start wrBorn with a golden spoon, he lost the spoon due to ancestry... he lived a pauperized life till he found the spoon again.

The Rich Richardson. Richardson was the last and only surviving son of Mr Aloysius Mbata. A renowned successful trader in the land of Amachara village. Mr Aloysius had many children but lost almost all to prenatal post natally. It was believed that he inherited this misfortunes from his late father Aguocha Mbata, who was a very evil and notorious native doctor in his time. Aguocha killed a lot of children and used them for sacrifice. He also used pregnant women to prepare charms for people as a result of this, he was cursed by one of his victim, that his generations to come will suffer childlessness!. Aguocha had three sons and two daughters as at the time he was cursed. His children began to die mysteriously. His two sons, the second and third son went to swim in the village river popularly called 'Mbaa' the river known for its steady freshness and coolness even in the hottest season of the year. The two boys had always argued among themselves on who swims better and faster than the other. They decided to go for the betting on the day when nobody will be on the river, to avoid being distracted or disturbed. They went to the river and fortunately nobody was there as it was just the beginning of the week, people usually have enough water they fetched the previous weekend. They went with an empty Vaseline container, which will be thrown into the river and both of them race towards it. The first to pick the container will be the winner. Sadly, the community had just cleaned up the river last weekend and had made a deep hole beside the riverbank, where they bury most debris gathered from the river. But the two boys weren't aware of this. They threw their container right inside the river,and the waves drove the object to this hole point. Speedily they jumped into the river while they raced to get this container, both of them got drowned. His daughters died in their husbands' house during child birth respectively. He only had his first son Aloysius as his only remaining seed. Sympathetically, he died when Aloysius took ill. He wouldn't want to bury all his children by himself. Aloysius did not continue with his father's lifestyle, he was rather a honest man and fully interested in trading. He learnt how to trade cocoa with the whites, who always buy them in large quantities. At first he was farming cocoa by himself but when the demand got higher, he started buying from other farmers to satisfy his customers. Farm Land was not his problem because he had enough land before he died.Outside cocoa, he also deals with cassava, palm fruits etc. Hence he became so wealthy and successful. Though Aloysius was different from his father, he still suffered the curse. Aloysius got married at the age of 37 to his wife Margret Mbata who was barely half his age.. They lived together for 8years without a living child. Their first two issues went through miscarriage and their only two surviving children were Richard and Rita. Rita was older than Richard, but she died of measles when she was barely 5. Mr Aloysius tried all he could to save the life of the poor girl. He had to transfer the child to Federal teaching hospital Ibadan for medical treatment. Rather than responding, Rita kept deminishing daily. This continued to about 2weeks before she died. Richard was the only remaining son of Mr Aloysius, and was expected to have the best of training as his father was very rich . His fathe started acquiring more properties after the birth of Richard. This is because in the traditional Igbo culture, a daughter do not inherit any of her father's property, and a man is considered childless untill he have male children. This was why Mr. Aloysius deliberately ignored acquiring properties untill the birth of Richard. Richard was a very intelligent boy, he slightly resembled his father and was as industrious as his father. He never played with his academics . His father acquired more properties including buying a share from the Nicon company, he owned a share with Nigerian Breweries, he owns a cocoa processing mill, a multinational corporation with a net worth of 2 million dollars located in Abulegba area of Lagos state. Outside that, he had a foreign investment, he ran a joint corporation with Kchibo, a leading electronic industry in China. He never made all these known to his son, because he wanted the son to be an independent mind, who can rise from zero to hero. However, fortune left this once happy family when Mr Aloysius and his wife was returning from a business trip in China, they boarded the sosoliso airline which was going to land in Lagos terminal, but unfortunately the plane could not land successfully. It lost her gas in the air while waiting for the presidential jet to leave the airways. Mostly in Nigeria, every activities in the airport are usually suspended and put on hold including incoming flights on air eachtime the President wants to leave the country. The reason behind this extra safety measure have remained a classified information from government officials. Though so many Nigerians of various classes have called for the reversion of that policy, the government still get adamant to it. Unfortunately, The flight carrying Mr and Mrs Aloysius was among the flights suspended waiting for the President to leave. The news of Mr Aloysius death was very disturbing. The extended family members, business associates, friends and relations where all in deep shock. This indeed was going to spell doom on Richard, who was only 13yrs old. The kinsmen of Mr Aloysius were divided amongst envy and sympathizers. Those who were envious wished to h****k his properties and his businesses, but