

Uka picked up his phone and called a number.

"Are your people in position?"

"Yes boss."

"You know what to do," Uka said.

He pushed the end button and dropped the phone on the desk. He went back to watching people from the window.

Ishogbo,

Usun State.

The Senator was attending a meeting with his party members in his zone. There have been serious issues they needed to discuss, and he had to come back from the FCT, to attend the meeting.

Nobody paid attention to the man who went about serving drinks to the guests. They were in very heated debate and barely looked at his face, which was covered with a medical mask, as has become common with people sharing edibles, since the COVID-19 outbreak some years ago.

He placed a bottle of water in front of the Senator. He had timed it well, leaving the man without any liquid, while he talked for several minutes.

The Senator didn't notice the cap had already been broken. He was patched and quickly emptied the water into his mouth.

The man quickly slipped out of the room. The commotion started just as he got into a waiting SUV, parked outside the premise of the party office.

The Aconite would have taken effect. An autopsy may not be able to trace in, unless they were looking specifically for it. It would eventually be ruled out as a heart attack, since the Senator was know to have heart related issues in the past.

A vacancy have been created.

Ports City,

Falls State.

The young banker got dressed in his best T-shirt and chinos trousers. It wasn't every day a billionaire invites a young banker to a party in his mansion.

Adamu Nasri was recently posted to the bank's Ports City branch from Las Gidi.

He had been in the bank for over three years, and had the potentials of rising very high in the banking sector.

Born to a very devoted Muslim family in Zimfara, Adamu had strived very hard to become the first university graduate in his family.

It was his father's proudest moment, the day he returned from his national service, fully dressed in his khakis and embossed shirt. His father wore his cap for months afterwards, announcing to whoever cared to listen, that his son was a graduate from a university.

Adamu checked himself in the mirror for the umpteenth time. He wasn't married and presently without a girlfriend to check him out.

He met the young billionaire at the bank some weeks ago. The billionaire picked interest in him, and wanted him to oversee his transactions.

It was a big leap for him, managing an account that had over a billion Gongolan pounds in it.

The billionaire had invited him for the party, after Adamu had made for transfers for him the previous day.

Adamu wasn't very keen about going to night parties and clubs, but for the sack of the account he managed, he could endure those few hours of loud music and alcohol. He could even score a girl in the process. He hadn't slept with a woman since he came to Ports City.

He locked up his one bedroom apartment, and got into his Kia Rio. The billionaire had given him an address in the high brow area of the city. He didn't take long in finding the place. The presence of cars and the noise pollution told him exactly where he was.

He found a spot and parked his car. He attached the steering wheel lock, and double checked the doors, even after locking it with the central lock. He was the first person to buy a car in his family, and even though it was a small car, it was a very big deal to him and he treasured it very much, taking all necessary precautions to ensure it's safety.

He found the billionaire in the arms of two very beautiful ladies, when he finally made his way past the bouncers hired for the night. The billionaire had left his nma with the bouncers and after checking his identification card, they let him through.

The party was in full swing, and everybody was dancing to the DJ's selections. The billionaire waved him over to his side.

"Adamu my main man," he said.

"Mr. Allwell-Brown," Adamu said.

"Hey cut the official bullshit and loosen up," the billionaire laughed. "I know what to do. Here, Esther, take him and give him some good time. Get him something to drink first."

"Something non alcoholic," Adamu told the girl.

"Sure sugar," she said sweetly to him. "Anything for you darling."

The billionaire exclaimed in excitement, as he slapped Adamu's shoulder.

"You're in for a swell time tonight my man."

Adamu remembered taking the drink from Esther. It wasn't alcoholic. But the rest of the night was a blur to him.

He woke up in the morning in one of the rooms in the mansion. Sleeping bodies lay everywhere. He looked at his watch and almost screamed. He was running terrible late for work.

Esther was naked on his body. He pushed her aside and quickly got dressed. He didn't even remember taking her into the room, but obviously, something steamy happened.

He didn't bother looking for the billionaire, as he ran out from the house. His car was still there. It hadn't been tampered with.

He got in behind the wheels, and raced to his house as fast as he could without having an accident.

He dashed into the bathroom and had a quick bath. He practically got dressed inside the car, as he drove to work.

It was around closing hours that day, that he got a message through Ozi messenger on his phone.

It was a video clip and he froze as he watched it. The phone fell from his hand as he managed to stop himself from screaming in his office. Tears filled his eyes as he stood there transfixed.

He didn't notice the man that walked into his office at that very moment.

Uka looked at the video clip on the phone and made a taking sound.

Adamu regained his composure, and was alarmed at seeing Uka in the room. He grabbed the phone quickly.

"You must have partied a little too hard my friend," Uka said.

Adamu didn't know what to say. In the video, he was dancing stake naked with Esther. They later had s*x while somebody recorded everything.

He felt the world slipping away from him. These were those times, he wished the ground would open and swallow him up. This would kill his father and mother. The bank would sack him and nobody would touch him for future employments. He would be excommunicated from the Mosque. His life was over.

"I'm finished," he said aloud to himself, ignoring Uka's presence. "What am I living for? I'll just kill myself. I can't face this shame."

"Nobody is killing anybody," Uka said. "At least, not today. Give me that phone."

Adamu gave Uka the phone. Uka brought up the number of the sender and dialled it.

"What do you want?" he asked the man at the other end.

After a few moments, he hung up and gave the phone back to Adamu who looked at him expectedly.

"What do they want?" Adamu asked.

"Ten million."

"Ten million!" Adamu exclaimed. "I'm finished. Where will I get that kind of money? I'm ruined."

"I'll bail you out," Uka said calmly. "Then you'll owe me."

"Am sorry," Adamu said. "Please, who are you?"

"The name is Ukachukwu," Uka stretched out his hand. "And we are in for a long a fruitful friendship."

FCT

The Federal House of Representatives member, representing Zimfara East had died several months ago, in a car accident, on his way back from his constituency.

The Electoral Commission announced that a byelection would be holding very soon.

Uka invited Adamu to his hotel room at the FCT. Adamu told his superiors he needed some personal days off.

"I've dealt with it," Uka told him handing him a camera. "That's the only other copy of the video."

"Thank you very much sir," Adamu fell to his knees. "I promise, I'll repay you every penny of the money, plus interest."

"Let's say," Uka smiled. "The ten million pounds, was a down payment on your future accomplishments."

"How do you mean sir?"

"You'll resign from your bank," Uka said. "And you'll join the ruling party. You are going to the House of Representatives."

"What?"

"You're aware of the demise of your representative?"

"Yes I am sir."

"You're going to be his replacement."

"But sir," Adamu said. "I don't know anything in politics. I don't have the money to run an election. I'm nobody."

"Yes you're nobody for now," Uka said. "You'll do as I've told you and I'll make you somebody."

Adamu resigned from the bank the next day as instructed. His parents and siblings were bewildered by his actions. He assured them he knew what he was doing, even though he didn't know why he had to trust the Igbo man so much.

He took up membership of the ruling party from his ward chairman, and declared his interest in the House of Representatives seat.

Uka got him a fleet of cars and aides. He was schooled on how to speak and act on campaign grounds.

There was a surprisingly no much resistance from opponents within the party. Some stepped down, while ill health and other circumstances, such as the burning of an opponents country home, forced the stronger once out of the primaries.

Adamu was declared the winner of the election a few months after.

He met Uka on the eve of his swearing in.

"I told you I will make you somebody," Uka said.

"How do I repay you sir?"

"For now," Uka said. get on with your job of representing your people. I'll let you know, when I need you."