Victims – Episode 20

Victims – Episode 20

A Story By Rosemary Okafor

“We have to work out how to get the people to fall out with this government and win their trust”

They were in one of the executive rooms in the popular Sheraton Hotel, Abuja. The place has been their regular meeting point and they have always chosen to hold their meetings when other citizens were retiring for the day;

Seated round a table like traditional ancestral spirits, the five men hatched their plans

“the people has already falling out with this government, thanks to this Jos Crisis…what our Party needs to do now is to call a press conference and give fancy speeches concerning the insecurity, Mr chairman or vice can do that, you know… tell the people what they want to hear and make few promises here and there, we can warm ourselves into the heart of the masses with little benevolence” Alaji Danjuma rested his back on the chair and chewed his Bitter Kola noisily.

“We still have to keep the country on her toes, let us keep shaking the federal government, we have to come up with another strategy to keep the country in fear, and make the masses believe that this government is not doing enough to keep them safe” Honorable Wali said

“That won’t be a problem, these boys are always ready to dance to our tune as long as we are ready to lavish them with enough cash” commented Alaji

“You mean Imam’s boys?” asked Senator Usman

“Yes, as far as I am concerned they are on our side” Honorable said

“He is beginning to place demands” Usman said, removing his agbada, he picked the remote and increased the air conditioner

“Whatever his demands are, the truth is that we need him, if we must get people to vote for our party come 2003, we must show them the incompetence of this present Government, and we have to start with insecurity which nobody can hold this country hostage except Imam Husayn…” Mr Chairman cut in

“Personally, I am beginning to dislike him, he strikes me as someone who is playing all of us…” Usman insisted

He has been the one in contact with Imam Husayn, the cleric always made him uncomfortable; sometimes he feared he may be on surveillance by the Cleric’s foot solders

“We can always handle him when the time comes, let us use him now, at least he cannot be suspected by anyone…Senator…you will go and meet him again, tell him the outcome of this meeting…you will grease his palm with some cash” Mr chairman smiled and continue

“Barrister Walter… you will have some bags containing the money needed for this delivered to you this night, then you can drive to Usman’s house tomorrow morning with it, I don’t want any of my boys seen with the Senator, it may raise suspicion”

“My Chair…Ba wahala” Walter, the minister of Agriculture laughed and nodded in agreement

Mr Chairman picked the telecom in the room, and dialed a number

“Where are the souvenirs? Tell them to start coming up”

The men rose in excitement, adjusted their trousers and walked back into their separate hotel rooms waiting in anticipation.

Senator Usman lay Unclad on the massive bed in his Hotel room, he has always liked this place, away from his plain wife who cared about nothing else than prophesies and visiting of different Sheikhs.

Here he had the freedom to have as much fun as he had always desired curtsey of the Party chairman. He threw the Duvet off his body, climbed out of the bed and walked towards the fridge with his Kitchen sized belly dancing like an inflected hot balloon and his flat sagged buttocks swinging side to side.

He pulled out a bottle of red wine poured some of its content in a glass cup and gulped it down at once, he refilled his glass and sank on the cushion.

Meeting the Imam wasn’t an assignment he liked carrying out, the Man had a way of making his uneasy, it always seemed as if the cleric looked through him into his dirty soul, but then, the Party was releasing enough fund for it and he had also found a way of stashing some of those monies for himself before handing the remaining to the cleric.

Jos has been calm for sometime after the Bomb explosion, except for killings of people in their homes once in a while and Usman Knew the

Cleric had a connection to the periodic butchering and maiming of people. The news of the death of a Late Army officer’s wife two days ago still made the news that morning,

“We are on top of the situation, my men has swing to action to fish out those responsible for this senseless killing” the Army Major General had said on the TV

Usman knew that would be the end of that story, nobody was ready to investigate anything, and the citizens would be distracted from the case like it never happened as soon as the media would give them some entertainment stories to talk about.

Aside few overzealous Journalists, who would want to pry deeper on this matter, Usman knew that his party would have little or nothing to answer for, even Amnesty International would be on the neck of the presidency.