unfortunately it was difficult because only Mr. Aloysius and his wife knew completely about their sources of wealth. Since non of the kinsmen of Mr Aloysius could claim any of his properties, they all deserted the young Richard to fend for himself. Richard only knew about their house were they live, At age 14, Richard began to roam the streets. He began to do menial jobs to sustain his academics. At first, he began to pick firewood and palm nuts to sell. He would gather them every afternoon when he returned from school and would sell them every weekend, then he would use his proceeds to buy his needs. He continued like that until he was done with his junior secondary school at government secondary college Ihodimeze. Richard was preparing for his Junior Waec examination at 16 when the worst happened. After the death of his parents, the kinsmen have not spare a day without seeking for how to unravel informations that could allow them claim late Mr Aloysius's properties all to no avail. They had gone to banks but the banks couldn't help them, they went to court and court insisted on getting the "Will" of the deceased before they could assist them. Frustrated and exhausted, they decided to force the boy to speak out Since he had no idea of what they wanted, some of the kinsmen mobilized themselves and sold the house,as a claim to recover their money they expended for the couples funeral. This made Richard completely homeless. This was another wickedness as painful as the lost of both parent on a same day. Richard began to roam the streets. At nights he would go and sleep at the village hall. Perhaps, one wrong thing Mr Aloysius did was not to take his family out of the village, though have many houses in Owerri, Enugu,and Lagos. The chances of continuing his education became more elusive as Richard became homeless. He had to drop out at Junior secondary. More so, in Government secondary college, you cannot get into senior secondary college if you did not participate in the Junior Waec examinations this barred his chances of continuing with education. Richard began to cut palm fruits for women in the village, he also clear their farms and assist them in weeding, they would pay him penny for rental. Some sympathizers would dash him used clothes, sandals and sometimes they would give him foodstuffs. He did not stop his firewood and palm nuts business. When Richard turned 18, a woman who was one of the customers of Mr Aloysius from whom he bought cocoa in the early days of his business, call Richard for work. After he was done with the work, the woman invited him to come home. At the woman's house, she served him well prepared ogbono soup and pounded yam. The soup is one of the respected traditional soup in Igboland, always loved for its delicious aroma, rich with stock fish, dried fish called (mangala) . Richard hurriedly ran into the meal, he have not seen this kind of meal since his parent's death. The woman brought out some fresh palm wine for her visitor. After the meal, Mrs Akudo began to ask him what he knew about his parent's businesses. His responses was not a surprise to her, because she had already known Mr Aloysius from the beginning as a very secretive man, during their days, She had asked Mr Aloysius to link him to the British merchants but he refused and told her that the business was confidential as instructed by his colleagues. But what surprised Mrs Okudo was how Aloysius could keep these vital informations out of his own blood and only surviving son. Akudo was a barren woman, who lost her husband in the early years of their marriage. She only spent 10years with her husband before he died of whitlow. Nwabueze had contracted whitlow when he was clearing his farmland. He cut his finger during the process. After applying all traditional means, the wound healed but subsequently led to withlow. The wound got worst after his local doctor operated on the hand. It deteriorated until it affected the whole five fingers in his right hand. Subsequently his right hand was amputated from the elbow, but he suffered it till his death. She began to tell Richard of how prominent his parent's were, but she was also limited in her knowledge because she was only aware of the cocoa business. She told him of his father's multi billion cocoa company located some where in Lagos, she was only aware because she heard a privy to it when Mr Aloysius friends were discussing him in front of her shop. She didn't know exactly the location of the company nor the name, but she was sure such empire exists. She advised Richard to look for any means he could use to reclaim that establishment before some people will team of and h****k the company, that's if it have not been hijacked since over 6years of his parent's death. Filled with zeal and enthusiasm to discover where his parent's properties where, he stood up, thanked Mrs Akudo and left. But there are challenges. He have no money to go to Lagos, not to talk of where to keep his head till he find out where he was looking for. He continued his works. This time around he ignored all critics from people. He started saving up some money for his journey. This made him to start looking dirty and odd. He stopped buying clothes for himself. A day came, Richard was returning from his usual work, he had helped Nazi Ukachi to clear his farmland near the boundaries of Amachara and Ekwom village then he had that the youths of the village were in a meeting with the Eze, in the town hall. Of course that was his destination because he has been living there since his father's house was sold. When he got there, they were discussing on how to empower the youths of the community, but on seeing Richard, the Eze asked him to leave the hall. Eze was among those who had searched for