Narrow Escape – Episode 8

NARROW ESCAPE

 

Episode Eight:

 

Kofi Ansah: Captain what exactly did this caller tell you that got your senses and hormones to swiftly go to work?

Captain Adjei: Thank you for that brilliant question my brother. As I took the receiver of the telephone, the caller said this to me and I remember every single word he uttered out to me on that faithful day and he said this. “Youngman under this sun there is nothing hidden, under the sun anything you bury apart from rubber, bottle, human being and animals, that thing will find its way back to earth by germinating. When you hide in the dark to commit a crime, never forget you might leave some traces behind because you yourself didn’t see you had left something behind”. In one of our old local adages, our elders say when two people set a trap, its the same people who have to go and see if the trap has captured something. I know you are not corrupt and greedy like some of your senior rank officers in the Army that is why I am calling you so you inform the CDS about what you are about to hear. Oh yes I don’t regret calling you to break such news to you but I know being a whistle blower saves a lot of lives, properties and the country from any form of bloodshed. His next words were set of questions which I didn’t have any idea about. He asked if I was aware some senior rank officers were plotting to overthrow the sitting president from his presidential seat? He asked if I was aware the life of the CDS was in extreme danger? He asked if I knew that Brigadier Oblitey Commey’s death was orchestrated by some military officers? As I told him everything he was saying was just the first time I was hearing that, he told me to count my teeth with my tongue and act fast because the country was now sitting on a time bomb which could go off anytime soon. His last words to me was to be very careful as to whom I will share the information he just passed to me with because now no one was to be trusted in the Army and outside the Army. After dropping the telephone receiver, my body started trembling with fear because how was I going to break the news to the CDS without any proper evidence. Wasn’t the CDS going to see me as a traitor or someone who is trying to cause fear and panic to the state? Meanwhile the caller or whistle-blower never mentioned his name and how was I even sure what he was saying was true?

Kofi Ansah: So were you able to approach the CDS to break the news to him?

Captain Adjei: My brother how to break the news to the CDS was my greatest problem. I saw myself on a cross path and they were to either jump into the deep blue sea or embrace the devil. If I had anything to do to curtail the problem, my action should be swift and fast because a timing bomb wouldn’t take long for it to blow and I had been warned not to break the news to anyone because that person could be part of the plot against the overthrow of the president. Again I saw the reason why Brigadier Oblitey Commey was murdered in cold blood, I now understood why the bullet shell that I saw at the crime scene in his office didn’t tally with the service pistol bullet. The following day I was in my office trying to mechanise a way to approach the CDS when my secretary came to my office to alert me that there were some senior rank officers in the base. I came out to meet them and one of them handed a letter from the HQ to me that he had been appointed to come and take charge of the base, in other words he is now the commanding officer of the base and I was to channel everything through him if there was or were any problem at the base. I called the HQ to confirm and truly the letter in my hand was authentic, an immediate parade was held for him to be introudced to all the officers in the base and that was when he also told us how his leadership style was going to be. My brother his laws were that of the Marshall law and anyone who flouted his orders was going to face disciplinary actions starting from sleeping in the guardroom, suspension, demotion and dismissal. He told us if Brigadier Oblitey Commey was lenient with us he was going to be extra hard on us because the Army was no place for weaklings.

Kofi Ansah: Sorry to cut in but who was this new commanding officer?

Captain Adjei: He was Colonel Amedekah Bugah.

Kofi Ansah: Captain is Colonel Amedekah Bugah the same officer who was tied behind an armoured car and dragged on the streets of Gonja barracks till he died?

Captain Adjei: Precisely so my brother. Mmmmm before a coup d’ètat can be successful you must make sure you have enough weapons and artilleries to counter any unit or battalion which will oppose your action. Colonel Amedekah was placed at the 64th Battalion Infantry to facilitate the movement of weapons when the time came. From my narration you can see clearly that Brigadier Oblitey Commey was against that hence, they assassinated him and made it look like it was a suicidal attempt.

Kofi Ansah: Yes I am now getting the clearer view of the painting you have been drawing.

