New boss, new rules. Clay world had gotten into a new era and it was under a young, charismatic leader with fresh ideas. The new leader was actually the youngest among all the directors and she was one most of them hated, but she didn't mind. She had one simple rule. Do your job, or be sacked and that was what they all feared.
They knew the queen, Dr Beatrice had given her daughter in-law unlimited power and they had to do whatever she said.
It had been two weeks since Mr lucky was arrested for stealing from the company purse and Dr Beatrice had come personally one week later to announce Monalisa Agbaje as the new president of Clay World.
Magazines and Nigerian blog sites had her pictures all over the place. She was named the most influential person below 30 by Apex Magazine and she had successfully become a local celebrity.
Her friends believed it was the perfect time to share her beliefs. She had done over 16 interviews in one week for websites and magazines but not once had she shared her belief that there was no God. Many times she was tempted, especially when the interview went towards that direction, but she just brushed the questions off.
Judge Chinwe, a judge of the federal high court and one of her older friends and strong atheist had scolded her for not doing so. "This is like the perfect opportunity to get our voice heard" Judge Chinwe had said the previous day on the phone.
Yes it was and Lisa knew that, but she had her reasons. They were like a relatively small community but never admitted they were. They just believed they were group of friends with common sense and a desire not to fall into the deceit of religion. They were more than a hundred of them constantly in contact with each other and they were all successful in their various fields. They had one goal! Get to the very top in their fields and excommunicate religion from their various fields and preach common sense. They believed through this, they will kill the sickness of religion in the Nigeria.
Lisa had gotten to the very top of her field and she was expected to use her new position to help achieve this goal. But there was one big problem. Dr Beatrice! Her mother in-law was a known Christian and she would hate it if Lisa used her new position in her company to spread atheist agenda. Although, past experience with the former senator had shown that she could be won over. Dr Beatrice had not also loved Lisa, in fact the opposite was the case when the young graduate of the university of Lagos had joined the company as a 20 year old. Lisa's outspoken nature on atheism had caught the attention of the former senator and this didn't go down well with her. Lisa knew Dr Beatrice searched for reasons to dismiss her from the company, but Lisa was one of the most hardworking and brilliant persons in the company and even Mr Lucky couldn't find any fault in her. Dr Beatrice's hatred for Lisa took a new turn when she caught her son's eye a year later and despite everything she tried, Ehimen was determined to make the then 21 year old his wife. Ehimen was her favourite child and Dr Beatrice never refused him anything but marrying someone who despised her God was too much. Dr Beatrice tried every means to stop Ehimen including bringing up arguments like him being too young to marry, the first son of the Ehiaghe family had found love and there was no looking back. Finally, Dr Beatrice gave her blessing only on the condition that they married in the church which Lisa had no issues with. She loved Ehimen so much she could let that one condition slide even though most of her friends saw it as a big deal. Gradually, Lisa started to show Dr Beatrice that she was the daughter Itohan was not and the former senator started to fall in love with her. This love blossomed more when she gave birth to her son, Daniel and that was the day she knew she had totally won the heart of her mother in-law. If she could win the heart of the queen, Lisa felt she could cure her of her religious madness but she knew it would take time. She also knew that the one thing Dr Beatrice cherished the most was her company and Lisa planned to take it to a height that even Dr Beatrice didn't believe Clay World would reach. Lisa knew if she could achieve that, she would get her mother in-law to listen to her every word. That was one thing she knew but Judge Chinwe and all her other network of friends had not gotten to understand.
Lisa knew to change Clay World, she had to change Dr Beatrice first which was a difficult task on its own but not impossible. But what she could do was first change the little rules set by Mr Lucky and the first was the morning prayers which she placed a ban on in the office. There were to be no prayers or religious conversations or gatherings. It was all work and that was how they were to operate under her. People grumbled when she made the new rule, but that was all they could do. She was boss now. And if any complained to Dr Beatrice, she knew exactly how to defend this action.
It was Monday morning, exactly two weeks after the arrest of Mr Lucky and Clay World was busy as ever. Lisa had gotten a call the previous night from her new assistant Hawa, that they had scheduled an emergency meeting with a company that needed a new mega building. According to Hawa, this was to shoot into billions of naira and this was exactly the kind of deal to get Dr Beatrice’s blood pumping and her face smiling. Hawa had called this company “Revelations Limited” and she was a bit excited and a bit nervous. Excited because of the money involved and nervous because she had searched for this “revelations limited” on line and had found nothing. Maybe Hawa got the name wrong.
She was in her new office when she saw two men in suits and a lady in an all-white gown and a white pair of high heel shoes. This lady caught her eyes for no reason, or probably due to her very expensive looking gown. She was pretty! Probably in her early or late 30s. Lisa watched as Victor who was now director of Business Development which was her old position led these three people into the conference room. She waited patiently for Hawa to come and inform her and she didn’t just come alone, she came in with Victor.
“They are here boss”, Victor smiled. He had started to call her boss which she didn’t like one bit. She had warned him to stop several times, but Victor was as stubborn as an Ox.
