After the Hastag

Flora

Smart was still at large but the charges against Dr Iwena and i had been suspended, pending his arrest. I had to report to report to the office once a week to register my availability as i had been sternly warned not to leave town. i process that irked me to death. i hated the routine with perfect hatred, having to go back to that infernal office with monotonous voices of infamous ministers, irking my soul.

Nothing was more distracting than having a case against the security agencies in this infernal nation because they would waste your whole day with routines that should pass for minutes. My involvement with the volunteer groups had been derailed and i was certain the opportunity afforded by Smart’s involvement in the crime against the state soothed them perfectly. They were joyous that the intensity had dropped vehemently. Something that had to do with the old saying: if you want to kill a snake, cut off his head.

I was convinced that they understood my innocence in the whole saga but they were interested more in derailing my persistence chiding of government against the prolonged stay of the abducted school kids in the hands of their captors. I reckoned they hated the attempts to deride and berate their illusive achievements since assuming office.

I was determined to pressure them but time constrained me, the perfect tool they employed against me. i became mad at some point. My only son was missing and they are not doing anything meaningful but to interrogate me with the monotonous polygraph that incensed my humanity. I petitioned the state about the reckless attitude of the DSS against me but i received no response. I wrote to the vice president, who was my late husband’s friend but he claimed he had no power over the issue but he enjoined me to come to the state house, where he would introduce me to the president himself but i was in no mood to meet him. i had my suspicions about him since the demise of my husband. I was encouraged to go and sought out the suffocating issues with him.

Upon my arrival in the state house, the place was littered by numerous figures. There was a certain burst of life breeding in the atmosphere. I suspected it was the Executive council meeting but it was not because i saw them flocking into a certain room, which seemed devious to me. i called the vice president. He came out and led me to a certain lobby, where he asked me to sit and wait for the president.

The fellows i met there and their discussions made me lose hope for posterity once again. They had greeted themselves like touts, clutching their fingers like devious bloody hoodlums that we were all acquainted with in our university days.

“It’s our ship to sail!” The round one with a puff cheek cackled. He had scars across the top of his left eyes and i was convinced such scar did not result from an accident but a deliberate act of a vicious fight.

“The sailor....”

****

At the end of their purgation of testimonies, i surmised that the nation was in bloody fix, a cross road that had no endings but led to more cross roads. At last i met the president. He was glad to see me after so many years. He pleaded with me to be patient with them, assuring me that they were on the verge of rescuing the kidnapped of the school children.

At the end we struck a bargain, i was to pull off my campaign group while he ordered the DSS to renege on their marauding and suffocating routine they have placed me. I was convinced to oblige as i had to make compromise here and there.

Fatou

I did not know what i was doing there. I had no idea how i got there but i was certain i was the most privileged country girl to be there. It was neither an office nor a state house but i was certain it was a sit of decision making. My miraculous escape from the religious extremists had taken me to places, unimaginable places and here was one of them. i was made to sit in the lobby but my nosy attitudes got me the perfect spot to sit and observe the proceedings, where I saw an attraction: two men.

The two men clogged together like Siamese twins. They held themselves so tight, as if the world will fall into doom if they freed each other. They were wearing white garments; the only difference was what their religion or culture named their different white garments. One religion called it Jalabia while the other, called its own soutane, what difference did it really make? It was just one of those religious and cultural discrepancies but that didn’t deter their determination for fraternity; they continued to hold on to themselves like some piece of miserable worn out rope knot together. They stared into each other’s eye, feeling the tension, both know within them that it was not passion; the love they exhume was somnambulist in nature. They knew many lives have been wasted on the platform of their numerous inciting messages they call sermon. They knew they were nothing but religious gangster leaders. They knew they were the architects of the uprising in the north and some of the pockets of political reactions in the south. They did not mind the ephemeral friendship after all.

