The two men climbed up the steps, to my spacious verandah, where coincidentally I had interviewed all previous drivers (2 at last count), since I could afford the luxury of having them.

I checked them out slyly, being my usual shy self, despite the fact that I would soon employ one of them.

The one in front was lanky and tall. He had a light complexion and had a shiny bald adorning his small head. He wore transparent glasses which balanced atop his nose like they were stuck there with a glue. His white kaftan was neat and his well polished black shoes shone. He somehow resembled my former driver, but I liked him.

The second man was full, though not fat. He was tall too. I don't know why they both did, but this one had on transparent glasses too. Unlike the first, he had no bald. He was wearing a neat, sky - blue kaftan which appeared quite neat too and his well pedicured toes poked through the front of well crafted leather sandals. He had a smile on his face the whole while, and I liked him too.

"Good evening, sir, my name is Muhammadu. B," the first man greeted in a heavily accented tone. I didn't need to be told he was from the core North.

"Good evening, how are you?" I replied, looking away, a bit shy.

"I'm fine, sir. I heard you need a driver and I think I can do the job.

This was a bold one; I liked that. "Really, have you done this before?“

“Yes, sir; I have integrity."

I wondered how his answer related to my question.

He quickly continued, probably sensing my dilemma. "I have only one bank account, and despite having to drive for a big man before, I never stole a kobo from him. Oga, my former oga used to send me with bags of money to the bank; I never stole a dime...Not even from my other oga!"

"That's interesting. You know you'll also have to move a lot of cash for me?"

"Wallahi, I will not steal your money."

"Okay, I think I've heard enough for now. Let me talk to your fellow applicant. Yes, can I help you?"

"Good evening, sir. I am Abubakar. A, and will like to be your driver."

This one was accented too, and obviously from same region as Muhammadu. His accent was a bit lighter, though.

"Have you had some experience in driving before?"

"Yes, oga; I even drove to this place in my small car."

"Hope you know with me, you will be driving a very big stretch limo? Limos aren't easy to maintain."

"Yes, I do. I have once assisted the driver of a big stretch limo, and we left it better than we met it."

"Now, that's impressive..."

"Ask him if he had integrity!" Muhammadu yelled, probably sensing that I favoured his contender.

I didn't like the intrusion, but this was an illiterate who probably didn't know what courtesy meant. I decided to humour him.

"Did you have integrity, Abubakar?"

"I don't know how to answer that question, but since we left that job, nobody has been able to provide any proof of wrongdoing against me."

"Do you think he didn't have integrity, Muhammadu?"

"Yes, he was a thief. They made holes in the money bags so they could steal money undetected. They sold the old tyres of the limo and kept the money to themselves. Oga, even the headlamps weren't left out, they received money to replace the old lamps and stole the old ones for personal use. That's what they are using for their cars now."

"Cars? You mean Abubakar owns a couple of them?"

"Not just a couple, he owns a fleet of them. I don't even know why he wants this job when he employs many drivers for his fleet."

"Hmmm," I was surprised by the amount of breath I let out. I had been holding up so much. "Abubakar, is this true?"

"I didn't want to join issues with Muhammadu, but since he wants to play dirty, two can play the game. I have been hardworking for long and have always invested my income in lucrative ventures. I already owned a good number of cars before taking up my last job. I wanted experience at a higher level and I got it, even though it was as an assistant. We met a battered limo which clients no longer considered desirable and we set about fixing it. They said there was an arrears of debt incurred on the limo and we set about repaying this. We stripped off the needless old parts of the limo and sold them to raise some money. After a bit of facelifting, the limo was in shape for limited business. With the proceeds from these, we paid off the creditors and continued work on the limo. The more beautiful it became, the more our clients patronised us. To keep this up, we were even more conscious of keeping the stretch in good condition. This we achieved without incurring any new debts. Maybe we changed some parts too early, but business was good, the stretch was well maintained and everyone was happy.

But same can't be said of Muhammadu. He has been on the driving seat twice, and twice has he grounded the limo. On both occasions, it didn't take him too long to demobilise the limo. Ask him why he was sacked the first time. The lights were bad and the stretch couldn't be used at night, half the tyres were bad meaning clients were scared off it for safety reasons. While those items couldn't be fixed, they started getting missing. At a point, it was obvious he would soon write off the stretch with a fatal crash and a decision had to be made. When he was eventually sacked, even the steering wheel was gone... "

"Liar," Muhammadu interrupted him with venom. "I never took any of those items."

"I never said you did, but you will agree that they were gone, ba?" Abubakar shot back immediately. "And under your watch!"

"The only people that came close were family; should I have also kept them away? I'm not so wicked."

"But you were wicked enough to keep other families away, right? Was it an inheritance?"

"I never stole a pin!" Muhammadu insisted.

"But who emptied the money bags in the stretch?" Abubakar drove the sword deeper.

"I insist that the only people that went close were family! I wouldn't know if they did the stealing."

"Well, oga, I might agree that Muhammadu was ignorant of the antics of his friends and family the first time, but for him to have a second chance and same thing repeated itself shows his integrity is very questionable. And isn't it puzzling that he was ignorant of the vices under his watch, yet can point accusatory fingers at others?"

For the second time I exhaled audibly. "Wait, does it mean you both worked for the same employer?" I asked them both, looking from one to the other. Every shyness was gone now.

"Yes, sir," they both replied.

"And may I know who that employer is? What's the name of the stretch limo?"

"Nigeria," they chorused.

Oh, the lanky one was actually my former driver and he wanted the post again? After such a terrible performance? The other man had perception issues, but it was an incontrovertible fact that they had kept the limo much more efficiently. It was a hard decision before me, but then it wasn't going to be too difficult. I had to choose a driver between the man with self-adjudged integrity, who claimed it was his relatives whom had always grounded the stretch whenever he was at the helms, and the one who was accused of fraud, but had the reputation of keeping the stretch at an optimum level, even though in an assistant capacity. And he had proven to be very successful in maintaining a personal fleet of smaller cars.

I turned to them, looking at each eyeball to eyeball. "I will communicate my decision on Saturday, 23rd February, 2019," I said, dismissing them.




Ishilove, obinnau, mynd44, seun, lalasticlala

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Presently present

As i await your choice..... Hopefully it tallies with reality or else that limo becomes a wheelbarrow.

Present sir....

Muhammadu and Abubakar huh, I see what you did... nice one though

You're in the spirit

Rhayne:
Muhammadu and Abubakar huh, I see what you did... nice one though