ALL IN A CIRCLE Episode 154 by dy9ty7

ALL IN A CIRCLE Episode 154 by dy9ty7

The chief Judge of a Lagos high court walked into the court room which was bustling with activities and noises some few minutes ago, but the moment the judged walked in, everywhere fell silent.

“The next case is the murder case between the government and a certain Adeoye Alabi and his associates. 4311KJ00055.” The court clerk read. A group of policemen numbering up to fifteen led a group of guys into the court and up into the criminal box.

“The defence counsel and the prosecuting counsel, shall they introduce themselves?” The judge asked. The court room fell silent once again. An elderly man stood up and faced the judge. The man should roughly be in his mid or late fifties, a popular lawyer, a senior advocate of Nigeria.

“My name is Barrister Olu Olowolayemo SAN. The defence counsel. And with me on my team is, Barrister Kunle Johson also a senior Advocate.” An elderly man stood up and bowed before the judge.

“Also on my team is Barrister Omolola Olubukola Martins.” Barrister Olu continued. A young lady of about thirty three stood up and bowed before the judge.

“I have on my team, Battister Kenneth.” Another young man, this time a very young man, whom from a far off, one could guess right the age bracket he belonged to. He should be in his mid twenties. A fresh university graduate.

“And lastly on my team is Barrister Benson.” The court room went into applause as a dark stout man stood up and bowed before the judge.

“Order!” The court clerk called and the hall fell silent again. Certainly, the Barrister Olu’s team of lawyers will definitely win any case regardless of the evidences that would be produced against. Two senior Advocate of Nigeria alongsie two young lawyers who according to a magazine in Lagos, the last fifteen cases they handled, they had not lost, talking about Barrister Benson and Barrister Ms Martins. And an unknown lawyer whose fresh brain would do a lot of good today.

“The procesuting cousel please.” The Judge called. A young police lawyer reluctantly stood up and faced the judge, thank God for her chocolate complexion, one would have seen the goose pimple all over her body. She had a feeling she would loose the case, considering the class of lawyers she was up against.

“I am Barrister Tina Adams, the prosecuting counsel for the government.” She said, after which she walked over to where her opponents sat and shook hands with all of them. She loved the way they greeted her, not smiling, but one would know they are not far from smiling. But professionalism had to speak here. Only Ms Martins smiled when she was returning to her deck.

“Mr Adeoye Alade, on the seventeenth day of this month, you were arrested by the men of the Nigerian police on charges of man slaughter and murder of four students of the University of Lagos. Are you guilty or not?” Barrister Tina asked.

“Not guilty.” Doeye replied.

“On the tenth day of April, you were caught at Royal ville hotel and suit where you brutally asaulted the hotel attendant by forcefully inserting the tip of your gun into her private part. Are you guilty or not?” Tina asked.

“Not guilty.” Deoye replied with confindence. He was glad that his parent agreed to help him out of this case which was why they paid millions of Naira to Barrister Olu who in turn secured the services of four other lawyers.

A young lady somewhere within the crowd bursted into tears and ran out of the hall. Deoye could remember her face, she was the hotel attendant whom he destroyed.

“Am a bad man.” He thought amusingly and smiled. It was five minutes before the end of recess and the court room was almost empty, the lawyers were re-structuring, re-strategising their approach to the case when the session resumes. Barrister Olu and his team of lawyers were going through some set of pictures and a laptop computer was opened before them, a large book, with a green and white cover and the Nigeria’s coat of arm crested on the cover, ‘THE CONSTITUTION’ was clearly inscribed on the back cover.

With look on the faces of the defence counsels, they seemed to be having issues, a man was explaining somethings to them. Though, Barrister Ms Tina could hear them, but she couldn’t process the things she heard to her understanding. Her mind was far away, she could see herself slumping to defeat in a matter of hours. If the arguements from both sides should be rated with marks, then she definitely would struggle with Barrister Benson who hadn’t said a thing, other than introduce himself. She knew all she had said was off point, she couldn’t put something strong on Deoye and his gang, all she could do was ask questions, introduce witnesses and by legal standard, a tricky case such as this has a proceedure of its own.

