Background
The novel was written by Khadijat Abubakar Jalli. The author studied Mathematics and got a B.Sc (Ed). The Life Changer is her first book. The book is didactic (moralistic) and the goal is to expose the reality of life at the university and other issues a young person might face. The novel derives its name from the notion that university is a life changer.
The Life Changer Chapter 1
Everyone is waiting for Daddy (Daddy as a character is not developed in the novel. He is only mentioned).
Everyone is laughing and this draws mummy whom the children mostly call mummy. They can’t call her ummi, her name at home. Ummi means my mother and she was named after her paternal grandmother.
Only Omar insists on calling her Mum. Mama hates to secretly listen to the children’s conversations but the laughter draws her. Bint is the last child. She is five. She is telling her two other sisters her classroom encounter. The family of six has three daughters and a son. Bint is talking about her meddlesome social studies teacher
The narration is vivid. Bint was encouraged to take up French because her parents believe that language acquisition is easy at an early age. The social studies teacher asks her how “good morning” is said in French.
Bint answers and the teacher commends her but he cannot say that’s very good in French. The French teacher eventually helps out. The social studies teacher is embarrassed and Bint’s classmates sing and dance round her in joy and they seem to have known that she’s destined for great things. Ummi usually enters the children’s room unannounced for two reasons: hygiene and because they are used to keeping each other company (being together). Ummi’s grandmother believes that what you teach a child is like writing on a rock… difficult to erase. Ummi always make the children see the lesson in an experience.
BINT is the darling of the family, being the last child. Omar is the eldest child and he and bint are the closest duo.
*
Mallam Salihu is the class teacher/social studies teacher’s name. Mummy is also a teacher. Teemah is the second child. Omar comes in. He is in jeans and white shirt. His decent way of dressing pleases his mum.
He is eighteen but looks like someone in his twenties ** he has just been offered admission into Ahmadu Bello University, Kongo campus to study LAW. Daddy wanted to study Law but ended up studying accounting.
Omar is obviously pumped about his admission. “This is called running before learning to crawl… Just call yourself Omar Esquire” Teemah said.
Omar wants to be addressed as Learned Brother but he says BINT can call him anything. Teemah is called a blabbermouth. Omar wants nobody to tell Daddy apart from him because Daddy promised to upgrade his torchlight phone to android. Mummy asks everybody to go outside since the room is stuffy as there has been no light for two days. They sit under the mango tree and drink zobo that Teemah sells. Mummy offers to pay after Teemah and Omar chide each other. Omar obviously owes Teemah.
Since Omar is leaving home for school, an environment with so much freedom that one does not even know what to do with, Mummy decides she’d tell him and the others a story based on her life experiences especially as her life was a dreary one.
Fact: Omar scored 230 in JAMB. Mummy says university is a life changer.
CHAPTER TWO
When Ummi gained admission, the father insisted that she marry before graduation. On getting to school, the first thing that strikes her is the carefree attitude of the people there. There are no uniforms to distinguish lecturers from students and people dress as they deem fit.
In my school, for wearing the wrong colour of sandals, you would be sent home. Bint
Mummy begins to narrate the story of salma, a light-complexioned, tall, slim and busty girl. Salma grumbles about at the faculty registration office. Claims all lecturers are the same and can be bought over with money, like policemen. A young man engages her and tells her that she should go and influence the lecturer with money. The young man is a lecturer and occupant of the office. John is the cleaner and he caused the delay. SALMA is shocked to find that the young man she has been talking to is the lecturer in charge of the registration. She is dumbstruck. The secretary at the office of the HOD is a woman of few words. The HOD is a young man. His name is SAMUEL JOHNSON, PhD. He is kind to Ummi. She misinterprets the his kindness for sexual advances. * The HOD compliments her dressing and wishes more people emulate her. Ummi’s matriculation number is UG0001, first on the list. The HOD wishes she’ll be first in everything. When Mummy gets home, Daddy tells her of what had happened with their neighbour, the quiet one. When UMMI narrates her first day to Daddy, it appears that she had misjudged the HOD’s intention. The HOD is a Yoruba (mistaken for Igala) man. His nickname (sobriquet) is Samjohn and he is friends with Daddy. It was the HOD that assisted Daddy with Ummi’s admission.
