Case file — theblackboard

CheckMates, everybody has a price. I don't care what anybody tells you about integrity, principles, standing on business — everybody has a number. Some people's number is high. Some people's number is embarrassingly low. But the number exists, and one day, life will call it.

SOUND: A market haggling ambiance — voices negotiating.

There's a security guard somewhere in Lagos right now who will open a gate for anybody, for anybody at all, once you press two thousand naira into his palm the right way. Doesn't matter who you are. Doesn't matter what time it is. Two thousand naira has more authority in this country than most federal agencies.

SOUND: A phone camera shutter click.

There's a blogger who will post anything — anything — as long as the alert clears first. Today na breaking news about a senator. Tomorrow na breaking news about the same senator, opposite story, because the senator's people called with a bigger envelope.

[redacted] A brief comic sting.

There's a landlord's agent who will swear on his mother's grave that a house has "constant light" and "good water pressure," and the moment your money enters his account, the constant light becomes NEPA's business, and the good water pressure becomes a bucket and a prayer.

SOUND: A referee's whistle, distant crowd noise.

There's a football referee somewhere who will give a penalty that never existed, wave away a clear handball, and somehow always find extra time exactly when the richer club needs it. Nobody trained him to be corrupt. Life simply presented him with an envelope, and he made a decision in less time than it takes to blow that whistle.