Even though a well bred individual will know from the onset that the defence team were only in court because they were paid. But in the law court, nothing is impposible. Evidences and oratorical ability will definitely count, and Barrister Ms Tina, the prosecuting counsel lacked in that aspect. She was psycologically distabilised by the presence of her oponents, the way they spoke alone was enough reasons for her to stutter and stammer. The note of finality in their voice was enough reason for her to forget what she intended saying. Tina was discussing with the hotel attendant who was assaulted by Deoye.

“You just have to be strong. Justice will be yours today.” Tina said squeezing her shoulder.

“Aunty, these people must not go unpunished, I have suffered. I spent weeks in the hospital before I could walk, it has been confirmed that my womb has been affected. I must not loose on two grounds.” She cried.

Tina moved close to her and embraced her, giving her a shoulder to cry on. Just then Barrister Olu Olowolayemo(SAN) came to their side.

“Barrister Tina, can I see you behind the camera?” He asked.

“Definitely sir.” She replied.

“Okay, this way.” The elderly man said leading the way towards another empty court room.

“Stay here please, I’ll be back in a jiffy.” Tina said walking in the same direction her senior colleague had went.

“Here I am sir.” Tina said on entering the empty hall.

“Barrister Tina, which law chamber do you work for?” Barrister Olu asked.

“I am not a commercial lawyer. I work for the government.” She replied.

“Meaning, you are at the ministry of justice?”

“Yes sir.” Tina replied.

“That’s good too. I am thinking maybe we could work this case and arrive at a similar conclusion.”

“What are you insinuating sir?” Tina asked.

“Its simple, the government has nothing to gain in this case. If Deoye and his gangs were sentenced to death or a jail term, its a loss on the path of the government. One, these boys are innocent of the charges against them and it will be total injustice if they are punished. Two, four girls were killed as a result of their involvement in cultism and some people wants to pin in on Deoye and his friends, if injustice prevails and this boys get punished, they are the future of this country, they should be allowed to actualise their dreams.” Tina has her mouth agape as she listened to what the elder law practitioner was saying. She was not only surprised, but scared at the same time. On the reason that, if a lawyer of Barrister Olu’s calibre could be compromised up till this level, then the Nigerian Bar association where he is the chairman of the South-west chapter is in trouble.

“Here is a cheque of ten million naira. Turn around the case in our favour and you’ll be given a car of your choice and a duplex to live in. Just make sure these boys are discharged and acquitted.”

“Sir….. I don’t…. No no no. I’ll be able to take this.” She stammered.

“You said?”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to take your offers sir.” She replied. Its a temptation that is worth falling for, but she wasn’t sure if she should take it or not. –

“You can take it my dear. You just consider the good comes with the offer. A chance to move in with lawyers like myself, then you’ll be opportuned to rub shoulders with the kings. As a matter of fact if you take this offer and it worked our way, I can connect you and make sure you become the lawyer of an eminent personality around. I’ll connect you.” Barrister Olu continued.

“Sir, I love your kindness and decision to help me to the top, but I am sorry to disappoint you. I’ll rather work my way to the top than be catapaulted to the top.” She replied.

“No one is catapaulting you to the top. You can be at the ministry and still work for me. We’ll go to court together, we’ll win and we’ll share the praises together.”

“Sir, with all due respect, I don’t believe in sharing praises. Lets make this scenario a case study. You have your law chamber, Barrister Kunle has his, Barrister Benson has his own chamber, Barrister Ms Martince works for Barrister Kunle, these people are established lawyers who are already at the top. I don’t think I stand a chance.”

“Well, you have a point. But what about that boy, Kenneth? He is in my chamber.” Barrister Olu argued.

“That’s true. Researches has been made and we discovered that Kenneth is actually your in-law, your wife’s nephew. He finished law school a few months ago and he has followed you to every hearing since then. What about other lawyers in your chamber,are they being afforded this luxury?” Tina asked. Barrister Olu was touched by her words, but conscience is not present that minute.

“Well, that’t not the reason why we are here. Take your money and let’s win this case.”

“Sir, as you can see, I don’t have a car. I live with a friend in a flat which we both contributed to rent. I am satisfied, I work and I earn justifiably. One day, I’ll earn big.” She poured out. “And if you’ll permit me sir, we have less than a minute to return to the court room for the completion of the case. Let whoever is guilty face the music. I don’t mind loosing this case, but not with intentions. I’ll loose if I loose, but not because I wanted to loose. So many bloods are on me expecting me to do my job and get vengeance on their behalf.” With this, she stormed out of the hall.

