All Episodes

Emeka was finally getting his shit together, he had broken it off with Cassie and had appeased his wife, the only thing left was to make it up to his best friend. Jonathan would be a tough cookie to crack but Emeka knew him well enough to get under his skin, all he had to do was stroke his ego.

A few days after he had made up with his wife, he decided to pay Jonathan a visit at his house. The office was pretty dry so he decided to leave a few hours early; no one would miss him too much. While driving to his friend’s house he played a thousand different variations of the conversation in his mind, none of them adequate. It looked like he would have to wing it.

He pulled up to the gate of his friend’s housing estate and was waved in by the security without a second glance, he was a regular visitor. Jonathan’s estate, Nikon, was lavish by anyone’s standard and Emeka wondered to himself why he didn’t move here. The thought quickly moved out of his mind and was replaced by apprehension when he pulled up to the imposing black gate that marked the entrance of his friend’s house.

Sulemain, the gateman greeted him and promptly slid the massive postern on its hinges to allow him to drive through, he realized that he was hoping that Jonathan would be out, he had no such luck.

He quickly stepped out of his car and sidled to the door before he lost the little nerve he had left and knocked. His childhood friend wasted no time in answering. He wore a pair of navy blue trousers and a light blue shirt with a matching navy tie, he was going somewhere and it was obvious by the expression on his face that he was not expecting to see Emeka.

“What up my man?” Emeka said as cheerfully as he could.

“Emeka.” Jonathan replied coolly.

“John, mind if I come in and talk to you for a second, I see that you want to go out.”

“I suppose I could spare a few moments.” Jonathan said in the same tone while stepping out of the doorway to admit Emeka.

After sitting down in Jonathans massive parlor, Emeka jumped right in. “Look, Jonathan, I am sorry about the way I acted when you told me you wanted to marry Cassie. I should have supported your decision and I just ran you down.”

“Yea, don’t worry about it, I thought about what you said when I got home that day and I realized that you were just speaking in my best interests.”

“Really?”

“Yes Really.”

“Then why did you allow me to think that you were still angry with me?”

“Because you coming here to apologize is priceless.”

“You know you’re a bastard right?”

“Thank you.” Jonathan said with a huge smile.

“Where are you headed?” Emeka asked, leaning back and feeling at ease in his friends place once again.

“Oh, you know, going for a night out of the town with my fiancé.”

“John, do you remember on the night of my wedding you told me you would never get married and that my children would be the only children you ever had?”

“Don’t remind me, those were the musings of an adolescent, I can see much clearer now. A man is not truly a man until he has been blessed with the responsibility of a family.”

“I’m proud of you John.”

“Humph, thank you Mr. President. Now, I came to your office that day to ask you something so I will ask you now. Will you be my best man, after all, you were there at the Genesis.”

“Me?”                         

“Yes you, who else?”

Emeka had no way of refusing this request, especially since they just made up. “Well, sure that would be fine.”

“I also need Michael to be the ring bearer.” Jonathan said as another knock sounded at the door.

“That should be Cassie now.”

Jonathan stood to answer the door and returned with a stunning Cassie in tow.

“Hello Cassie.”

“Hello boss.” She replied cheerfully. “We were looking for you at the office and here you are, associating with this rascal, he will get you in trouble Emeka it’s best to keep your distance from him.”

“That’s not an option, we’re joined at the hip.” Jonathan replied laughing.

“Let me leave you two lovebirds to it then, I am on duty tonight.”

“Alright Emeka, thanks for stopping by.”

“Don’t mention it, see you guys later.” Emeka said as he strolled out the house, happy that he was finally putting the pieces of his personal life back together.

*

As his personal life became better, his work life took a turn for the worse. A company called Jamison Holdings was trying to make inroads into Central Africa where Constellation industries has considerable holdings. In order to do this, they decided to launch a hostile takeover bid against the company that Emeka had bled, sweat, and cried for.

The bid came veiled as a run of the mill meeting with Mr. Vincent to talk about how the two companies could work out a mutually beneficial agreement. The meeting ended with Mr. Vincent holding with an offer letter that he was obligated by law to show to the other members of the board.

An emergency session was called and of the twenty four members of the board ten were in support of selling and cashing in on fat compensation packages. Needless to say, Emeka, Mr. Vincent, the three Vincent siblings and a few of the other members of the board were vehemently against the proposal but they were lacking the financial resources to fight a head on battle. They had invested too heavily in other acquisition deals. Jamison Holdings smelled blood and was going for the jugular.

After the meeting, Mr. Vincent sat down for an important talk.

“Dante, if we cannot end this thing quickly we will lose control of the company.”

