~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     Aluko Kosoko walked the path home buried in thought.
  *would i be paid?*
   *He wasn't lying to me was he?*
just two days ago he had received a mysterious Call from an unknown number. Informing him of a Safe that held lots of money.
  "This is your lucky day mr.aluko"

the voice had told him over the phone. he had been scared to respond as to how the mystery caller got his number or knew his name, and most importantly as to why he's informing him about this information.
"What do you want from me?" he had managed to asked.
"Simply report what i told you to the police" the voice replied. "you'll be rewarded with lots of money, your family will be out of poverty forever"
That struck a cord in Alukos' heart. Yes he needed money, and lots of it.
Being the the father of 6 kids and the husband of a nagging wife pushed him to do lots of odd jobs to fend for his family. House Rent. School Fees. And a barrage of other needs.
   "why are you telling me this" he asked
"I've been watching you Aluko, you know you need the money"
"Okay, where do i see the money?"
The caller had told him the address to an underground safe which Aluko could have sworn never existed, a safe which had been around for the better part of 30 years. He snuck around late at night and discovered it. Shocked beyond words he had dialed the "Whistle Blowing" Hotline to divulge the information. The receiver had directed him to a faraway police station to lodge the details as "they would get to him soon". He had borrowed the money from his neighbour with the promise of paying back next week.
  *i go soon hammer* was what he told him.
      Waking very early and reaching the station, the receptionist looked at him somewhat disdainfully after he had told her what he had to say. Not that he could blame her tho!. it was an open secret around the country that " Whistle Blowers" where usually Offended family members, business partners,friends and most time workers of Wealthy men/women who felt cheated for not getting their cut.
The most shocking happening last year was the wife of a senator, blowing the whistle on her husband. No one really knew why she did it. it caused widespread debates round the country. Most women felt the man was probably a serial cheat, Most men felt the woman was just wicked. The case still in court. There had been other whistle blowing incidents, most where usually shelved as either false or over exaggeration.
"Fill This"  the receptionist handed him a form.
Aluko glanced through the form with blanks more than ready to have his details.
having filled the form, he returned it to her, she stamped and His passport photograph was taken and stapled on the form.
"okay, mr.Aluko" she started. "your details will be sent to our headquarters,we'll call you". Aluko had felt a bit disappointed, he felt his information would be taken care of quickly. His name on The headlines. Huge Amount of money transferred to his account. Jetting out of the country. But, here he was standing in front a teenage receptionist and his "future" being delayed.
"okay"  he managed say. Walking out of the station he overheard the lady dialing a number.
  "yes just the usual. some old man walked in here claiming he found... you know how it is?. okay"  she dropped the call.
      He decided to take the long journey home,not that he didn't have the fare but he knew the change with him would be used to get dinner. Taking bends and curves to the somewhat bushy path he saw a black sedan way ahead.
   *probably someone taking a quick poo* he thought. like the young man he saw few minutes ago struggling to drop the heavy balls of shit. he walked past the sedan and had an eerie feeling immediately as he felt someone get down from it.
Bang!.
Aluko felt the bullet go straight into his skull driving him into the ground. In a split second his eyes searched in vacuum. He felt the urge to call out for help, hoping the young man he saw earlier heard the shot. Blood spilled from the side of his head,he felt cold, and at the last moment he moved his hands to feel his pocket, the money which he thought would be used to feed his money still intact.
   who was going to feed them now?

  Dakar walked to his victim and watch him slip into cold hands. he was dead.
a perfect kill. Or Almost. for a split second Aluko seemed to notice and dakar had almost fluffed his lines.
looking around to see if there was any onlookers. no one. dakar got into his sedan and rode recklessly away.
                   ***************
  The media stream was busy, newspapers,blogs all carried the same headline:   $750MILLION DOLLARS DISCOVERED AS WHISTLE BLOWER IS FOUND DEAD.
Aluko body was discovered by a few market women returning from their shops. there where debates going all around the country as to why he was killed and who would have killed him.
various TV programmes had an episode tagged a topic for discussion
    "War Against The Whistle Blowers?"
human right activists staging protests at various DSS branches round the country. The Police, DSS, State Government, Federal Government all releasing several statements condemning the murder. something had to be done and fast.
       ****************************
    Tolu sat at his desk at the FBI headquarters working on a file he had been working on. someone walked up to him and drop few more several files on his table.
  "Boss wants you to work on this too" . she said. Tolu glanced at the heights of paper work set in front of him.
*not again* he thought.
"Thanks"  he managed to say. He had been working on files after files after files since the turn of the month. He was a Data Analyst at the FBI and this was primarily his duty, there where tons of other analysts all flanked around him peering into their computers but he gets most of the work, mostly because......
"you know he trusts only you right"
the girl said. Exactly. That.