Barrister Olu was stunned. If an upcoming lawyer could do this, reject a tantalizing offer such as this, then only God knows what he/she would do if he/she ended up becoming a household name. Another Gani Fawehinmi in the making, but this time, the female version. He shook off his surprise and walked out.

—————

Tina just finished addressing the aggrieved family members of the students who were killed and the hotel attendant. They cried for justice and she assured them to do all she could to put smiles on their faces. Her recent encounter with Barrister Olu gave her some kind of confidence, because if the defence counsels could come with a bribe, then it seems they are loosing it. She was ready to exploit that weak side of theirs to win the case.

—————

Barrister Olu joined his colleagues in the court room.

“How was it?” Barrister Kunle(SAN) asked.

“She refused.” Barrister Olu replied. Everyone in his team sighed.

“Is she that stubborn?” Barrister Kunle asked.

“She proved it.” Barrister Olu replied.

“Are you sure she won’t use that against us?” Kenneth asked.

“She won’t.” Benson replied.

“The chances?” Kenneth asked.

“It could happen to anyone. So she dare not use that in her defence of whatever.” Benson replied.

Just then, the Judge walked into the court room and everyone rose up at once, including the lawyers. After the judge had sat down, everyone sat down. Barrister Tina looked at her opponents and she locked eyes with Barrister Olu for a few seconds. She smiled.The second session was about to begin officially when the court clerk made a pronouncement of the presence of another lawyer in the court room.

“Can we have Barrister John Odigwu is the hall please?” The clerk said. A light complexioned skinny who is probably in his mid forties, but as a result of his stature, one would mistake him for a student in his twenties.

“I am Barrister John Odigwu, prosecuting counsel for the Royal ville hotel and suite. On the case file of a certain Mr Adeoye Alade and his friends who violently assaulted a certain Miss Olubukola Mathew, an employee of the above hotel on the tenth day of April.” The Barrister introduced himself.

“Why did you come in late?” The judge asked.

“I was held up in the traffice and moreso, I had to travel down from Abuja this morning.” He replied.

“You’ll be sanctioned for that, and you know what to do.” The judge said smiling for the first time.

“Definitely sir.” Johnson Odigwu replied laughing. Barrister Tina shared in the fun too, as well as her counterparts from the defence. After being told what to do, Barrister Johnson walked over to the defence counsels and greeted them professionally, even though he greeted Barrister Olu with a lot of respect, outside professionalism. The kind of relationship that exist or existed between them, is of nobody’s concern. He walked over to the procesuting counsel’s seat and and exchanged pleasantries with Tina after which they both shared ideas under a minute, and the next minute, Odigwu was up.

“My lord, permit me to say Mr Deoye Alade is guilty of the following offences, one physical assault on my client, Miss Olubukola. Attempted murder on my client Miss Olubukola. Illegal possession of firearm.” He explained. He beckoned on Barrister Tina who stood up and stated her charges against Deoye.

“On the tenth day of April, Mr Adeoye on hearing that the police are waiting for him outside Royal ville hotel, he forcefully inserted at least half the length of his gun which my client identified as a 9mm revolver into her private part, thereby destroying her womb and causing other vaginal injuries to her.” He said and looked at Tina who urged him to continue.

“I believe as it was stated in the constitution, every case should be treated without bias. Without even taking into consideration the status of the person involved in the case.” Odigwu said and sat down.

The brilliant Barrister Benson rose up and to counter Odigwu, his greatest nightmare whom he first met while they were still working under a senior lawyer as youths. After going their seperate ways, Odigwu was the only lawyer who had defeated him consecutively six times in different cases, the only times he had tasted defeat as a lawyer, and he only managed a meagre two victories against Odigwu before he left for Abuja.

It was the believe of every criminal that, once Benson is on the prosecuting side, get the services of Odigwu in defence and you are good to go.

“I want to counter the claims of Barrister Odigwu. On the tenth day of April, with pictorial and video evidences, my client, Adeoye Alade was at the premier hotel in Ibadan, oyo state. So how possible is it for him to be in two places at a time?” Benson began in his usual questioning manner. Its a trick he learnt from a seasoned Nigerian lawyer, Afe Babalola(SAN), throw a question at the judge. Give him a reason to think throughout the hearing, his mind will be split between listening to the lawyers and finding answers to the questions.