“I know it dammit, those greedy members of the board have no idea what true loyalty is. How can they even be considering selling after all we have struggled to build? If Jamison Holdings just increases the bid by a small margin, they will be able to secure the necessary votes to buy us out.”

“What can we do?”

“I do not know but we must find a solution fast. I will not be alive to see my company stripped out from under me.” Mr. Vincent said wearily.

“There has to be a way.” Emeka said vehemently. “I will not occupy the seat of president and watch idly as a foreign competitor strips all of our hard work away.”

“What can we do, there is no way to force a vote and without that, they can offer as many bids as they want until they sway the board.”

“What about your authority, can’t you do anything?”

“My power became limited by the bylaws when we took the company public all those years ago. I have great influence but legally, my vote only counts as two instead of one.”

“The bylaws, don’t worry sir, we will get this thing figured out.” Emeka said as cheerfully as he could while standing up.

“I do hope so, I do not think I could live to see my company stripped from my possession.”

“You will not, do not worry about that.” Emeka said in parting as he left the office.

“Janet, call Michael, Cassie, and Chika and get the company bylaws to my office.”

“Right away sir.”

When everything he had asked for was assembled, he addressed his chiefs.

“A rival company is threatening to destroy everything that we have worked so hard to build over the last two years, are we going to sit idly by and watch it happen?”

“No.” All three of them replied in unison.

“Are we going to allow our blood, sweat and tears to be in vain?”

“No.” They said again, louder this time.

“Are we going to allow all the sacrifices we have made and the seeds we have sowed to be harvested by another faction?”

“No.” Came the shouted reply.

“Then I need for each and every one of you to stop whatever it is your doing and work with me to find a solution to this problem. I have gathered a copy of the bylaws here and we are going to pour over them line by line until we find a loophole.”

They worked for days and the days slowly ground into weeks as they worked their way through the thousands upon thousands of pages that made up the bylaws that governed the workings of the company. As they worked, members of the board slowly began to shift sides as the proposals that the Jamison Group brought became more and more lucrative.

“Emeka, are you sure we are looking in the right direction?” Cassie asked on an exceptionally stifling afternoon.

“We have come too far and spent too much energy to turn aside now.”

“But what if the answer does not lie here?”

“It must. Hand me that file.” Emeka said, cutting the conversation.

“Cassie, read this, I think I found the solution.” He said after a few minutes while handing Cassie back the file.

She read aloud “section 75 article 25 subsection 5

When an external entity, company, or interest makes a bid for a majority stake or the outright acquisition of the company; the current president has the ability to fix the date for the final binding vote if they, using their expert judgment, feels that the time fixed for the vote by the board will detrimentally affect the ability of the company to perform its duties. In addition to this, in order to protect the interests of the company, these special voting sessions do not require a two thirds majority of the board to approve or deny the resolution.This special voting session can also be exercised by the president when a power struggle that detrimentally affects the ability of the company to perform its duties ensues after the death, resignation, or dismissal of the Chairman of the board.All voting carried out in this manner is considered permanently binding.

“Emeka, you did it!” she shouted as she hugged him and quickly let go, remembering their agreement.

“Ah, I smell a massacre, the meeting holds this afternoon.” He said solemnly.

Emeka wasted no time in calling up the remaining loyalists and bringing the matter to a vote. After they passed the motion everyone present agreed to reconvene again the next day with the missing members of the board.

The next morning, bright and early, a tired Mr. Vincent who looked shrunken by the ordeal spoke to all twenty four members of the board.

“Friends, compatriots, and fellow members of the board. Over the last few weeks, our mettle has been tested by a foreign entity that sought to acquire the labor that they did not work for. Many of you stood firm and adhered to the solemn responsibility that you were charged with when you assumed the mantle as a director of Constellation Industries.Surprisingly, more of you failed to answer the call of duty and instead decided to answer mammon. Today, the Lord has shown favor to those of us that were loyal to their duty. I am happy to announce that in an emergency session called by the President, we have rejected the bid of the Jamison Group and have passed a motion barring them from bringing forth any more bids within the next five years.”

The proclamation was greeted by outraged protests and exclamations of disbelief.

“To those of you that showed your true colors.” The chairman continued. “I bid you farewell because you no longer have a home at Constellation Industries, I will not be renewing your contracts when they expire. To those that remained loyal, I say thank you and you will be rewarded beyond your wildest expectations. To our able president, I say congratulations, you have fulfilled the trust I placed in you so long ago.”

“Now, the traitors, get out of my sight, I want to celebrate.” Mr. Vincent finished before falling heavily into his seat.