He sipped from the glass this time, wiped his face and his gaze fell on the Unclad dark lady sleeping on the bed, her breasts rose and fell as she gave out soft breath, he traced her curved with his eyes and stopped on her large hips; the memory of last night’s crazy f**ck came rushing,

He handled the girl like the slot she was, as old as he was, he still got the strength of a stallion and almost all the girls he had slept with could attest to that, this one was equal to his strength though, she had rode on top of him like a rodeo queen, slapping his face and his head while calling him baby,

When he couldn’t take it anymore, he had turned her over, with her arch facing him, and both holes screaming pleasure, he plugged his hard c**ck inside her, he had feel his shaft touching her womb when he thrust, his balls slapping her Clitoris and her a$$ jiggling as it bouncing on his stomach, she had called him Daddy at that point;

“Yes Daddy, give it to me daddy…choke me with it daddy…” she has sang like a canary

The thought of it now made him hard; he gulped down his drink, walked back to the bed with his C**ck as heavy as a burden between his thighs,

“Imam Husayn can wait for now, this is life…” he thought

*

“There is no negotiation Mr Senator, its either you push this bill for us or you are on your own on this”

Usman has been with the Imam closed to forty-five minutes, yet the Imam would not agree to any negotiation, it was either the Sharia Law was pushed to the house as the supreme law for the nineteen northern states or nothing,

“Kai! This is going to be difficult, the constitution declared Nigeria as a secular state, it will not be easy to convince other House members to agree to this…” Usman tried to convince the cleric again

“Senator… no Law should supersede the holy law of Allah and you know that, you and your party are here to ask something of me, and I am asking you to help me do Allah’s command…”

“What happens if we can’t get two third of the members to sign the bill?”

“You have always known how to get what you want, get your dirty money to work for you…”

Usman heaves a sigh, it was going to be a difficult task, but if they could dull out enough cash to get key members by their side, it could be done…

“Tor…I will see what I can do…”

“One more thing…” Husayn picked the day’s paper and placed it before the Senator. The front page had a picture of ladies on Bikinis, crossing their legs and giving out plastic smiles,

“They are planning to bring that abomination to this country…” the Imam showed his distaste and glade his teeth like a dog

“When have we started hosting beauty pageants? It is bad enough that our girls, who are supposed to be married off, are being paraded like fresh meats publicly, now they are bringing the show down here? And they chose the month of Ramadan to carry out this abomination?…tell your house members that we will rather die than allow this to happen”

Usman was taken aback with his threat, he needed to get out of there as fast as possible, he picked the papers haphazardly, and shoved it inside his bag…

“Ehm…the money sir…should I leave it with you?”

“Yes…but bear it in mind that I will not give orders to my boys until I am sure my demands are being deliberated in the house of Assembly”

As the bulky man hurried off, dragging his flowing Agbada with him, the Imam picked his phone and dialed the Major;

“We may be sending a message to Mr President in Abuja, Get your men off the street for us…”

*

Mallam Kabiru was half way to his house when he saw the smokes going up the sky. As he got closer he saw the people in groups folded arms and shrouded shoulders, with faces looking at him with pity; his house has been burnt down

“We heard the explosion, by the time we were able to get the security, the whole place was already on fire” one of his students said

“Where are the other students?” he asked soberly

“Haruna and Ibrahim has been taking to the hospital…Muhamadu…Muhamadu…” the student broke down in tears

“Allah! Allah!!” Mallam Kabiru sobbed.

His eyes quickly went towards his library, he ran toward it, the smoke was thick and the walls were hot, but he felt nothing while he pushed himself through the rubbles, his student ran after him while the sympathizers screamed

He tried packing his books but most of them had lost their firmness and has been squeezed by the heat and smoke, his skin was being bruised and getting burnt but he surged ahead, shoving his servant’s hands off him.

By the time he was rescued, only one tiny book was salvaged and he clutched it tight on his chest “The Essential Rumi”

To be continued

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