Yoke Of Love

Unexpected Guests

One Monday morning, Mrs. Bunmi Odulade, the beautiful wife of Kolawole’s Managing Director paid unscheduled visit to the purchasing Manager. The MD’s wife came into Kolawole’s office without warning, and asked if she could sit down, Kolawole was very surprised to see her in his office; he offered her a seat and asked; “What can I do for you madam?

This is my third year in this organization; and I have never had the opportunity to receive you in my office,” Kolawole said smiling at the Madam. The forty-one years old mother of four children looked at Kolawole speculatively and said calmly; “My husband trusts you a lot, and this is the reason I am finding it difficult to confide in you.”

Fear gripped Kolawole’s heart; he wrongly thought the woman was going to seduce him, and he made up his mind not to succumb to her seduction even if it will cost him his job; Mojisayo was the only woman for him for life; he thought.

The woman noticed the determination on his firm lips, and she said; “I don’t know what is going on in your mind about my unexpected visit to your office. I did not come here to ask you to betray your boss in any form; however, I want you to buy and supply some building materials to my new site of four flats in Dopemu area of Lagos; and I will pay for the materials personally.”

Kolawole gave a sign of relief and said cheerfully; “That would not be a problem madam, just inform my MD about it, and I would be glad to be of service to you anytime madam.” The woman looked worried and became agitated; “I came to you because my husband would not allow me to build a house of my own; he said there is no need for me to build a personal house, please I need your cooperation in this my quest to build a house.”

Kolawole looked alarmed and said; Madam, one day your husband would be informed about what you are hiding from him, and the whole world would blame you for it, please tell the elders in your family to inform your husband about your new house you are building or plead for his forgiveness when you are alone with him on the bed.”

The woman was not expecting such suggestion from the young Manager; she had hoped to use her influence as his boss’ wife to influence him in doing her bidding; however, without getting angry with him; she saw some merits in what he suggested for her to do, and without saying another words; she silently left his office; Kolawole shrugged his shoulders and continued with his work.

Two weeks later, there was a heated argument between MD’s family and his wife’s family over the four flats his wife was building behind her husband; the matter was later resolved in favor of the madam when she insisted that the house was her own legacy for their four children. However, the two families jointly agreed that if she was building the four flats as her own legacy for their four children; then she must use her own resources to build the house, and her husband was also told to assist her in any form as her husband.

The MD gave his wife a large sum of money from his personal account to support the house without involving the company in any form. The wife later informed her husband about how Kolawole had advised her to come clean with her husband about the new house she was building behind his back; and the MD was very surprised that the young Manager could not even be influenced by his wife.

One Friday morning, Mr. Gbadamosi, Kolawole’s Landlord came to his office and asked for his help; “Kolawole, the electrician I contracted to change some melted wires on the ceiling in my flat accidentally broke four ceiling tiles, please give me some ceiling tiles from your general store.”

Kolawole could have said ‘no’ to the man, but he did not have the heart to turn away a sixty-seven years old man; he could not allow his landlord to go empty handed; he then signed a Requisition note for six pieces of ceiling tiles and he handed the signed Requisition note to the old man, he said; “Alright Baba, but you know I am not the owner of this company; however, I can help with this note, take the note to the store keeper; and the man you meet there would act according to my instruction.”

The landlord collected the note happily and left his office; and few minutes later, Lati Olowolagba the store keeper called him on his intercom; “Good morning Manager, there is one baba in our store with a signed Requisition from you for six pieces of ceiling tiles,” Kolawole took the call and said; “Yes Mr. Olowolagba, the baba is my landlord, kindly supply the tiles to him,” and he dropped the phone; Kolawole wondered why the store keeper called him for confirmation, when he had already explained on the Requisition paper that the ceiling tiles were for public relation purpose.

After the store laborers had loaded the six sheets of asbestos ceiling tiles into his truck, Mr. Gbadamosi was very impressed that a young man like Kolawole could pulled so much power in the building Construction Company; and the man planned to increase Kolawole’s house rent in the nearest future; ‘the young man is a big man in this company,’ he said to himself.The gift of the ceiling tiles gave the store keeper an idea of how he could steal building materials from the company.

The following Monday morning, Kolawole received the MD’s instruction for the quotation prices of one hundred and fifty crates of white wall tiles from the open market, from local suppliers and from the manufacturers. Two days later, Kolawole gave his findings to MD’s confidential secretary for MD’s decision.

The MD later read his young Manager’s Report and recommendation, and he called Kolawole into his office; “Kolawole, your recommendation says; the total cost of buying one hundred and fifty crates of white wall tiles is one hundred percent cheaper if we purchase them in cash from the manufacturer; I have instructed the Accountant to arrange the money for you to buy the items in cash from the manufacturer.”

Kolawole later collected the large sum of money from the Accountant and safely put the money away in his office steel cabinet, and suddenly there was a gentle knock on his door; and a business man stepped into his office with a broad smile on his face.

Kolawole had never seen the man before since he joined the company three years before then; and yet the man was very jovial with him. “Good morning Mr. Kolawole Adegbola, my name is Chief Samson Olayinka; I am a major Distributor of good quality white wall tiles; I was reliably informed about your need for a large quantities of white wall tiles,” the man said amiably.

Kolawole asked the man to sit down, and he demanded to see a sample of the white wall tiles the man was supplying. Chief Samson opened his brief case and presented the sample to Kolawole, and the sample matched the quality he was going to purchase in cash from the manufacturer.

Kolawole was shocked when Chief Samson gave him the exact cost of the tiles as the same cost from the manufacturer; and the man promised to deliver the tiles on LPO. “Alright chief, if you are ready to deliver the whole tiles to our store here on LPO, what would be your gain since your price is the same with that of the manufacturer?”

The man smiled confidently at Kolawole and said; “Manager, as a Major Distributor to the manufacturer, the company would pay me twenty percent discount on all their products with two months credit facility on any quantity I ordered.” Kolawole looked at the businessman thoughtfully.