The Angel And The Fugitive – Chapter Thirteen Part A
THE ANGEL AND THE FUGITIVE – CHAPTER THIRTEEN PART A
© Reginald Obetta
Mr Bello’s campaign went to a whole new level as he grew from strength to strength and gained the popularity of all and sundry. He disbursed money to individuals, built more orphanage homes, constantly and consistently empowered men, women and the youths with money inform of numerous grants. He stated in his rally that the retrenchment of workers and the mini economic crisis was nothing, his vision was to make sure nobody suffered the pain of yesterday and everyone would be happy with or without government jobs. That’s the reason for his numerous empowerment. His veto power as the vice president helped him achieve all his aims and as usual, took a snap at the President. He did that so much that he was taunted, “man of the people”. In every of his rally, food stuffs, clothes and relieve materials worth millions were equally distributed to those that attended, with each of them promising a thumb print in the IPPN logo column. He believed in one principle, channel and gain and did that exactly in all the rallies he had done so far.
The same question kept popping in Ajuwa’s mind, how he was going to rescue his daughter and win the upcoming elections against a man who attained the position by virtue of his kind heart and in the abilities that he would make a good vice and friend. This man had become his foe to the core, embarrassing him and his polices publicly. He thought the ultimate suspension of Al-hida group bombings and the capture of Bin-Ahmed was a very big point to him that would win back his supporters but it wasn’t. Only a few more from Mr Bello still spoke highly of his tremendous work, achievements in the fight against terror and values, he had bestowed on everyone. One thing continued to baffle him, the enormous amount of money Mr Bello spent on his campaigns. He knew his vice like the back of his hand, he wasn’t worth as much as that, which gave him the leverage to spend huge amounts in his campaigns. An external body, anonymous to him was his funder. He believed, this same funder was the architect of his departure from FPN. That theory wasn’t just a figment of his imagination. In fact, he was absolutely right. He tried to put the pieces together, to see if he could link anything to the emergence of Al-hida, the exact time to destabilize him from running a peaceful country prior to the elections. He couldn’t still fathom any but there was a huge possibility, his enemy was trying to get back at him the hard way. He set up a secret five-man panel to carry out investigations concerning his source of funding, he could charge him of fraud or embezzlement and then, he will be the sole obvious runner in the polls. That was his plan, if found just vice was corrupt but no files arose from the investigations and instead, pending the investigation, somehow Mr Bello uncovered the plot and worked out a political mastermind and accused Ajuwa Williams of witch-hunting him, knowing fully well, he will emerge a loser in the polls. Ajuwa Williams plans had been blown up and had complicated the already complicated quagmire. None of his plans worked and he need to come up with something new.
Bin-Ahmed never gave up trying to win the love of his only surviving member of his family. He acted more humane than his previous stay that was obvious by his calmness and not the yelling type he was when he came but still, he attracted sympathy from no one and was seldom fed once a day. A terrorist would always remain one just like the proverbial pig. That eventful afternoon that he saw Ibrahim, he felt something move out of him, something that held him in thralldom against his will but was finally freed from it. The anger and uncommon strength in him was gone and became feeble. There was an assemblage of the military personnel by Brigadier Solomon that day to discuss on a vital operation they had and the need to reduce the men guarding Bin-Ahmed since he was locked up in an inescapable inner cell. Their numbers were halved by four to four. Ibrahim was one of those that retained their positions, something of a prayer that had been answered for Bin-Ahmed, to try and have a little chat with him. That was Ibrahim’s third day, four more days left for him to be replaced.
The right moment came in the evening, during which most of the soldiers ate their dinner, Ibrahim was the only one on guard and turned his back to Bin-Ahmed. He was afraid to look to him or his eyes for he was frightened. He was a soldier, one would say and needn’t not to be weak or frightened and be strong at all times but sometimes, it’s different when a family is involved, especially one you obliterated from your mind for a long time because he thought was catching cold six feet from the ground. Bin-Ahmed took the bull by the horn by telling him how they played around on the sand and filled a leaking bucket with it. To them, they thought it was magical, only to discover it was open at one end.