CHAPTER THREE
Ummi says she wanted to go back to apologize to Dr Samjohn but the HOD greeted her like nothing had happened. The children ask her about about the Quiet One and she tells them about him. She starts by telling them that in their town, Lafayette, everyone knew each other. As a matter of fact, NO STRANGER ever entered the community with the approval of the District Head, Hakimi.The people of Lafayette have a culture of neighbourliness. The parents of the quiet one were people of Lafayette. They could not get a child early and had to consult a medicine man, boka. He was named Talle. Short after he was born, his mother died. He was barely 20 when he lost his father and stepmother in an accident. He worked at the local government office as a driver. He barely talked or fought, hence the name The Quiet One. A seller in the market reports Talle to the Hakimi that he has been buying more things than usual and the HAKIMI brings him for questioning. He faints while he’s being interrogated roughly. Just there, a police van comes to the palace. Everybody runs to see as it had never been the case with the peaceful community. Three hefty men barge in and tells the Hakimi that one of his people has been accused of robbery and extortion but the Hakimi argues this. They bring in Zaki. On seeing Zaki, Talle faints the second time. Hakimi had been ruling for over thirty years.
*
Talle needed money and ZAKI introduced him to kidnapping. They kidnapped the son of a rich business, Alhaji Adamu, who was about thirteen years. The father of the abducted boy saw the kidnappers as amateurs. They demanded only TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND NAIRA.
Note: IPO means Investigating Police Officer.
CHAPTER FOUR
* Salma, barely twenty, enjoys the freedom the university offers. She loves when men die for her. Dr Dabo is a strict and highly disciplined man. He doesn’t let people come into his class after he has entered. He has never been caught taking bribe or engaging amorously with female students. * Salma’s beauty throws him off balance. He lets his guard down. Salma is angered by the advances because the lecturer is described as sleazy (low quality) and has nothing to offer. Salma says she’d never go out with Dr Dabo even if the world were bereft of men. She also hates that the man lacks confidence.
*
Queen Amina Hall is every female student’s dream and houses the Happening Babes. Salma didn’t like her roommate at the beginning.
* Tomiwa is the brightest roommate and her ambition is to become a singer. Also knows fashion
* Ngozi is the quiet one and cooks for the whole room.
* Ada was also another roommate.
* To Tomiwa, the food for kings is SNAIL. She is from Oyo
* Salma introduced them to the danwake * Salma and Tomiwa are Muslims while Ngozi and Ada are Christians
* Salma meets Habib and Labaran but tells the her name is Tomiwa and gives them Tomiwa’s number. Salma calls Tomiwa Oduduwa Pikin and She’d always return it with Bayajidda Pikin
* Salma wants Tomiwa to be more open.
CHAPTER FIVE
Tomiwa’s phone ring by 8pm the following day. TOMIWA is described as dark and attractive. Salma is light-complexioned. Tomiwa is said to have charismatic air around her and her overconfidence is what scares boys away from her. The caller is Habib. He reminds her that it was they who gave her a ride the previous evening from Kwangila. When she enters, she sees only Habib and asks about Labaran.
“Oh my beauty, I’m here. I made space for you in the front so you can seat near your heartthrob,” Labaran Said.
This utterance makes Tomiwa uncomfortable, especially because he’s behind and she could be garrotted from the back as she has read in many thrillers especially Mario Puzo’s The Godfather. Habib notices that she’s not SALMA because she’s more confident but doesn’t want to spoil things. labaran owns the car but habib, the honourable, is the boss, she thinks. Tomiwa is angry when Habib says she’s not Tomiwa. As Tomiwa is leaving, Habib gives her a bundle of N500 notes summing up to N50,000. N10,000 for each roommate and N20,000 for herself. When Tomiwa enters the room, they all rejoice. It is Ngozi who locks the door. Salma is not happy because she feels she has traded her space to Tomiwa. She insults Ngozi and calls her a Money-monger. She says to all, “Stop disgracing yourselves. Is it suya, chicken or beverages you haven’t seen before?” Ada steps in and settles the altercation. Ngozi says the gifts are not free, that the men will definitely ask for a pound of flesh. Tomiwa doesn’t care. She’s willing to give anything. Salma asks Tomiwa when next the men would come. She’s willing to give anything to have at least, Labaran to herself. * The girls are said to be doing well in their courses. * They are all B students and sure to graduate with second class upper degree. * Their last paper is moral philosophy
CHAPTER SIX
On the day of the exam, SALMA is not tensed because she believes it’ll be a walk-over (an easy task) as many other students believe that it is nothing short of what they preach in churches and mosques and that they could pass without attending classes unknown to her that things have changed and that they were asked to read a particular section of the book. KOLAWOLE ABDUL, the brightest student and others are writing furiously.
