.JPG) |
| Ufodike |
Trust critical in human
relationships
Title of Book: Blind
Trust
Author: Ebele Ufodike
Published by: Betcy Media Limited for Leobelak Publishers,
Lagos, Nigeria
Year: 2012
Volume: 138 pages
Reviewer: ADA DIKE
Can one truly trust blindly?
That is a pertinent question one will ask him or herself when you see Mrs. Ebele Ufodike’s book, ‘Blind Trust'.
But
the answer is in the 138-page romantic, intriguing and interesting novel in which the author tells a
story of betrayal.
It is divided into sixteen
chapters. Bearing no topics, each chaper has interwoven narratives that take
the reader into the psyche and world of a man who desires to live a fulfilled
life but faces challenges of hatred and envy by his bosom friend.
Ebele
provides a story of two friends, Felix and Ikem, who start a business venture,
with Felix American-based, providing the capital and Ikem, Nigerian-based,
supplying the entrepreneurship at the beginning. Felix’s arrival to take over
the leadership of the company and his eventual marriage to a delectable Northern
Princess, Zara, create a devilish sense of envy in Ikem, who connived with
another staff, Amina, to weave a plot culminating in attempted suicide and near
crash of a once happy home of the Obiomas.
In the opening page, Ebele provides a snap story of a US-based Nigerian, Felix Obioma
who sojourned to the US at twenty-two years after his graduation from the
University of Jos with a first class in Business Administration and the
compulsory National Youth Service Corps.
Having
spent eight years in the US, one bright summer afternoon in downtown Atlanta
Georgia, as different activities were going – people going about their
businesses, offices busy with human activity and banks open for customers, Felix
looked out of the window of his tenth floor office, located on Peach-Tree, a
busy street in the neighbourhood.
Ebele
takes her readers down memory lane as Felix recalls how tragedy struck shortly
after he completed his university education. His parents died in a plane on
their way to Jos for Felix’s graduation.
Felix feels abandoned, lonely
and hopeless by the loss of his pillars of life, being their only child. With
the help of his close friend, Ikem, who cheers him up regularly by telling him
stories about Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State where he’s doing his youth service
programme, coupled with Professor Chile Duru’s assistance who specially
requests that Felix be posted to serve in the University of Jos so as to get
automatic employment, he begins to feel relieved of the pain in his heart.
Change comes to Felix when a
very influential politician, the Mayor of Atlanta and also an emeritus
professor from the University of Georgia, Professor Marcus Grant, came to the
university where Felix is serving to deliver the annual Vice Chancellor’s
Lecture Series. Being one of the protocols the august visitor chats happily
with Felix and becomes quite impressed with his level of intelligence and
astuteness. He asks Felix to make a wish and Felix tells him that his greatest
wish is to live in America.
Like a dream or a clip of a
fairy tale, three months later, Felix gets admission to do Master’s in
Administration at the University of Atlanta, Georgia, courtesy of the visiting
professor. After his youth service, he jets out of the country.
In Chapter Two, the author,
in a very engaging style narrates how Felix meets Dr. Greg Chijindu in a plane
on his way to the US. He becomes fascinated by the book “Business Opportunities
for The 21st Century Entrepreneur” with a subtitle: ‘Unravelling the
Secrets of Great Enterprises in the United States.’ The title of the book
tickles his fancy so he engages the man in a discussion. Greg is an
entrepreneur from Anambra State based in New York. After Felix completed his
Master’s degree in Business Administration, Greg offers him an employment in
his airline business as the research assistant.
Chapter Three takes us into
the world of Felix in his office, sitting on a spot and observing activities of
pedestrians and motorists along Peach-Tree Street, downtown Atlanta Georgia. He
drifts into a reverie, capturing the events that led to his coming to school
and work in the US. It’s exactly eight years since he first stepped into God’s
Own Country.
One day, Greg calls Felix
into his office, eulogises him for his hard work and honesty. He offers him a
fair share of the business ownership plus annual profit sharing and other
incentives. Greg advises Felix to think home (Nigeria) and also try and settle
down.
Taking a cue from Greg’s
suggestion, Felix decides to register a tourist company in Nigeria called ‘F.I.
Investments Limited’ with the assistance of his long-time bosom friend, Ikem,
who is more like a brother to him. Felix becomes the financier and executive
chairman while Ikem is the vice chairman/chief executive officer. Felix resigns
and decides to move back to Nigeria.
Chapter 5 simply explores
Felix trip via the Trans-Atlantic airplane to Nigeria. After retrieving his
luggage, pushing them in a trolley and at the same time answering a phone call,
he bumps into a 25-year-old lady, Zara Danjuma, who’s also trying to retrieve
her luggage. Zara has spent her lifetime in the US before she agrees to visit
Nigeria after her father convinced her to return to her fatherland. Zara
pacifies her father who is angry with Felix. Felix apologises and wonders about
the awesome beauty of Zara, who looks like a half-caste of Arabic origin.
