Posted by By Mike Jimoh on
Chima was rather surprised one day last month when friends and relations began trooping in to his house to see in person their brother and friend who had been in detention. One by one they all came wearing long faces, not saying much but sympathising with the just-released detainee from a notorious detention facility in the Centre of Excellence.
It could have been worse, some said. You may have been killed or sodomised even, others voiced out aloud. But weren't you lucky, others insisted, not a scratch on you! Thinking that a great joke was being played on him, Chima asked where in the world did they get to know he was ever detained?
And they proceeded to narrate, one by one, how they got a text message from Chima some days before. After all, didn't Chima's number appear on their screens asking them to quickly come to the sender's aid? The sms stated it so clearly: Chima, it read, was being held for an unspecified offence in one of the most feared detention centres in town. So, could the receiver be kind enough to send as little as N1500 voucher to process his bail?
Of course, who can forsake his brother/ friend at a time like this? Who does not know what detention centres are like in Lagos? And, by the way, isn't this a particularly notorious one?
The short but precise sms was enough to galvanize all of them to action. After all, what is some naira worth of vouchers to a brother/ friend in distress?
All of the recepients quickly arranged something sharp, sharp, as they say, and immediately despatched it to their man in trouble. Those who could sent half of what was requested. Some sent the exact sum while a few others doubled their effort, supposedly to Chima so he can use them to secure his release. In the end, approximately a hundred people had responded to Chima's SOS.
Which explains why Chima woke up on that day to literally find his sitting room overflowing with sympathisers. Of course, by now, you would've guessed that Chima was never in jail. He wasn't. In truth, he was detained in a much more sober way. Tired and work-weary, Chima decided that very day in question to prop up his feet on his desk, fold his hands across his belly and just nod off. His handset was nearby on the table.
The clearing and forwarding agent was thus reclined when some smart alecs, seeing a way to make some change, quickly took their chance. Presto, they proceeded to send the sms to nearly all the numbers in Chima's phone, knowing full well that many or all of them will respond positively long before Chima gets up. They were dead on the beam!
By the time Chima woke up later, his handset was where he left it but unknown to him it had helpfully served to defraud some of his friends/ relations - at his expense of course.