“We definitely have to do that. I‘ll even speak to them, there‘s no room for mistakes here.” Chief Okrika stood up and moved to the desk. “And make sure we close that lump seven percent soon. Now show me the documents that require my signature.”
Mr. Odusote joined him and placed a bulky file on the desk. He didn‘t understand everything the Chief planned but as long as it benefitted him at the end, he was happy.
**********
Edward came into the office very early and spent the first couple of hours going through all the accounting books of Bestman Group PLC. He wanted to be especially sure of the financial statements and annual reports since he had bought fifty one percent of the controlling rights to the shares of the listed company and merged all his assets under it. He spoke into the intercom;
“Could you tell Odili to meet me in the office please?”
“Sure.” Ogbonna replied.
“Good morning Edward,” the accountant said a few minutes later walking into the large corner office. The sunlight from the windows fell on Edward and the papers on his desk.
“Odili, please sit down. We do need to talk like I said yesterday,”
As soon as he sat, Odili began, “First off, I‘d like to apologize for trading those shares.”
“They were yours to sell; I should have paid more attention to what was happening.”
“Still, it would have been useful if I had let you know then and not covered any tracks. Maybe we would have detected the signs of the acquirer‘s activities. I always felt like bringing the shares‘ performance to your notice would alert you to my activities. I always hoped to buy back.”
“Though you should have done that, it‘s not your fault. It didn‘t help that I was distracted by so much going on in my life. Travelling so many times to wrap up with our foreign partners, making all the wedding plans and going on this ill-advised jaunt…”
“It seems you think Gladys had a hand in this? She may be a pawn like me. I don‘t know her as the type that‘ll do that.”
“Unless you have some evidence you want to show me, I‘ll prefer not to talk about her.” Edward looked away quickly, the memory of last night‘s conversation fresh in his mind.
“Fair enough, but do give her the benefit of the doubt like you‘re giving me now.”