"hand this files to tolu... get this tolu.. is tolu in yet?.. tolu should be done by now... tolu.. tolu.. tolu.." the girl seemed to murmur their boss and getting his tone spot on. This made tolu laugh a bit.
"c'mon Emily" he dragged.
Emily Clarkson. The first person to say hi to him when he got the job at the FBI. oh, and she's white too. Emily had quickly gotten him used to the environment, put him through a few do's and don't s and he had quickly settled in. he was grateful he had her by his side and word on the street: she had a big crush on him. no one knew or she thought no one knew. she was nice,friendly, not to mention that she was pretty. And what are we forgetting?
"i could help you out you know?, get all this things done before deadline". Yes. Always more than ready to give a helping hand.
" Alright thanks" Tolu pushed back at his chair hands raised. "No use arguing with Emily".
      " Shut up". she retorted, she eyed tolu. He had gone on to become a fine young man from the "boy" she had to "babysit" in his first year at the beareu. he had the trust of the director and collegues and everyone. she fondled with the files at his table before taking her sit infront of him.
"little wonder why the director fancies an African boy over the rest of us" emily said, placing and crossing her legs over his table. "don't you feel lonely at times?"
  "What?"
    "don't you feel lonely?, you know, being the only african here"
Tolu allowed his eyes dance through the large room filled with Data Analysts, he had always felt at home here or at least Emily made it a home for him. But deep down he knew he was in a foreign land and the drag to go home was there. Nigeria. His Home.
He left when he was Ten!, having lost his dad at Five, his mum had struggled to make ends meet, did odd jobs, hawked, became a salesperson, basically she struggled. All that struggling made her remarry. His step dad flew abroad, and a year later had his mum and him come along. Life seemed to do him a favour. His mum was happy, he had a job. But was he happy?.
"it's normal" he started. "but i kinda got the hang of it". Tolu still always read his countries news and was always saddened by the terrible news of Corruption, Terrorism, and others. he felt the need to return home. He picked up his  Iphone as Emily scanned through the files and decided to check his Twitter news feeds and was somewhat shocked to see "#AvengeAluko", #WhistleblowersHaveRights" Trending.
Hurriedly he clicked on the hashtags and read various tweets from Nigerians, and corporate bodies:
@Femi
   ~So many other whistle blowers usually leave a life of fame and fortune but the govt seemed more interested in having aluko murdered. #AvengeAluko
  @naijaboy
   ~ close to a billion dollar cash found underground and the govt felt they could keep it quiet?. they killed Aluko. #AvengeAluko
        Emily noticed tolu starring intensely at his phone, she leaned to get a glimpse.
"What's up?" she asked
  "Something happened, someone was killed for discovering close to a billion dollars".
Emily screamed " The Fuck!, a billion dollars?".
Tolu ignored her and buried himself in the tweets, he scrolled to another one that caught his eyes
    @banks
~the govt murdered a poor innocent man cus he unravelled an outrageous amount of money. this is an attempt to kill off the whistleblowing movement!
#WhistleBlowersHaveRights
Tolu played a clip attached to the tweet which showed the Nigeria police force hurling tear gas at the protesters, pandemonium could be seen.. few shots to disperse the crowd. Emily leaned behind him.
"oh my, its going crazy over there"
Tolu played another clip of what looked like the coordinator of the group, her name Hamzat Kafayat. The embattled woman was on camera speaking:"This has gone on for quite too long. The government is trying to silence our voice and we will not let that happen. Mr.Aluko was killed gruesomely because he uncovered looted funds and because they didn't want to give him his cut decided to kill him. The federal government should do more.  what is close to a billion dollars doing underground?. This will not be swept under the carpet. we Appeal to the US,UK,Nigerians in Diaspora,Anyone to come to our aid" the video then stopped playing.
   "I gotta go" tolu stood up, packed his stuffs and was making his way out.
"go where?". Emily caught his hands
  " Home!" 
   "Home?, you saw whats going on. it's a mess over there" emily seemed to raise her voice. *why is he doing this?*
  "someone's gotta do something" he replied
  "And that person has to be you?" she asked
   "At least i could try_"
    "you're trying to get yourself killed" Emily fired. "i can't watch you throw your life away" she said softening her voice now. she needed him here, he knows.
  "You don't understand, those are my people".
    "And we're not?" she asked. she moved closer to him now, looking at him eye ball to eye ball, "And I'm not?"
Tolu did a little soul searching at that point. this was what he wanted. he had always had the drive to return home and this was more of a catalyst hastening that drive.
"I'm sorry Emily" he struggled to say. Packing few of his things and avoiding looking at her, he exited the room.
crashing back at the chair, emilly struggled to keep the tears in check, she couldn't chase him now. that look in his eyes. Tolu was His nations Calvary.