The last American yankee – Part 2

In the last five years, Supo had changed jobs like the Chameleon would change its colours and it wasn’t a sweet story at all. He was getting really angry with himself and the system.

Supo was actually getting tired of his stay in Chicago when he got another job at Gladstone Old Peoples’ Home. His duties were to take adequate care of elderly people some of who were in their 70s, 80s, and 90s. Like a flash of light, he had spent exactly 10 years in the city without anything to show for it. Not so long after he got the job, he ran into the problem again.

An elderly man in his 80s suspected him of stealing his wallet containing some huge amount of dollars. He denied vehemently but the Police Authorities arrested him as they waded into the matter. He was arraigned in court and sentenced to jail for an offence he knew he didn’t commit. While serving his jail term, Supo remembered his fatherland for the first time and wondered how his parents were fairing way back home. There was a day he was beaten mercilessly by one of the prison inmates who just hated him for no good reason. He was rescued immediately by the security guards in the prison and his cell was changed. That painful experience remained etched on his mind.

When he finished serving the jail term he had turned 42. He was repatriated back to Nigeria, the very country he hated passionately. The African American wife he married in Chicago and his two children travelled with him back to Nigeria. He was now based in Oyo State where he did his tertiary education. He had no option than to accept what destiny threw back at him. Pronto, he started life afresh after he had spent exactly fifteen years in the US. His thoughts since he started life in Nigeria was that survival would be a terrible experience. His wife was a graduate of Agricultural Science. Out of pity, a kind relative borrowed him the initial start-up capital to manage a poultry farm. Before long, his poultry business grew in leaps and bounds and he became very successful, coupled with the skill, assistance, and experience of his loving wife.

It was a mixture of bliss and joy when Supo turned 50 as he had become a stupendously rich poultry farmer who even exported his farm products to other neighbouring countries after overcoming the business terrain in Nigeria. He soon veered into other businesses such as the Maritime Industry and Real Estate and he never regretted taken these business decisions. He owned several properties in choice locations in Nigeria. He had several employees working with him in various capacities in his companies and he sat atop a multi-million naira ventures. He is now a proud Nigerian and he believed so much in the positive development of his fatherland. His children schooled in some of the best institutions in Nigeria and they are very happy. His lovely and beautiful wife named Antonia, who stood by him during his travails and problems in the US lives like a queen in Nigeria.

In a recent interview, Supo granted a popular television station, when he was asked about his journey through life and the American experience came up, he had this to say: “I’m happy I came back home in one piece! It was a really tough life. The experience was like living in a beautiful prison, decorated with all the modern-day gadgets. I thank God I am alive. North, East, South and West, home is best. No kidding.”