The Gold Story Contest : "Magpe's Legacy"

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This is a work of fiction inspired by true events. Some events and places are drawn from historic events, while characters and storyline has been re- imagined for dramatic purposes.

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Somewhere in Northern Nigeria, lies a small town called Magpe, where the soil is red. The air smells natural, Its water so clean you can see through.

Magpe, a town forgotten, as though it wasn't on the map. Maybe because it was so far off from the other towns, away from civilization. You would almost never find outsiders there.
But beneath its rich alluvial soil lies a treasure, one which would change their lives forever- gold!

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Ouch! Baba help! screamed Musa as he fell to the ground. Musa had hit something really hard whilst working in the farm with his father. Living in a small village, with many lands, the natives of Magpe town were mostly farmers. A few were cattle rearers. But pre-dominantly farming was the profession for all.

Musa, a young boy had followed his father "Malik" to the farm to help him dig holes for planting yam when he hit something so hard in the soil and cried for help. Malik quickly rushed and helped his boy off the floor. Musa's hand had been slightly cut from the spade that bounced back when it struck the earth. Malik quickly cut a piece of the rags he carried to the farm, cleaned Musa's wound and tied it up before going to see what had caused such and injury. Malik quickly dug around the spot a discovered something hard, shinning and bright-gold! ,he screamed, before quickly covering his mouth.

As a young man, Malik had ventured out of his small town to the city and he was opportune to work in the gold mines in Zamfara . It was not hard for him to detect what this rare treasure was, giving his history with it. Son, we are going to be rich!-exclaimed Malik.

Malik together with his son dug up as much as they could, put it in small bags they could carry and covered up the spot which the discovery was made. You must not tell anyone son. God has finally remembered us, tomorrow i will go to the city and sell this gold. we will have a better life.

The next day, Malik went to the city and exchanged the gold with foodstuffs and a motorcycle. When his neighbor Abdullahi saw the immense luxurious items he came back with, he started asking questions about where it came from. Of course Malik kept it a secret, and continued his activities for about a month successful. Jealous Abdullahi decided to follow Malik quietly behind during one of his trips to the farm.

After Malik left the farm land. Abdullahi uncovered the soil as well and made his own shocking discovery. However, he was not so discreet about his discovery and not long after that, news spread like wild fire in town of the shinning, yellow metals in Malik's farm which could be exchanged for money in the city.

It became a family affair. Every morning, villagers would go to the farm land and dig as much as they could. Men, women, and children, no one was left behind. The people of Magpe soon forgot about farming as the was an easier way to make money.

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The people of Magpe sold as much gold as the could to the middlemen in Lagos, Kano and even some foreigners which the met in the big cities. However, they were throwing away these valuable treasure for just mere peanuts, as they did not know its true value. These middle men promised to pay them even more if they told them were to find the gold. Of course,they did.

Before the knew it, the once deserted peaceful town was filled with black big jeeps and helicopters. With no government regulations , they started illegally mining the gold.

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Soon enough, the small town's secret caught the ears of a syndicate called "The Phoenix". A group of corrupt government officials, and, international smugglers.

They quickly constructed a passage that extended out of the town to an abandoned railway station which helped them to successfully smuggle over 10 billion naira worth of gold in less than two years without the government knowledge.

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The Phoenix would have continued to exploit and get away with this act, if not for the sudden deaths of the children of the town. Day by day mothers lost children. At first the blamed it on malaria. But when the death toll grew worrisome, these mothers didn't mind taking their children miles to get to the health center in the city.

The Laboratory results showed the presence of lead in the body of the sick children, and it was traced to be the cause of death. Health officials took particular interest when almost every child brought in from that town had the same issue and died the same way. They then solicited the government's help to find out what was causing this lead poisoning.

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It was not long after the arrival of the government officials in the town that the smuggling activities of the Phoenix group was discovered. It was discovered that their illegal mining released deadly lead dust into the atmosphere which these children inhaled and died of.

They arrested as many illegal miners, even the foreigners. Rumor has it that the main head of the Phoenix group escaped with a lot of gold which is still not accounted for till date.

With the help of the government and other International Organizations, the town was quarantined and the people were treated of lead poisoning that had claimed the lives of over 400 children just in year 2010, in Magpe town, due to man's greed.

Shortly after this incident. The Government put a ban against illegal mining of gold in Nigeria.

Thank you for reading. I now invite my friends:@bossj23, @okere-blessing, and @basil20 to participate in this challenge.