Captain Adjei: Very good!! Some days later, Colonel Amedekah Bugah invited me into his office and told me that, some weapons and artilleries will be moved from the armoury base to the Teshie shooting range for some officers to grease and test the weapons because checking on some records at the armoury, some weapons had not been used for years which could cause rusting and ceasing of the weapons to function well and by so doing, a junior rank officer from Burma Camp will come and escort the team which will convey the weapons to Teshie shooting range. I opposed to it because that was not the proper way to send out weapons from one base to another. Colonel Amedekah saw my action as insubordination and immediately asked his secretary to type a warning letter to me for challenging his orders. Since I didn’t want to go into the bad books of Colonel Amedekah Bugah, I immediately wrote an apology letter to him and promised never to repeat my action again. That same day, I was in my office in the afternoon when someone called to ask me if, I am aware my wife and my junior brother were having an affair right under my watch? The call got me dumbfounded and I saw myself in a state of confusion and I felt my mind had been cast into pandemonium, in my confused mind the secretary in my office brought some documents for me to append my signature, because the content of the call had captured my better part of reasoning I didn’t go throught the documents before me, I only signed for her to leave me so that I could reflect and digest the information that I had received. Indeed as I sat quitely in my office and cast my mind back on the things I had been fortunate to witness between my brother and wife, the story that was conveyed to me looked perfect to the picture the caller painted to me.

Kofi Ansah: Mmmm sorry to cut in but Captain what was the content of the documents that you signed for your secretary?

Captain Adjei: Hmmmmm my brother, the documents that was brought to me was in connection to the weapons and artilleries that were going to be conveyed to Teshie shooting range. Can you imagine I signed something that I had earlier on vehemently opposed without reading through?

Kofi Ansah: So what happened next after you signed the documents?

Captain Adjei: That night I didn’t go home because I feared what I could do to those two backstabbers. The truth is I went to the armoury, signed for a service pistol and went to to my car to head home but to my greatest surprise, the car refused to start and I couldn’t see anyone around to help me push or start the car because night had fallen. I came to stand by the roadside to see if I could get a taxi to charter home but close to 30minutes every taxi that came to pass was occupied with passengers. From no where a strong wind blew and a thunderous rain started to fall to my greatest surprise, I rushed back to my office drenched with rainwater. I sat in my visitors chair and someone who was burning with a passionate rage to ki*ll my wife and brother, I dosed off in the office chair. I was robbed by sleep that night that it was the early morning parade whistle that woke me up. I decided to go home and get myself freshened even though I could get a place to shower at the office. As I stepped out of my office I heard a voice talking to me to return the pistol I had in my sidearm punch because it was not worth it. The moment I got to the armoury I saw a lot of junior other rank officers from a different regiment which I suspected they came from one of the regiments in Teshie or Burma camp packing boxes filled with bullets, weapons and artilleries into a military truck. I enquired from the officer in charge of the armoury and he told me that a letter was brought to him signed by myself and the commanding officer of the base that he should see to the release of that particular consignment. It now dawned on me that I had acted stupidly and I had attached emotions to my work which should never be so, I wanted to confront my commanding officer about that action but I realised I was going to look foolish in his eyes and my credibility as a beckon of hope to the young other rank officers will be at stake. With pain and deep sense of shame written all over my face, I walked to my car, started it and to my greatest amusement, the engine which was not starting last night decided to start with just one ignition. Can you imagine that? I drove straight to the house with the intention to get my diary from my study and head straight to the HQ and break the news to the CDS even if he saw my information to be treacherous and a sign of treason, I was ready to pay the price afterall I knew nothing was hidden under the sun. I got home and my main gate was locked from behind, I had to blow my car horn for long before I heard someone opening the gate from behind. Kofi did I state earlier on that my wife by then was on leave from her workplace?

Kofi Ansah: No you didn’t state that Captain Adjei. Please hold your horses so I play another favourite track of yours from the camp of the late A. B. Crenstil. Listeners and viewers watching across all social media handles, I will be right back after the short interlude, stay tuned on this dial.

 

To be continued…

 

✍🏾An Akoto Adjei Alexander Imagination All rights reserved worldwide