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The Bloody Machete
By Uche Nworah
Chapter One
Chidi sank deeply into his seat and buckled the seat
belt; he switched his Apple iPod on and shut his eyes,
his mind travelled back to his past. He didn’t know what
to think of himself, was he a success or failure in
life? Were his parents and family proud of him? Is this
the life he dreamt of as a youngster? So many questions
waltzed through his mind, his sombre reflections were
momentarily interrupted by the Pilot’s voice on the PA
system. The KLM flight from Madrid to Lagos via
Amsterdam was about to take off.
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Chidi Okeke was the first child of Osita and Virginia
Okeke. The entire Okeke family lived in a rented
2-bedroom in a multi-room house in the Obiagu area of
Ogui, Enugu. The building housed other tenants who also
lived with their families. Toilet, bathroom and kitchen
facilities were communally shared by all the tenants; it
was the kind of house that people regarded as face-me-i-face-you.
Space was tight and fights and quarrels between tenants
or their children were common place. Sharing the Okekes’
two rooms were Chidi, his father Osita, his mother
Georgina, his auntie Nkechi and six other siblings; four
girls and two boys.
Chidi was only eight years old when his father lost his
job as a signal officer with the Nigerian Railway
Corporation, Enugu. He remembered coming home from
school one day to find his father at home, it wouldn’t
have been a surprise but his father was a man who took
his job seriously and had earned himself the nickname
Papa Oloco as a result, Oloco being the local
adaptation of the word locomotive. Mr. Okeke was a very
dedicated worker, and the earliest Chidi remembered him
coming home from work was 6.00 PM; this gave him and his
siblings enough time to play games in the front yard
with other neighbourhood kids. His mum too would wait
for the civil servants and other workers at the state
secretariat building along Okpara Avenue to finish their
habitual late evening purchases from the Ogbete
main market where she maintained a stall selling dried
fish and other food items before coming home, usually
late.
From the way his father was slumped on the cushion chair
in the austere and sparingly furnished seating cum
sleeping room, Chidi sensed that all was not well. His
father wore one of his faded Hings singlet, and was
tying his fish patterned Hollandis wrapper.
“Papa good afternoon”, Chidi greeted him.
“Afternoon”, Mr. Okeke replied. “What of your brothers
and sisters?” he enquired next. Chidi replied that they
were walking down with Auntie Nkechi who usually picked
them up from school. Chidi didn’t know whether to be
angry, he knew that the day’s game of football was over,
and fine tuned his mind to spending the rest of the day
doing his homework.
It was later at night, during his parents nightly
conversations, which could almost be heard by all the
neighbours as his father had a deep voice that Chidi
understood the reason why he came back early from work
that day. He had been sacked from his job, he didn’t
understand what his dad meant when he initially told his
mother that he had been retrenched alongside one hundred
and twenty other Railways staff, it was his mother’s
shock which led to her muffled scream and her question
to no one in particular that made Chidi to realise what
was going on.
“Ewo Chi mu o, how will we manage now that they
have sacked you, Chukwu biko nu, why have you
deserted this family?” Chidi remembered his mother
asking that night.
“Nwanyi, take it easy, it is not the end of the
world”, his father had replied.
“Leave me alone, what is not the end of the world,
mmadu aga ata gide afufu n’uwa?” “Papa Chidi, tell
me when all this suffering would come to an end?”
“I’ve told you, you will soon wake the neighbours, not
that you care anyway, with the way you are shouting, you
might as well tell the whole world that your husband has
been sacked from his job”.
“Oh! is that your only problem, you are not even
concerned with how your children will survive from the
small crayfish money I bring in from the market?”
Chidi pretended to be asleep and listened to his parents
take out their frustrations on each other, he heard his
mother begin to sob, and also sobbed himself to sleep.
Things changed around the Okeke household after this,
Chidi watched his father become gaunt daily; it was as
if the will to live had left him. His once jovial self
disappeared and in its place emerged a withdrawn and
moody character. Mr Okeke turned his frustrations on his
children and never resisted the urge to smack them, or
use his koboko to whip their backsides. Tired of
hanging around the house, Mr Okeke began to accompany
his wife to her shop daily. Chidi knew that it wasn’t
what his father wanted, as the first son, he enjoyed a
special relationship with him and on several occasions,
his father had cautioned and encouraged him to try as
much as possible in life to be successful, that way he
would be able to provide for his family and avoid the
insults that may be thrown his way by his future wife,
the neighbours and the society at large.
Chidi was drafted into the Ogbete market trade early in
life, rather than join his fellow pupils at the daily
extra-mural classes at school, he would be found instead
after school at Ogbete market haggling the price of fish
with wheel barrow pushers, bus conductors and other
customers that stopped by his mother’s shop. He missed
his play group and their many pranks. Chidi continued
along this routine even through his secondary school
studies at Nike Grammar School. Because he was now a big
part of his mother’s fish selling business, and coupled
with the fact that the family couldn’t afford to sponsor
him to boarding school, he attended as a day student,
going straight from school to the market to help out.
When the time came to complete the university
matriculation examinations form, Chidi wanted to choose
one of the universities in the northern part of Nigeria,
but was dissuaded by the several religious riots in the
region which usually resulted in Igbos and other
Christians being massacred by their Moslem brethren.
Because some of Chidi’s friends, their brothers ands
sisters were already at the Abia State University (ABSU),
Chidi settled for ABSU and luckily got in at the first
attempt.