“We get another bucket and fill it up again, climb a tree and poured it from the branch we stayed because we enjoyed the dispersion in the air. Daddy will come looking for us, screaming our names and we continue to stay up there till he lays low for a while. We will run home undetected and take a proper bath to avoid being scolded by papa and mama”, he paused and looked at Ibrahim for a moment to see if he recollected any memory of it, but noticed nothing. Ibrahim looked he hadn’t been listening at all or perhaps, it was all pretense.
“And one day”, Bin-Ahmed continued, Mama discovered and she beat the hell out of us and blamed me for your insolent behaviour”
“Stop insinuating and stop getting to my head you criminal”, Ibrahim yelled.
“You were once mentally unstable and frequented the clinic and sometimes, you spent over a week there because we couldn’t get you psychoactive drugs for you “
“Stop, stop, I say that again, am not related to a terrorist “, he yelled but louder this time.
“Am your brother, Tafa Jacob Waziri, born on June 4th,1989 and you, Ibrahim Benjamin Waziri, born October 2nd,1993”
“Sttttooooopppppp”,Ibrahim screamed at the top of his voice, that called the attention of other military personnel that gazed at the direction of the scream. The gunshot Ibrahim fired twice to the ceiling to get Bin-Ahmed to stop talking, shook the military base. Bin-Ahmed had stopped and saw his brother walk away from him angrily. Soldiers rushed to the scene, two of them unlocked the cell and beat him up hard with the butt of their guns and left him, locking the gate once more. Bin-Ahmed coughed out blood and at the same time, released heavy downpour from his lacrimal glands on his knees. The worst thing that could ever happen to anyone else or has ever happened to him was your family, rejecting you, denying your existence in their lives and consanguinity. It was synonymous to committing suicide. None of the guards understood why he cried. They guessed they have finally broken the terrorist like a potter’s vessel by their numerous beating and principles of the military. He would give up his other members and the location of the abducted Miss Evelyn. Bin-Ahmed was more than just being broken, deep inside, he was depleted, destroyed and shattered, his soul was empty. One thing he wanted was to reconcile with his brother and die happily, knowing he acknowledged him as a family. His death was irrevocable and he understood that. He didn’t care anymore if his men rescues him, all what he wanted was to be with his brother till his execution.
Ibrahim left the cantonment and sat on the grass, distant from it and reflected in his thoughts about everything, he heard about himself from his supposed brother Tafa. None knew about him better or his health than his dead family members. His own health records were in a file, only known by the people that conducted the exercise and he was taken because of someone’s else influence even though, he was cleared as a mentally stabled person. There was an atom of truth and every possibility that the terrorist was his flesh and blood. All this time, he thought Tafa was dead or probably disappeared to an unknown place and totally forgot to find him. He couldn’t come in concord with himself why his brother had become something his faith was against. His brother Tafa, he was knew wouldn’t let his belief played down to abandonment and become a killer instead of a saviour, his Tafa would never have a bushy hair for he never groomed one or what if he was playing with his head?, he thought the other way round. Bin-Ahmed was known into playing people to believe in him and his mission and doing according to his dictates. Was this the man he was to believe because he knew personal things only his family member knew of? He questioned the veracity of his thoughts and concluded it was meaningless. He was sure the famed terrorist was his elder brother for he knew his profile very much but he needed to confirm one more thing before he is perfectly convinced and that is, creating a free time to talk with him alone as a civilian and not as a soldier. His close friend, Abdullahi came up to him. He joined the military the same day with Ibrahim and underwent the exercise the same day and now, reported to Moguil military base, the same day. They have been close friends ever since, they enrolled and were completely honest with each other.
“Are you okay? Did he scare you”
“No, am fine. Perfectly “
“Your scream scared and alerted everyone like he had stabbed you. “
“Am okay. He said insulting words to me which could annoy anyone with him. “
“Okay, he is shut up and crying like a baby. I think he is finally broken “
“Oh really! He did cry?”
“Yes, he did. He will finally give up his members and they will all be executed according to the law “
Ibrahim felt compassionate all of a sudden, more than ever when the word “executed” was mentioned. He didn’t want to tell Abdullahi what he learnt of the terrorist, that he was his long lost or dead brother he once told him. The one he thought was no longer existent, the same one about to be executed. He felt guilty for not telling his close friend but he wanted to keep it that way, at least, for the time being.
