Jamaica

Chapter 39

Looking at the phone he wondered why the governor would call him after what she had done. Did she want to confirm he was dead? Was it her intention to kill him? Gbenga asked himself a lot of questions as he kept looking at the phone. Reluctance and annoyance forbade him from answering the call. However, he was tempted to pick up the call.

"Hello?" He took the call just so he could know what the governor wanted from him.

"Gbenga, I wa..."
"What do you want?" He interrupted. He was extremely disappointed in her.

" Gbenga is that an insult or what?"
"Miriam, what do you want from me?" The governor frowned at Gbenga addressing her aggressively.

"Gbenga why are you addressing me so aggressively?" The pain he felt being beaten by the three thugs was something he couldn't forget. And he had already contemplated ending his collaboration with her. He felt it was time to quit working for her, especially after what she had done. And he openly expressed his feeling to her.

" I think the time is ripe for us to go our separate ways." He said, with much determination. Miriam felt like she had just received a punch in the face that she couldn't avoid. It felt like a death blow to her and for a few minutes she kept quiet. But then again she couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of what Gbenga had said.

" Well, anyway," She took a deep breath before she continued. " I just have to pretend that I didn't hear you, Gbenga."

"Miriam, I am serious."
" Fine but on what grounds are you quitting?" She asked, perplexed.

"I'm sorry, your Excellency. But the situation as it is right now, demands I do so."

"Gbenga we still have a lot of work to do, so I can't accept your resignation or exit, or whatever you choose to call it."

" Okay, no wahala. But assign the job to someone else."
"Is that the way to respond to me?"
"Thousands of graduates are out there roaming the streets, jobless. I think it's time your administration does something about the joblessness in this state."

"Oh so has it reached the point where you are criticizing my administration?" Miriam got furious and ended the call. She was mad at him for his last comment about her administration. But she realized that Gbenga with his decision not to work for her, was putting her in a difficult position.

And at this point in her tenure, she didn't want that. No you can't do this to me, right now. Not while I'm still the governor of this state.

She thought about what it meant for Gbenga to turn his back on her. He was a personal friend, but besides that, he knew too much and to her this was dangerous. Right from the start of her tenure in office, she had given him so many assignments.

Practically every information she needed on anyone be it a minister, a businessman, or even a pastor, she had assigned it to him. She had the crazy obsession of always wanting to be one step ahead of the men and women with whom she was dealing with.

And this, both in the public and private sectors of the state. She was always looking for bits and pieces of information that she could use against these individuals, if they criticized her administration too much.

Having seen the way Gbenga did his job,  she put her full trust in him. He was reliable because he knew his job, but also knew how to keep his mouth shut.  This made her entrust him with so much information and so many secrets.

Now that he had told her he wasn't interested in working with her anymore, she felt like he could spill out every secret in his possession, and also leak vital information to the press. He could also expose her practice of spying on all her cabinet members using government funds.