* Her dress makes the invigilator, Dr AMINA, feel intimidated and dislike her. * KOLAWOLE writes coded answers and slips it into Salma’s hands. The teacher does not notice. She comes back and catches SALMA. She gives her the EMAL (Examination Malpractice) form. They are to meet the HOD who is described as BENEVOLENT, KIND AND COMPASSIONATE. * SALMA says a prayer which is more or less blaming GOD. The HOD asks that the lecturer prepare the documents for EXAMS and ETHICS COMMITTEE (EMEC). * Salma implicates ABDUL and he too is expelled. *OMAR feels she’s wicked. * UMMI responds, “Rules are rules. If you do not want to get caught, don’t break them.” *Bint whispers to Omar because she doesn’t see a connection between SALMA’S relationship and her leaving the school.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Salma tells Tomiwa her problem and Tomiwa is genuinely sympathetic. Salma wants to ask Habib for help. Habib Lawal is the speaker of the House of Assembly. Habib suggests they talk to Professor Dabo (remember him from chapter one?) * Salma is uncomfortable and asks they talk to someone else, maybe the chairman of EMEC, A PROFRESSOR OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES. She says every man has a price and HABIB asks what about every woman? He gives her N300,000 in exchange for sex.
* SALMA meets a member of the committee who introduces her to the chairman. They meet at a hotel in town but she declines his offer for sex and opts to pay money instead. *The chairman demands N200,000 but SALMA pays N100,000. * The Chairman’s name is Dr. Kabir Mohammed. * When she notices that the chairman is a fraudster, she begins to cry. * Implicating Kolawole Abdul is a mistake (accidental, a slip). * Salma believes that apart from her father, no man is worth being called a man because they all want to exploit women.
CHAPTER EIGHT
* Kabir Mohammed is not a doctor. He is an LT, laboratory technologist. * He is a friendly and intrusive man. Everyone likes him. * His only weakness is his soft spot for money. * Even though he’s a friendly man, he’s almost always moody and this is an oxymoron. *Labaran informs Habib of what Kabir did. When asked how he’d deal with the case, he says he’ll involve Zaki. * Habib is not comfortable as Zaki made a mistake the last time.
KNOW THIS: Talle goes to a new village between Nigeria and Niger and tells them he’s a successful farmer but the actual news is that he is into smuggling *
Zaki trails Kabir to a regular gambling club. * He keeps himself busy with a song by Kenny Rogers, The Gambler. * This night, Kabir who came with less than N50,000 was N300,000 richer. He makes to leave which is against the norm (you only leave when you lose or the game is over) * The Kartagi, leader of the gambling group, winks at a thug to correct the situation. * Gumuzu is the thug’s name. “All gamblers are cheats,” Kabir says. Gumuzu tries to attack Kabir but both of them are subdued by Zaki. Gumuzu wonders why Katargi would send another thug after him, unknown to him that Zaki works for Habib and Labaran. * ZAKI retrieves the money and hands it over to Labaran who gives him N50,000 and decides not to tell Habib about it, not as betrayal though but because Habib is rich and that he is certain that the money wasn’t charity but an exchange for services, which of course is sex.
There’s simply no justice in the world,” Omar.
Salma returns 8days after her father’s funeral. Everyone sympathises with her. Ngozi wonders why they bury their people in so much a hurry. Salma says it isn’t necessary to prolong grief and by the way, corpses are buried, not people.
She decides to change her ways. She falls in love with Salim.
Salim’s story is used to talk about the negative side of smartphones. *Salim has a friend, Lawal. He tells Lawal of his encounter with kidnappers. * Salma encouraged salim to enjoy his money before marriage ensnared him *SALIM tells Lawal of his new girlfriend who is Fulani but looks INDIAN. THEY MET ON THE INTERNET. * HE asks LAWAL TO GO WITH HIM but Lawal who is watching a wrestling match refuses and says SALIM should go first and they can go together later. * SALIM comes back and asks if Lawal is clairvoyant. * The girl he meets is totally unpresentable and different from the picture he’d been seeing. * Salim goes on to narrate how he met NATASHA on FACEBOOK. How he drove to see her in a University Town near Lafayette. * Any time his mind told him to go back, he’d look at her half naked pictures and be motivated to go on. * He was in his father’s SUV, Sports Utility Vehicle. * Someone else joins them in the car. * Natasha is called an ashawo and asked to join her husband at the back. “Don’t hurt him,” she says. * The voice asked Roger to start the car but it wouldn’t respond. * The car wouldn’t pick because the gear was still engaged. * Salim, the lover boy, is asked to drive the car to the office * Salim increases the speed in an attempt to WASTE everybody and somehow, they all escaped from the vehicle leaving only him.
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