By IJENDU IHEAKA

Mr Emmanuel Obodoezie, a tricycle operator in Ariaria International Market, Aba, Abia, on Wednesday, returned N2.04 million to a trader who forgot it in his tricycle after alighting.

Obodoezie was celebrated by Ariaria traders for remaining upright in the face of Nigeria?s economic hardship.

The tricycle operator told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that he picked a woman along Powerline Road and she alighted somewhere around Free Zone area where fish is sold.

Obodoezie said that he told the woman that her fare was N300 but the woman gave him only N250 and he collected it from her without complaining while she left.

He said that he did not look at the back of his Keke after the woman alighted and went away and so did not know that the woman left her bag in his tricycle.

?Because of the bad roads, my machine was bending from one side to another until the bag fell off.

?Then people who saw it fall began to call me to wait that my bag had fallen off.

?I stopped and thought it must be the bag of the woman who I dropped off some minutes ago,? he said.

He said that before he stopped, the person who picked it opened it and seeing it was money, wanted to take some from it but I refused to allow him and others to take the money.

He said that he told one of them to hold the money while he would go and bring the owner.

?I went in search of her and God being so kind, she was already coming to search for the tricycle that conveyed her and her goods to the market.

??When I found her, I went to show her where I kept the money for her to take it,? he said.

The owner of the money, Mrs Chika Aloysius-Iwu, told NAN that she wanted to take the money, totalling N2.04 million, to bank.

?After alighting, I forgot that money on top of the seat of his machine and left.

?When I got to my stall, I remembered that I had forgotten money in that tricycle.

?I knew the face of the man but did not know where he stays so I went in search of him along the road, where he dropped me,? Aloysius-Iwu said.

She said that she eventually saw him and flagged him down.

?He stopped and asked if I was the person he dropped off some minutes ago.

?He then said that he had been searching for me and then took me to the man he handed over the money to.

?I don?t know what to say to this good man. I only pray that God will bless him and his generations and show them mercy always,? she said.

The Chairman, Ariaria T-Line, Mr Emmanuel Njoku, where the woman?s stall is situated, said he was surprised to know that such a person still exited in Nigeria at this time.

Njoku urged government and well-meaning Nigerians to encourage such good behaviour by recognising the man and rewarding him. (NAN)