Most times, what we think
about manifests in our dreams. Chapter six begins with Felix dreaming where
Zara is massaging him and asking him whether she should get him some breakfast.
On his way to Port Harcourt,
a Caucasian man, Bill Whitewater, sitting next to Felix notices he is in love,
smiles and winks at him. Felix feels embarrassed and offers a quick apology.
“I understand the feeling
…when a man loves a woman, all that he sees night and day are images of her,”
Bill said, placing his right hand on Felix’s left hand reassuringly.
On a Monday morning, in
chapter seven, Felix holds a meeting with his employees, expressing his
confidence in the commitment and loyalty of his partner, Ikem. He challenged
his workers to work in harmony for the growth of the company and promises them
annual vacation in any choice location in the world if they remain fraud-free. They
clap and show appreciation to him. This gesture does not go down well with Ikem
who ask Felix to down play his “so called motivational instinct next time we hold
such sensitive meeting.”
In chapters eight and nine,
Felix notices a familiar figure making calls at Abuja airport. He begs to wheel
Zara’s trolley. He introduces himself, planted a kiss on her hand. After
exchanging pleasantries, he proposes to her, kneels down and inserts a ring in
Zara’s finger. She rejects and regards the issue as dramatic. But Zara gives
him a card for a dinner her dad is organising that evening in honour of new
Israeli ambassador to Nigeria. Felix also tries to give Zara that engagement
ring at the dinner but she declines and agrees they become good friends.
Ebele reveals in chapter ten
that Zara has fallen in love with Felix after six months of courtship. They get
married in a society wedding.
Their first child arrived and
they named her ‘Dianne’. Her second pregnancy was twins- two boys: Felix and
Tom. Theirs was a peaceful and loving home which Ikem hates because he is yet
to settle down. He then starts looking for a means to destroy Felix’s marriage.
He single handedly employs Amina as Felix’s secretary to achieve his aim.
Ebele’s narrative in the book shows how dangerous some people can be when you have
joint business with them. It opens the reader’s mind and eyes to learn how a
friend can be one’s worst enemy.
The content was richly
garnished with innuendos and satires. The novel invokes empathy and it is not
possible for one to finish reading it without shedding tears, especially from
chapters fourteen to the end due to how Felix, Ikem, gateman, housekeeper,
nurses and doctors treated Zara, after she was accused of poisoning her husband
to take his wealth, marry another husband and squander Felix’s wealth with her
new husband. Felix sends Zara away. Being a born again Christian, she remained consistent
in her faith till the day their dust-bin carrier came to greet Felix. He
narrated how his gate was wide open without the gateman on duty and he saw
Amina (whom Felix was about to propose for marriage) coming out of the gate
that day. Amina tried to deny but later confessed that Ikem sent her to poison Felix
so that they will take over the company, get married and enjoy the wealth.
Shortly Ikem returned with
Felix’s children he took out for shopping and cinema. He was shocked to find
out that Amina he employed as Felix’s secretary fourteen years ago to help him
execute his plan has confessed all their atrocities to Felix. Amina opened her
mouth to speak but was cut short with a gunshot. The bullet entered her temple
and she died. Ikem turned the gun on Felix who fell on the ground, and finally
pulled the trigger on his own head. Ikem and Amina were dead but Felix narrowly
escaped death and was taken to the hospital where he was treated. Before he
left the hospital, he invited Zara and she was surprised to see the assemblage
of doctors and nurses in Felix’s hospital room. He fell on his knees and
apologised to Zara with every word in his mouth. Zara wept. She forgave him!
There’s excitement everywhere. F.I. Investment was renamed F.Z. (Felix Zara)
Investment Limited. Zara resigned her appointment with the oil company and
joined her husband to run their company. Peace returned in their home.
The novel is a well-written
literary piece that arrests the reader’s interest till the
end. From the very first
chapter to the last paragraph, the story is full of suspense. But there were
few errors in pages 15, 62, 77, 8 and 121. Also, Felix was repeatedly written
with small ‘f’.
The book is more of the triumph of good over evil in a society that is
already bedevilled with a get-rich-quick syndrome, not minding how.
I recommend this book to
everyone to read and learn a lesson of how one’s trusted friend and business
partner turned to be his worst enemy.
Ebele Ufodike is the
Headmistress of Kamba-F international School, Shomolu, Lagos. She has authored
a number of children’s books such as: Best Way Handwriting Book 1-5, Colouring
is Fun 1-3, Prayer Book, Copy and Colour ABC Books 1-3 and Copy and Colour 23
Books 1-3, but Blind Trust is her first novel.