“The evidences please.” The clerk said. Benson presented the pictorial evidences in a large format printed photograph showing Deoye booking a room inside the premier hotel. The video evidence was played on a large projected screen.”

“Permission to counter my opponent’s claims?” Odigwu said.

“Go on.” The judge said.

“According to the pictures presented, it was quite evident that Mr Adeoye was truly at premier hotel, but on what day? Moreso, I believe the picture and the videos was of the same day. In the video, Mr Adeoye was just entering the hotel with his bag, at the counter according to the pictures, he still had the bag with him. But no one seemed to notice he had different shirts on on both occassions, by standard, the bags are actually different too.” Odigwu explained confidently. Benson felt like dieing that minute, because he couldn’t imagine himself making a mistake such as this. He failed to check the evidences with scrutiny. A smile escaped Odigwu’s lips. –

“I believe in the current world that we live in, we have heard about computers and how they work. While the videos might be real, the pictures are not, they are purely computer work. Maybe my opponents are too silly not to notice such a loophole.” Odigwu continued.

“You are adviced against the use of foul languages. If you’ll please adhere strictly to the rule.” The court clerk cautioned. Odigwu sat down and whispered somethings into Tina’s ears. She smiled and gave him the thump up. He rose up again, this time with the bag he came in with.

“Sir, if at the end of presenting this evidences, justice is not served, then I believe the judicial council has been compromised and politicised.” He began.

“Overulled.” The judge roared. Odigwu took his seat and awaited the next line of action from his opponents. Benson stood up once again as took a large attendance book to the court clerk, then he returned to lay his claims.

“I believe my client Mr Adeoye in the video and pictures, he is the one. The mistake actually came on the part of the hotel who gave us pictures of a different day. That aside, the book before the honourable clerk of this court room is the attendance of the customers who used the hotel on the tenth of April among which Adeoye Alade was among. One of the hotel receptionist who claimed he saw Mr Adeoye but was not on duty is here in this court.” Benson continued.

“Let the witness come out.” The young man came out, did every neccessary things and did exactly what was expected of him, his explanation was convincing enough and Odigwu felt he was loosing it.

“Thank you Mr Andrew.” Benson said as the man walked out of the witness box. Odigwu by now had stood up went to meet the clerk and collected the said attendance book. He opened it before Tina and they both went through it from the first page while Benson continued ranting. A wide grin displayed on Odigwu’s ugly face and he requested for the permission to counter Benson’t claims which was granted.

“My lord, are we fools? Certainly we are not. But why do some people take us for fools? Even you can’t explain. We are in the computer age, I don’t believe they still make use of written attendance.” He said.

“And will every emplyee sit down before a computer to sign in?” Benson asked. Now he got Odigwu for the first time.

“Well, I am not driving at the use of attendance book. But this book is way too old to still be in use.”

“And the date on the first page says 1999.” Benson cut in.

“You are right, but I am surprised to see that it dated from 1999 to 2009. And then we have April 10 2012. How does that transition work? 2009 to 2012? Cut it out.” Odigwu once again faulted the outdated attendance book. Benson gave up, he had used three different approaches which was faulted by Odigwu.

“And my lord, I don’t think it is too much for this court to sanction Barrister Benson, for three times now, he had jumped in between my talking which is against the law.” Odigwu said. The crowds in the court room hailed him while Benson’s jaw twitched.

“I believe this case has been concluded even without me presenting my evidences. But I know there might be some liniency on the suspect, I will present my evidences to this court.” Odigwu said opening his bag. The crowd in the court room hailed him.

“Here is a copy of a sanction letter signed by the state commissioner of police on the tenth of April.” He said passing a copy to the clerk, one to Benson and his colleagues while he took one. He read the content of the letter which was addressed to the vehicle identification commission asking the commission to provide the details of the owner of a black Hyundai which turned out to belong to Deoye.

