An Enugu housewife, Mrs Josephine Nchetaka Chukwujama Eze, has gotten the attention of many Nigerians on social media after she returned ₦14 million wrongly paid into her account.
While she is being praised for her honesty, the mother of three has been declared a heroine by her husband, Mr. Chukwujama Eze, a journalist-turned lawyer.
In a piece made available to The Eastern Updates, Eze captured what happened and showered praises on his wife.
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He wrote:
“My dear friends, sometimes in life, little things matter as much, if not more, as big things. And, if we don’t appreciate innocuous gestures that are considered little, even big ones will pass us unnoticed.”
“Today is not my wife’s birthday. No, her birthday coincides with the anniversary of the end of the Nigeria Civil War on January 12 of every year. But she’s done a little thing that has impacted my life and given me good cause, as usual, to toast her in public. Don’t get jealous. Tell me, which husband of a credible and God-fearing wife will not celebrate her strong character even from a roof top? Sincerely, I admire her daily in the privacy of my heart and comfort of our home, but this time, I’m minded to share my feelings with my family and friends. Where is the fire of this smoke? Please, I’ll return to my heroine anon. But let me first set the background.”
“Nigeria is not only politically, but economically and morally bankrupt. This is why rogue governance, bribery, corruption, internet fraud and sundry crimes are today the new normal in our beleaguered fatherland. This appalling level of national decadence is easily blamed on poverty, unemployment and general economic hardship. But truth is, we live in denial and do not accept responsibility for our individual contributions to the national malaise. Crime and corruption are actually propelled by personal greed, and shall forever remain reprehensible and, therefore, punishable.”
“Why is it that Nigerians who are not criminally minded do not succumb to crimes, no matter the circumstances and temptation?”
“Under Nigeria’s present prevalence of fraud, both off and online, there are still honest country men and women. And, fortunately, they abound in their intimidating numbers across tribes, religion and geography. Now, back to the story of my heroine!”
“In my emotional reckoning, my wife has creditably discharged and acquitted herself not only as a worthy companion of high credibility, but an honest Nigerian worthy of emulation. Why? This mother of my three children received a credit alert of almost N14 million from an unknown source and exhibited what will make me eternally proud of her integrity. What happened? At exactly 4.50pm on Monday August 3, 2020, my own jewel of inestimable value was in her friend’s hair salon where a substantial percentage of my wealth stream regularly flows. Suddenly, her mobile phone beeped an alert.”
“At first”, she later recalled, “I didn’t check my phone as I dismissed it as one of those unsolicited messages with which network providers inundate hapless Nigerian subscribers.”
“After some time, she casually scrolled through her phone and what she saw was eye-popping. Behold, it was an online transfer of, wait a minute, N13,946,400 from Sankiya Global Investment Ltd.”
“What? Sankiya who? Nearly N14 million! For what purpose? She couldn’t believe her eyes. ‘I’ll call my husband immediately,’ she told herself. And she promptly did. Of course, my wife was not surprised that her husband’s answer accorded with her already waiting thoughts. After all, birds of the same feather flock together.”
“You don’t know Sankiya, and you have no transaction with the company,’ her husband reasoned with her over the phone. ‘So, we’ll return the strange money to your bank tomorrow.’ Her reply? ‘We would have done so today if it were within banking hours.’ A consensus ad idem (meeting of minds) between husband and wife was complete. And so it came to pass that in the morning of the following day, off we set out to the Zik Avenue.”
After some search, they realized Sankiya Global Investment Ltd is a private company based in Lagos Island as they authorised Josephine’s bank to refund the company.
Eze said that when some people heard about it, they condemned them for being naïve and not ‘smart’ enough. He said that bank officials were really appreciative of his wife’s act of goodness.
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