What the record covers, and what it does not

A scene from a story. Illustration, not evidence. Nothing in it is a finding. What it stands in for, and what it does not establish, is set out below.

NOP: I see your Passport. Nine stamps. Last one March 2024, screen replacement, verified. Nothing bad dey your record — nobody ever dispute your work here, not one time.

Kelechi: so you fit talk am. you fit tell dem.

NOP: I fit tell anybody wey ask, and I go tell dem exactly this: nine jobs, verified, no dispute. That one na true and e no go change, and nobody fit remove am — not Sabi, not me, not you.

NOP: But I go talk the other half, because if I hide am I be liar. Nine stamps no talk anything about 3.7 million. E no talk say you thief. E no talk say you no thief. I no watch that money. I no fit stand for wetin I no see — even for you, even now.

He read it on a stranger's phone on a step in Computer Village and he laughed, once, with nothing in it.

Kelechi: so wetin nine stamp good for

NOP: E good for this: for the whole nine, person watch you do wetin you talk say you go do, and you do am. Nobody fit ever take that.

NOP: I know say e small. I no go pretend say e big.

And then it did the only other thing it could do, which was not comfort, and was not advocacy, and was the exact shape of what it was:

NOP: One thing. If you get anything — message, receipt, anybody wey see you pay those workers with your own hand — e no be me you suppose show am. Na person wey fit stand for you. I fit tell you wetin I see for here. I no fit be your witness for wetin happen for there.

NOP: Find the people wey see am. Na dem be the witness. Na always dem.