Another letter was written to Inspector Clement calling for the arrest of Deoye, pictures included and in the reply which was written by the public relation officer of the police which was signed by Clement, he ordered that the hyundai which at the time when the receptionist was assaulted was parked inside the hotel premises. The letter ordered the car to be towed from the hotel to the police station. More pictorial evidences were presented and also, the bed spread which still had blood stains on it was presented before the court and so also was the towel which was used by Deoye during his stay at the hotel was also presented with his body print showing after the lab test. No doubt, Odugwu had taken the case beyond Benson and his group of SANs.

Tina did wonderfully well in presenting her case against Deoye on murder charges, while her opponets agreed to everything she said much to everybody’s surprise. In the end, Deoye was sentenced to Death by hanging, while his accomplice got at least fifteen years in prison each.

Don was sentenced to death by hanging too on previous charges that has been placed against him. –

After the news of Deoye’s death sentence reached Clement and other policemen who were concerned with the case, as well as other eminent personalities in the state. The lawyers who stood against Deoye were appreciated by the Speaker house of assembly Lagos state who when speaking with the reporters in the assembly premises after the court verdict claimed he had already written a petition to the Senate should the court verdict favour Deoye, then the judge deserved to be sanctioned on grounds of compromise.

Clement drove into the Federal school of Aviation in Lagos state just beside the Murtala international airport Ikeja. He headed straight for the Director General’s office. Clement who all through the night was busy with his colleague Amaka, a computer analyst who hacked into chief Obi Patrick’s computer and got all of his assets and their locations, most importantly, his houses within Lagos state.

He acted based on the firsthand knowledge he had about his father when many years ago when they were still young, he drove them including Victoria to one of his houses, which was located in a village on the outskirt of Lagos majorly dominated by fulani herdsmen, they did a tour around the house which was small compared to the house which they live in.

The kids asked their father questions about the owner of the house and during the course of the questioning, he told them this is his hiding place which he uses once in a while, maybe in two years or more. Clement was able to hold on to the fact and the moment Chief Obi Patrick went missing, he knew he surely had to be there which was what prompted him to invite Amaka after the close of work for some map searches. He believed Amaka who said it won’t take her up to an hour before she finishes, so Clement thought that by 9pm she should be done, then he’ll drive her to her apartment. But to their surprise, it was already 10:30pm before they realised how far they had gone into the night with no significant success recorded.

As a computer analyst, Amaka tried everything she could before she suggested the idea of hacking into Chief Obi’s computer. And since every computer that belonged to either Chief Obi or his sons have something in common, this they knew themselves. Amaka was able to do some sort of magic before Clement’s eyes and a page opened displaying every content of his father’s computer. He saw the icon, ‘assets’ and clicked on it, he saw the house around the number ten spot and after much check, he was sure that it was really the house he had in mind.

“Are you set to go?” The director General asked.

“I think I am. Or is there something I ought to have brought along?” Clement asked.

“Well, there is nothing. Everything would be provided inside the chopper.” The director general replied.

“Okay, lets go then.” Clement said.

“Drop everything on you including your phones and even pens and pencils, keys inclusive.” clement obliged and dropped everything that was on him that moment. The reason for which he didn’t know, but he had a feeling it is for the good that comes with it. And so the Director General of the school of aviation took Clement to the field where he entered an helicopter and off it took off with its usual loud noise.

Ten minutes later, with his binoculars, Clement could see his father’s hidden house from a million miles above the ground.

“Can we go down a little?” He asked.

“Its unsafe, going down and revealing ourselves to them would create a kind of awareness and they could decide to blow us off.” The pilot, a white man replied.

“Its unsafe for them to blow us off consider the fact that were a directly above them. Meaning we’ll both be affected in anyways.” Clement argued.

“You have a point, but I still stand on not going low to the last. I’ll take a hundred miles down, then begin to circle the building. I believe that’s all you need for now. Just know the security level of the house, then on your own you can think of how to take them out.” The man said as he took the aircraft downwards. –

A few hours after Clement returned from the School of Aviation after his investigative search with an helicopter, he had met with the police commissioner who he briefed his next line of action and they both reached a unitary conclusion, with no one disagreeing with the other. This is the kind of partner Clement has always craved for but the heirachy within the force seemed to enjoy giving him the wrong set of people.