It was a monthly ritual for them to gather in that room, expecting to go home with their different apportionment. The meeting might have been going since the colonialists handed over power to the natives. The meeting holds at the end of every month and most time at the beginning of some unfortunate months, whether it was chaired by men on uniform or by casually dressed men it still held. The two men proceeded into the exquisitely furnished room. The air in the room portrayed different choice and passion for perfumes and colognes. Some of the men were dressed in white flowing agbada, others whose choice were quite western stuck to formal French, Italian, English or Spanish suites. With their shoes expressing grace and salvation, it is believed a man’s fashion prowess is only measured by the quality of shoe or wrist watch he is putting on. The meeting was no different as different government officials paraded their different class with their wrist watches; some paraded the presidential Rolex, Cartier, Philippe Patek, Longiness, and Swatch and so on. Some of these of wrist watches are so exquisite, that they can afford to pay the long outstanding six months salaries of teachers, whose sweat have remained unrewarded. Some of the shoes were enough to sink a bore hole to provide portable water in their various communities.

They sat in a round table, which arched around the centre burdened with the gargantuan coat of arm, which have above it four giant stars, the rug in the centre was green and it was on this rug, the coat of arm was inscribed.

They began to sit quite orderly in the lush leather green seat, after some exchange of pleasantries, which was nothing but a ritual marked with hate and bad blood waiting to be stirred. The chairman quite understandably graced the scene as it is custom in the modern culture of the nation to wait for the chairman of any occasion like the Jews still awaiting the coming of the messiah as prophesied by the very prophet Isaiah. He was a round man with enough beauty of money radiating through his steps and mannerism. He wore a black hat, which covered a sizeable portion of his face, a face conspicuous with a nose as large as an anthill. His clothes were quite simple, a black etibor, which now goes with the popular name south-south. His wrist watch was one does set outdoing every other wrist watch present. He walked gently like a lazy teacher who does not know what to teach his eager students. He sat down as all stood in reverence to him. He sat looking very morbid and confused, like someone who has family problem or someone whose wife controls in every affair; wants to come out but doesn’t know how. He motioned everyone to sit. The master of the ceremony began to blab and read out their regular ritual those who cared to listen. The short fat man himself was tired of reading the monotonous rituals each time they met but he has no choice other than to read. After the numerous introductions, the floor was then opened to the chairman of the meeting,

“Ladies and gentleman... I welcome you to this month’s executive meeting....’ he began to smile sheepishly at this point, flashing his homodont set of teeth, maybe what he wanted to say next informed the whimsical smile. “Well... he continued, they say government is service. You are elected to serve but first of all, we must service ourselves before we can service those who claimed they elected us. So tonight, we are here to service our pockets, our accounts, our mouths and our dicks except for the ladies who wish to use the dicks for self-servicing.” This engineered roars of laughter and cynic applause.

“Well for the account servicing, I know, we are quite used to the Ghana must go formula. Some gentlemen have been wondering why we are not seeing these Ghana must go sacks but let not heart be troubled because we have outgrown that era. We now operate a more sophisticated system. So be patient. Your monies will be wired into your different accounts. After all we are here, for servicing.” There was a rousing clap that thundered like October rain. I had patiently waited for them to round off their meeting in the lobby where the door was ajar. I felt like leaving the place but i was pressed upon to remain steadfastly calm, even in the midst of the callous ruins of posterity.

Fabro

My perceived radicalization had been going on well. My bond with Amina Bambi had become irrepressible as i paid attention to every of her lectures. She promised me that my release would soon be perfected so that i can act at large. They had an amazing future for me: a future that would place me in the hub of terrorism, especially at the centre of the capital.

I had chosen not to debate any of the teachings. I was mindful of the application of force and physical brutality, so i had no choice but to agree and go rogue. As time went, i was separated from the rest of my colleagues as i was placed under special surveillance and training. I progressed tremendously and they were ecstatic about it. i was taking my process when upon a sudden, we heard an uncalculated noise from outside. I was not allowed to move since one of the tenets of the teaching is to remain resolute even in the face of fatal danger but from i was purportedly observing my meditation, i could deduce that a major arrest had been made and it had thrown the state of the camp in a ghastly quagmire. I deduced further that major generals had been arrested after a gruesome gun battle with the gallant national troops, who had successfully outwitted them, killing some and arresting the rest.

