On December 11th, 2024, Uzezi woke up early, as usual, and got ready for work. As she prepared to leave, her eldest sister, Sister Martina, asked her to cook spaghetti. Uzezi refused, politely but firmly.
"It's already 7:45 a.m., I don't want to be late," she said, hurrying out the door.
She boarded a Keke (tricycle) from Merogun, where she lived, heading towards Estate. Inside the Keke, she greeted everyone, as she always did, and noticed a familiar face—but she couldn't quite remember where she knew him from.
At Estate, she got down and turned right, intending to board another Keke to her workplace at Okere Ugborikoko Road. The man with the familiar face also boarded a Keke at the same spot, but there was no space left in the back for her, so she took a different, empty one.
As they moved along the road, a man flagged them down and entered the Keke. He had entered from the second street on the road and came down at Sage Clinic, which was just a short distance from where he boarded.
That was the first sign. But Uzezi, focused on getting to work, missed it.
"I'm looking for a native doctor who sells and buys gold—the kind used to make real beads," the man said suddenly.
"Let me see," the Keke driver replied, curious.
The man then asked the driver to stop the Keke, and he did.
"I'm not going again," the man said. "My mother told me not to trust anyone."
Uzezi, now confused, asked the Keke man, "What's that thing he's holding?"
"That's magic ice," the Keke man replied. "It's used to make real gold—and it costs about 4 million naira."
"Jesus Christ!" she exclaimed.
The Keke driver then suggested they call the man back and offer to help him. Uzezi agreed.
The man returned and began to explain. "I'm from Benin. I came to sell this stone. My uncle tried to cheat us, so my mother asked me to come to Warri and look for the native doctor I usually see on TV."
Touched by the story, Uzezi began to feel sympathy. The Keke man turned to her, "We should help him."
She nodded.
"Do you know the native doctor?" the man asked her.
"No," she replied.
"I plan to sell this stone for five million naira," the man continued as the Keke moved along slowly.
The Keke man then suggested, "I think I know someone—he's at Giwanu."
Uzezi was confused. She had worked in that area for over a year and had never heard of any native doctor at Giwanu.
"Warri is dangerous," the Keke man said. "You're lucky I picked you. I'll only take you to the place if you promise to give me five hundred thousand naira."
"I will give you—as long as you have a clean mind toward me," the man replied.
"I do," the Keke man said. "I only want to help. My father has been in the hospital for weeks. This could be my chance to raise money for my family."
Then the man turned to Uzezi. "You, my friend. What do you want? What do you want me to give you in return for this favor?"
"Me?" she asked, startled.
"Yes, you."
"Fifty thousand naira. Just that," she said.
"I will give you one hundred naira," the man told her and then turned to the Keke man"and you I'll give one million."
As they approached Giwanu junction, the Keke slowed down. They paused for a moment, seeming to decide whether to continue. That was the point everything began to shift. The charm- what people called talk and follow - started to take hold.