Ngozi looked promising at first, but a few months later after he refused to help his brother out of police custody, she saw him as her greatest enemy. Sylvester was the best when he first came, very supportive, submissive and above all, ready to learn from Clement. But a few days of Clement’s absence gave Sylvester the chance to lead a police team to Mr Ayo Okorie’s residence which resulted into Mr Ayo fleeing for the fear of being caught. This success alone added a feather to Sylvester’s wing and he felt he could handle the case his own way which convinced the former police commissioner to handle the case to Sylvester who didn’t spend up to a week before he broke the duties in bit between himself, Clement and some other tops officers in the field. And shortly afterwards, all powers returned to Clement. How God works, a mystery.

So far so good, Mike is the only officer who had worked with him until lately when he started misbehaving. Because the Mike who became a force to reckon with was all thanks to the fact that he(Clement) took him under his tetulage, but at some point, an apprentice becomes better than his teacher, but not to the extent of disobeying your teacher. If he continued thinking about his colleagues, then he certainly would spend the whole day doing that. He cleared his throat to gain the attentions of his colleagues.

“Oh! You are back? How was your trip?” Ngozi asked as if she was just noticing him for the first time. Clement only smiled.

“I have a plan.” He said. Sylvester readjusted his sitting position just to listen to the plan of the ‘great Clement.’

“I have decided to go in against my dad, while I live you two to battle Khal corp. Not to worry, I’ll be out in a day or two, then together we’ll do it.” Clement explained. Sylvester loved the idea.

“So how do you want to do that? Is there a plan in place?” Sylvester asked. Clement loved the response.

“You guys will have to return to Mr Ayo’s residence, then from there I believe you could get something that’ll lead you guys to the khal corp.” Clement explained. Ngozi froze in fear.

“There is nothing in Mr Ayo’s residence, we can try a better approach. And I think the release of Kelvin should be our number one priority.” She replied.

“Well, by getting Khal corp, we have Mike. And I think Mr Ayo’s residence has a lot to offer, and by the way, Mike said you told him about a map while you were in the hospital. What’s it all about? Can I have it?” Clement asked.

“Its nothing and No, you can’t have it.” She replied.
“Okay, so are we in?” He asked.

“Yeah.” Sylvester replied.

“Good.” Clement enthused and turned to face a rather quiet Ngozi who was not like this twenty five seconds ago.

“Ngo, are you in?” He asked. Did he just call her ‘Ngo’? Does that mean that all her cold, hot and silent treatment does not in any way affect him? She must have been wasting her time all these while.

THE MAP.

The war against insurgency is similar to the war against HIV/Aids. The same was it is similar to the highly dreaded disease/virus in Africa, Ebola. In outlining the similarities, its is important to note that, a doctor treating an Ebola patient is at risk of contacting the virus, the percentage possibility is around seventy five to eighty while a policeman or any security agent fighting insurgency is at risk of being affected.

The percentage of the officer himself being affected is around sixty if he played his cards well, but terrorists as a tool of insurgency are not interested in the officers fighting them, they believed that killing a security agent is unjust. Therefore, they prefer killing their family members, most especially, the ones that means a lot to the officers. Its could be his only daughter, only son, his children, his wife or anybody else. The emotional trauma that this brings is the joy of the insurgents, and as a result of the trauma, such officer would make rash decision because he is psycologically and emotionally imbalanced.

Inspector Clement as a front runner in the war against insurgency is a victim of the emotional inflicted suffering from Khal corp. In a bid to stop the corporation he lost his precious wife, and still unable to get a grip on himself or getting over his wife’s death, he discovered that the big backbones of the corporation are two people whom he had spend the majority of his life with, his father as a political sponsor of the corporation and his brother as the main hitman who always executes the businesses of the corporation according to Jay, meaning, the possibility of Kelvin having a hand in his wife’s death is way above half. And if it turns out that everything he had heard were true, then he had to arrest his father and brother, get them killed then do the needful himself. But did he really want to commit suicide? He is not sure. Amanda needs at least a father figure.

He walked out of his room into the living room, a bottle of Mc’ Dowells between his fingers. He unziped his bag which lay on the couch, tucked the bottle into the bag, dropped a few weapons that he would be needing, he zipped up the bag, grabbed his phone and walked out of the house, after switching off all the lights and securing the locks. The time was 10:58pm. When he drove out of the compound headed for his father’s suspected hideout.