Chief among the arrested generals was Cheik, my nemesis. I had the urge to smile and celebrate the arrest of the most uncouth and cruel element i had ever known but the precinct of extremism restrained me. They had taught me to show solidarity to the fallen warriors of Allah and also celebrate their translation to heavenly bliss, where they will inherit their rewards: seven virgins and an incomparable mansion. “Hypocrites!” i should have spat.

Amina Bambi had been busy with her lectures but i reckoned she was quite terrified even more than i was. She had tried to suppress it but it was unflinchingly staring at me half the time since the raucous sound outside. I stared at her and then shook my head. she saw my retortions and she was unbelievably gobsmacked.

“Allah gives and Allah takes...” she managed to declare after she recovered from what seems like an affront to her doctrines. “No one should question him... you mustn’t forget that!” i nodded my agreement and she felt better but i felt pity for her. We had been pawns in the hands of the unknown. They use and rule us as they will, especially with the crooked mind of their earthly agents fixed on personal aggrandisement. She had been a pawn in the hands of the Abdumalik, the sect leader and he had succeeded in moulding her into a perfect puppet. It was sad to note that she has double masters’ degrees in philosophy and psychology in the prestigious universities in Europe and yet here she was serving a perverted purpose of loose religious bigots who definitely not serving the purpose of the God they proclaimed but their personal interests.

I overheard Abdumalik making squabbling exclamations, obviously raging. He threatened to rain fire on the nation should they not release his generals soonest. That animated rage and aimless aggression continued for two months until the government proposed to barter our freedom in exchange for the arrested generals. Abdumalik was sceptical at first. He did not trust the government negotiator but after much persuasion, pressing and a little compromise here and there. They agreed to the deal.

I heard lost touch with time and date but i supposed it was a sunny day when the preparations to barter our freedom had come. i was most exhilarated among all because there was an unquenchable desire to quell the freaky lessons that had succeeded to plant seeds of radicalism in me. i guess Bambi saw the flint of untold pleasure in me each time she thought her futile lessons to me. Although i could not ascertain her disappointment, i knew she would do anything to keep me in order to pass the last teachings which would be conducted by Arabic scholars. Whatever gave them the impression that i would be a perfect tool of terror is what i did not decipher but in all they kept faith in investing their strengths and energy in me.

I did not return to my colleagues before that sunny day but i was certain they had been more exhilarated than i was and the flint of ecstasy i saw in the eyes corroborated that. We stood for their head count in the sunshine and it was obvious we had depleted whimsically. We were just thirty three of the forty two that went for the national sports festival. The most heart-rending was the unknown fate of Eva. I had sulked in her disappearance with intense pangs. Her thought tormented me all day long and haunted me at night. She had massive dreams, dreams that would lead our nation to an extended path of glory. I felt wetness at the corner of my eye but i held it off. i did not want sell out. They had invested their energy on me and it was not wise to let them know they had wasted their resources in trying to mould a recalcitrant but perfect terrorist.

As soon they head count was done; i noticed an imminent foul play. Their body language was enough to convince me they had more drama up their sleeves and just as my instinct had predicted. They ordered us into two unequal groups, barraging and rattling us all the way with their brandished guns flashing through our faces. I was convinced we had been accustomed to the swaying of their guns because none of us flinched.

They made a head count and separated twenty from thirty three and ordered to move straight to the arena. I was among the twenty, ordered towards the arena with Essiet and Moji also in attendance. As we walked up, i noticed the boys in twenty outnumbered the girls. I feared for Esther and the lots of them.

I saw Amina Bambi sauntering towards us as they ordered us around. I knew she had a plan to distort my freedom. Her face was determined and straight. They were unwavering and unflinching. She ordered that we should stop and then singled me out of the bunch. I felt mad as sudden urge to catch her throat and choke her to death welled up inside of me but i was late with any intention to do whatever my mind was hinting on because i had been exchanged with Esther before i could realize how deep my problem had steeped but there was always a moment o ingenuity for me as i handed over an indistinct item to Esther. It was so smart and swift that nobody understood what was happening.

The twenty was barraged to the arena while the rest of us where returned to the tent that had been serving as our prison.

That prison would be our home for the next ten years. We were forgetten and live became differently ominous for us.