a means of acquiring Mr Aloysius's businesses. He knew quite a lot of Aloysius businesses because the deceased always come to him for some signatories each time it was needed. He was angry with Richard for not being resourceful to them, he wondered how daft an only son would be that he knew nothing about the wealth of his parents. People kept wondering if Mr Aloysius was actually the father of the boy. "If he was the father he would have willed all his properties to his only son" whispered an elder during the last meeting with themselves. They had already resolved to stop Richard from sleeping in the town hall since his father was useless to the community. This decision was harsh despite the fact that Richard had always kept the environment very clean. He always clear the bushes around and ensure he swept the surroundings daily. Initially he was hiding, but after he was caught by some village youths who went for night hunting, he was asked to ensure he keep the environment clean. He was given the apartment meant for the security man, but he wasn't hired as a security nor paid for it. This day was a sad day for Richard as the Eze asked him out of the meeting. He was later informed that the Eze had asked him to pack his belongings and leave the village hall before night falls. In tears, Richard pack his little belongings with no idea of where to go, he left the village. After trekking several miles, he found himself in Orji, a village next to Owerri town. Owerri was the capital of Imo state and as expected, is the most busiest and beautiful town in the state. He saw a big Catholic church still uncompleted, he waited untill night fall, he went into the building, cleared a room and kept his belongings. All through the night, Richard was restless. He have not feel this bad since his parent's death. Tears kept dropping his eyes every second. He wondered why his parent's could keep their businesses away from his knowledge , he also wondered why his parent's death came so sudden, remembering the promises his father made to him before they traveled. He would have gone with them, but his visa was not processed and they were not going to stay long, so they decided to leave him behind. His parent's had plans to fly him abroad to China for his university education but death spoiled all plans. Richard could not utter a word, but kept crying. At a point, he stopped crying, felt encouraged and slept off. He was determined to do anything to survive even if it mean carrying dirty. But he was not ready to steal or join any bad g**g. In the morning, Richard thought of what to do, he left his hideout, went into the town to observe how things are done there. He saw several activities going on. People were buying and selling different kinds of goods.He saw some people into barbing saloon, and that caught his attention. He went into the saloon and was determined to learn the business. He met the owner of the shop and asked him if he could work under him. The man told him that he had enough workers and would not need more for now. Richard insisted that he should help him in anyway he can.... The man only told him that he can work only as an apprentice. He asked him to bring his parent's for surety. Richard told him that he had no parents . The man became uncertain and told Richard that he could not help him, because he needed a guarantor who will attest to his behaviour and stand in for him in the case of necessity. Disappointed, Richard left the shop and keep walking down the road Luckily, he saw a sign post "wanted a sales boy" it was a big restaurant which also had a bar. Richard thought of entering there, but the previous challenge of a guarantor made him tired. He stopped at a business center adjacent to the restaurant to ask a lady he saw there some questions. At first, the lady seemed indifferent because of the almost hungry looking stature of Richard. Richard doesn't really look dirty, because he was always maintaining his few clothes but they were already looking old. He has a broad shoulder, a pointed nose and and oblong face. He looked very masculine and attractive. The girl was a receptionist in the business center, with a mild voice she asked him "what can we do for you?" Richard answered with a suiting voice, "please I would like to get some informations from you". "okay you're welcomed" replied the receptionist. Richard started "please I want to know about this restaurant and how they operate, I need a job and would like to apply". The receptionist gave a honest smile and replied him, " well am not in the best position to tell you about the restaurant because I don't work there, but all I can tell you is that the owner is one Mrs Rosaline Mmaduforo. She's a nice woman but cherish sincerity and honesty. She's not interested in certification ...other staffs there barely finished their primary school. With this, Richard hope got elevated. At least he went through junior secondary school and can speak well.He thanked the lady and left. Without wasting much time, he went straight into the restaurant, he enquired to meet with the owner of the restaurant but they directed him to meet with the receptionist. At the receptionist, he was told to bring a letter of application and to come back the next day to meet with their maddam.He hurriedly left the restaurant, ran back to his hideout and began to prepare himself for tomorrow's interview. He ironed his shirt and trousers with his charcoal iron, polished his shoes and started writing his application. He could not sleep all night because he was thinking about the next morning. He wondered how the maddam will look like, and the type of questions she would ask them. He quickly opened his bag and brought out his Home Economics text book and began to read them