His phone buzzed and when he checked, he realised it was a reminder he had set for his appointment with his doctor the following day. He was expected to visit the hospital once in a week at least for check up so as to control the effect his latest lung problem could cause him. I’ll go next week. He had concluded.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ngozi walked out of the bathroom a towel tied around her body. She walked over to the dressing table, dried herself of the water on her body and slipped on her nightie after which she joined her fiancee on the bed.

“Baby, you are not giving yourself rest these days.” Tobi complained. She smiled as she went under the covers. “I think you need to take more rest. Call the office and take a two days sick leave, then by monday when you return to work, you’ll see the difference. You look lean.” Tobi adviced.

“I can’t afford to miss an hour at work. At the stage that we are in, its either we have sleepless nights and stop Khal corp, or we sit back and watch them hijack this country.” She replied.

“But I thought you said, you only needed to arrest Clement’s dad and Kelvin. That shouldn’t be a problem or should it?” He asked. Ngozi bursted into laughter.

“Darling, do you think police job is similar to your job where you sit down comfortably in an air conditioned office?” She asked.

“That shows how risky the job is.” He replied in his usual line.

“I know that’s what you’ll say. But I want you to know that while some people work in the banking industry to make sure there is enough money in circulation, so people have to be the security for the bank, the money in it, and the customers.” She said.

“Okay, I agree.” He said smiling. Silence enveloped the room for the next five minutes, the highest that it takes before Tobiloba sleeps off.

“Sweetheart, are you sleeping already?” She asked putting her hand on his sholder.
“No.” He replied.

“I want to get your permission concerning one issue like that.” She said.

“And what is that?” He asked.

“At this crucial stage we have decided at work that every officer will work twenty four hours, meaning I won’t be coming home tomorrow. Its just for a few days actually.” she explained.

“And you think that’s possible?”

******

The road was swampy and he could feel it as his car moved along the untarred road which leads to his father’s hideout. All thanks to the air condition of the car which was on, he would have suffocated behind the wheels as a result of the offensive odour of cow dungs and rotten animals which wafted through his nose as he moved slowly.

There were several houses on both sides of the road which couldn’t take two cars at a time, most of the houses were detached, while a few others were covered with corrugated iron sheets, but his instincts told him the sheets have worn out and the possibility of it leaking is very high.

“Is this a kind of an inhabited area?” He asked himself as he stepped on the gas to give the car more life. He was at the verge of giving up when he saw a burning candle from afar. This further lifted his spirit as he sped towards it, the odour that greeted him the moment he got there was enough for him to change the car to ‘reverse’ and back out of the settlement.

He tapped the car honk twice to get the attention of the people sitting under the very large shed. An elderly man approached him.

“Good evening sir.” He greeted. The man looked at him like he was out of his mind, then bursted into laughter. He turned back to face his fellows under the shed and said something to them in their local dialet, they all bursted into laughter, the cause of their laughter he couldn’t fathom.

“Please, I am a policeman.” He said loudly so as to stop their laughter, but this further increased their laughter much to his anger. He couldn’t help but smile when he saw a small boy rolling on the floor while laughing. The boy should roughly be in his mid teens.

“Any future for him?” He asked himself. Certainly, the present day government is a total failure. They continued laughing while he sat there in his car watching them, everything they did seemed to amuse him, but remembering the reason why he was there in the first place, he ignited the car engine and drove off when he heard a voice.

“Hey!.” He heard someone call him. He stepped on the brake and brought the car to a halt while he waited for whoever called him.

“Can I come in?” He heard the guy ask. So, someone who could speak English resides in this village? That sounds interesting.

“Yes you can.” He said unlocking the car door from where he sat behind the wheel. The young man hopped in and sat on the passenger seat. From his face, one could deduce that he is still in his twenties.

“I lived somewhere around there. I was hearing your voice from inside, so I decided to come and see what was amusing my naughty neighbours.” He said and smile escaped his lips.

“What are you doing here?” Clement asked, he knew the youngman beside him does not deserve to live in this kind of environment and he doesn’t belong here in any way.

“Am a youth corper.” He replied. Clement looked at the guy once again.

“A youth corper?” He asked. The guy nodded his head in the affirmative.

“You mean, you are a graduate?” He asked. The guy still nodded in the affirmative. “So what are you doing here? I mean, what’s your main duty here?”

“I teach in the only secondary school around here.” The corper replied.

“You mean there is a school here?”