“Do you know anything about this people Victor?” She wondered and he was silent. Like he was hiding something from her. She walked to Victor and Hawa at the door and they led her towards the conference room. “I searched the internet for Revelations Limited
and I found nothing".
"Revelations limited?" Hawa scoffed. "I said Revelations ministries boss", she clarified.
"Ministries?"
"They are a church", Victor affirmed.
Lisa paused and for some reason, her heart began to beat very fast. She couldn't tell why but the fact this proposed multi billion naira project was a church building made her boil inside. This was exactly what she and her network were trying to stop. This was hard earned money gotten from gullible members and it hurt her that Nigeria was buried in this folly called religion. One part of her wanted to reject the deal and send them to another building company, but that would be very sentimental and Victor could read her thought.
"Be calm", he said. "This is business", he reminded her. "If we reject this deal on sentiment, then we are not so different from the Christian fanatics".
And he was right. "Let's go", she said as they all went into the conference room where the two men and the lady in white sat.
"Good day gentlemen and lady" she greeted with a warm smile. "I am Monalisa Agbaje..."
"We know who you are" one of the men replied. He was the younger of the two men.
She sat at the edge of the table where Mr Lucky usually sat during meetings and the three customers sat by her left. Other directors that were available including Victor and her assistant Hawa sat to her right. "My name is Pastor Phillip Aja of the Revelation ministries", the younger man said. "I am the chairman of the building committee of this great house of God". He smiled. He was handsome and too young to be a chairman of a building committee of a church that could afford a building worth billions. "This is evangelist Ovie Orhobo" he pointed to the man beside him. "He is our church treasurer and the lady over there is Mrs Osas Ojo, she is our general secretary".
"A pleasure to meet you all", Lisa forced a smile. "I want to assure you that you have made the right choice by coming to Clay World", she had heard the speech many times from Mr Lucky, so reciting it was not a problem. "We have the best architects in our company and we also provide the best building materials as we are in partnership with over 13 German companies that supply us with the greatest quality of..."
"No need to market you to us", Ovie cut her short as Phillip chucked gently while Osas just stared at her weirdly. "We have decided to do business with Clay World".
"We are good friends with Lady Beatrice", Phillip added.
Lisa nodded as she stole another glance at Osas who was weirdly quiet. Does she not talk? All she did was stare at Lisa and it made her very uncomfortable. "So, a building of what capacity are we talking about?"
"A church that can contain five thousand members", Phillip smiled.
Five thousand gullible fools, she thought. This was good business for Clay World, but it was bad business for her. This was proof that she and her network had real work to do to save Nigeria from the bondage of religion. "What's the location of this building?" She wondered.
"Ugbor", replied Ovie. "At GRA".
Lisa nodded. "Clay World can give you the best", she promised. "This is Efosa", she said pointing to her far right. "He's our head architect. Efosa will work with the team that deals with commercial buildings..."
"Commercial?" Phillip cut her short. "I am sorry to say Madam, but the church is not a commercial organization", he corrected. "We are not a business".
Lisa smiled and took one glance at Victor at her right as he stared at her as if to say "don't do it". But she had no choice. She always wanted to give these Christians a piece of her mind. "Mr Phillip", she called.
"It's Pastor Phillip", Osas finally said something. Her voice was coarse and rough, almost like a drunken man's voice.
"Pastor Phillip", she corrected herself. "You are about to raise a building worth billions of naira. I am very sure Revelations ministries didn't start like that. You probably started small and now look how big you are. Clay World started the same. See where we are now".
They were silent.
"That suit you are putting on, I can bet that is worth over 50 thousand naira", she pointed. "I am very sure ten years ago you couldn't afford it". She smiled. "You know why you can afford it now? Because you did your business well by getting gullible members to hand over their hard earned money to you because you read something from a stupid book that they can probably read themselves and see that it's all nonsense". She shifted forward. "Tell me the difference between Clay World and your establishment?"
"We are saving lives", Phillip replied with a mocking smile that actually got her more upset.
Lisa giggled and even Victor gave a thin smile. "Are these lives what you think of on Saturday night or the offerings and tithes you are going to get the next day?"
They were silent and she didn't like that. She loved to get into arguments with these Christian folks and tell them her mind. Try to clear their head from the bondage they were in. "You all are the same", she spat. "I just wish your members wisdom to be able to realize that Christianity is the biggest fraud of all frauds".
"We are done here", Osas frowned as she sprang to her feet. The two men followed suit as they got up to leave. "The next time we meet, we hope to be signing papers", she instructed.
"Of course", Lisa smiled as she got up with an outstretched hand. But only Phillip received her handshake with a smile on his face. She had annoyed the rest and it pleased her a great deal. "I guess you weren't expecting this Pastor Phillip?" She asked as they shook hands.
"Oh no", he replied still with the smile on his face. "An atheist building the house of God? What could be more perfect?"
This chapter was edited by Glory Uwanna Kenneth.
Note: chapter five titled 'the omnipotence paradox' will be posted on the 30th of September and then to celebrate our independence, CORE BLOG will be giving you chapter six titled 'big sister, little sister' on Monday the 3rd of October. Please stay in touch. God bless you.
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