“Yeah, but you’ll have to go further into the village, here is just a hidden part of the village, but driving in from the town, you’ll be tempted to drive into this part, but in the end you’ll realise that there is nothing here.” The corper explained. Clement seemed to be enjoying his conversation with the corper, but he knew time was not on his side.

“I am a policeman.” Clement said flashing his identity card befor him. “I am here on an official assignment, but I need your help.”

“If its something within my capacity, I’ll do it.” The corper replied. Clement switched on the headlight of the car from where they were such that it shown brightly on the gate of a house far ahead of them.

“Who owned that house?” He asked.

“Sir, I don’t know. I started here a few months ago, but lets ask around.” The corper replied already opening the car door.

“Ask who? Your naughty neighbours?”

“They are cool actually and friendly too. They just enjoyed laughing at English speakers.” He explained, this time he had entered their shed.

—

The corper who later introduced himself as Peter spoke to his ‘naughty neighbours’ as he called them in their local dialect that one would think he was born and brought up in the environment. One after the other, the people sitting under the shed came to Clement and hugged him. It takes the grace of God to reciprocate such gesture without throwing up. Clement squeezed his face in disgust, the odour emanating from their bodies alone was enough to kill him, the way his skin felt their skin, most especially, their palms was enough reason to create marks on his smooth skin.

“Can we leave now?” He asked Peter when he had exchanged pleasantries with them.

“No we can’t. I am yet to ask them the question you asked me.” Peter replied. Clement felt like removing his gun and boring a hole into his head because he couldn’t imagine the exact thing he had been discussing with them for almost three minutes which prompted them to exchange pleasantries with them.

“Please be fast about it.” Clement urged as he took a few steps backwards, out of the shed to breathe in fresh air which has been polluted by the cow dungs and another odour which he guessed must have been coming from a big drum where a young boy was stirring its content with a big stick, while another elderly woman was removing something which looked like a thick cloth and dipping it back for the boy to stir. He could hear Peter conversing with them.

“They said they have never seen the occupants of the house.” Peter said to him.

“But people live in there right?” Clement asked still looking at the boy who was stirring the content of the drum with expertise. He must have been doing this even before he was given birth to. The thought of this amused him.

“I think people live in there.” Peter replied.

“Since when did they begin to notice movements in the house?” Clement asked. Peter turned to his neighbours who were laughing as Peter conversed with Clement.

“They said, just recently many cars drove into the house and they never came out.” Peter replied. Clement opened his mouth to ask another question.

“I think they are tired already. They all claimed they would answer my questions no more.” Peter chipped in. With the little he had learnt, all thanks to Peter, the intermediary, it should be enough to gather his thoughts and make it whole.

Not too long ago, several cars drove into the house and they never came out. Not too long ago, Chief Obi Patrick went into hiding. It could be a coincidence assuming he was just a senior police officer, but he was dead sure because the house belonged to his father.

“What was that boy stirring inside the drum?” Clement asked, this time they were back in the car.

“that’s the first stage in the process of leather and other things that could be gotten from cow skin.” Peter replied. Clement watched with fascination. Even though he had a perfect childhood, grew up like every normal kid, played with toys like every other kids, rode bicycle like every other kids, made friends with other kids in the estate, fought with the big boys around just to show his strength and impress the pretty girl next door. He knew he was still ignorant of some certain things. He still couldn’t differentiate between some things that a ten year old boy would differentiate extensively in minutes. It was too late to start learning some things which he felt were useless, but he still planned on making sure his daughter experience everything such as moutain climb with village kids, fishing and snail hunting with village kids and some other plays that impresses kids from Lagos and other big cities.

“Where do you plan spending the night?” Peter asked. It was then Clement realised he didn’t plan ahead of his visit, even though the thought of sleeping inside his car once came to his mind. “You can pass the night in my apartment if you don’t mind.” Peter added. Clement smiled. It may end up being one of the worst night rest of his life, but it was an experience that is worth it.

As he lifted his small bag out of the backseat which Peter dutifully collected from him, he quickly sent a text message to his colleagues, mainly, the commissioner, Sylvester and Ngozi, which reads;

“Everything is currently under control. Get back to me, once the backup team is in place. Moving in by 2am.” –

IN A CIRCLE Episode 154
#OpraDre

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