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Chidi struggled to hold back the emotions which had
welled up inside him as he played back images from his
past in his mind; he felt a tear about to break from his
left eye and quickly wiped it off. He smiled to himself
and kissed his Goodluck charm, the crucifix hanging from
his gold necklace and muttered “Thank you, Abba Father”.
He had learnt to say this short prayer back in the
university, after his near-death experience the night
the Pyrates Confraternity clashed with members of the
Black Axe.
Chapter Two
It was fourth time lucky for John Udoka and Chibuzo, his
wife of ten years. John could never understand why
Chibuzo was worrying herself sick because God hadn’t yet
blessed them with a female child. Each time he tried to
comfort her, she would snap back and would go on to ask
him what her fate would have been if they had only girls
and no boy. John never took her seriously and alluded
her emotional ranting to the Igbo woman mentality, a
primordial belief and phobia that the man would abandon
the woman mid-marriage for another wife in the man’s
quest to procreate a male child that would inherit the
man’s fortune, or carry on the family name.
John disliked men that thought along those lines,
especially when such men have been luckily blessed with
the fruit of the womb. He often wondered what such men
would have done were they not able to sire children of
their own, especially if the reason was due to their own
impotency. He concluded that the Igbo society, and
indeed the wider Nigerian society were still largely
unfair in the way women were judged and treated. In most
cases, some of these men that were desperate to sire
male children that would inherit their so-called
fortunes bequeathed only debts to such children. Many of
them at death leave behind a battalion of children and
disenchanted harem of women. He still hoped that one
day; he would be able to partner with his wife to set up
an NGO that would be devoted to fighting for the rights
of women who feel marginalised because they were not
blessed with children in their matrimonial homes.
The arrival of Ifeoma signalled the ‘closing of the
chapter’ on child bearing in the Udoka household as John
had previously expressed contentment with the three sons
that God blessed them with, he wouldn’t have tried for
another child if not for the way his wife had painted
the picture of her ‘pathetic’ situation. “I want a
female daughter that I would plait her hair”, Chibuzo
had said. When John jokingly told her that she could
still plait her sons hairs, a fashionable craze in the
western societies but which was fast becoming the norm
in Nigeria’s many cities where boys also wear earrings,
Chibuzo relapsed into one of her many melancholy moods
accusing John of being insensitive over issues she
considered serious.
Ifeoma was treated as the baby of the house and was
showered with so much love by her brothers and parents,
but still she never lost sight of the fact that she was
a child of destiny having heard her mother recount
several times all the fasting and supplications she made
to God before she was conceived. She grew up to be a
well mannered young woman, watching her mother closely
as she went about her daily household chores and
learning along the way. She always remembered a proverb
her grand mother (Nene) told her when she enquired from
her how women were able to balance their careers and
family life. Ifeoma had often wondered how her mother
was able to hold down her full time nursing job, and at
the same time run the Udoka household while all her
father did was go to work and come back to a well
cleaned home and well prepared lunch and dinner. Nene
had replied that it was a God-given virtue and tradition
passed down by women from one generation to the other,
she concluded by telling her that the baby goat learns
to chew chord simply by watching its mother.
Ifeoma imbibed the concept and continued to watch and
observe her mother in her daily routines.
The Udokas worked with Shell, the Anglo-Dutch petroleum
exploration corporation in Port Harcourt. John was a
petroleum engineer and Chibuzo was a matron at the Shell
hospital. John was formally a rig supervisor at Shell’s
flow station in Rumuigbo until the site accident that
fractured his left leg. He recovered after receiving
treatment in Germany and was redeployed to the
exploration office in Bonny as deputy head. The family
lived in a 4-bedroom duplex inside the Shell camp along
Aba Road Port Harcourt; they enjoyed first class
facilities inside the Shell camp, uninterrupted power
supply, round-the-clock security, free medical
facilities and full sponsorship of their children up to
university level anywhere in Nigeria. Every other year,
the Udokas took a vacation either in the United Kingdom
or America; their children lived a privileged life.
Ifeoma’s three elder brothers; Kelechi, Nnamdi and
Ifeanyi were jointly sponsored to America by Shell and
their parents for their university education. John and
Chibuzo knew that their children’s opportunities in life
especially in corporate Nigeria would be enhanced with
American university degrees. Ifeoma had always believed
that she would be joining her brothers in America for
her university education, but when she finished her
senior secondary school education at the federal
government girls’ college, Sagamu, John and Chibuzo
changed their minds. As their only daughter, they felt
that it would be better for her to study locally in
Nigeria so that they could easily keep an eye on her.
Chibuzo particularly was worried that Ifeoma may get
carried away by the American way of life, and may come
back indoctrinated with western values such that she may
not be able to find a Nigerian husband, she was already
planning and thinking ahead for her daughter’s future.
Chibuzo prided herself in being one of those women who
believe in the saying that Di bu ugwu Nwanyi, for
such women, a woman’s pride depends on her marital
status and she didn’t want anything jeopardising her
daughter’s chances.
Ifeoma felt very disappointed by her parents’ decisions
but was pacified by their promise that they would
sponsor her every other year to America on visits; they
also bought her a Honda Civic car for her daily commute
to the University of Port Harcourt in Choba where she
had been accepted to study Banking and Finance.
Chapter Three
The decision to go to university was a difficult one for
Chidi considering his family’s dwindling fortunes at the
time, there had been much pressure on him to abandon
education for a more lucrative commercial vocation. He
was not unaware of the growing state of unemployment in
Nigeria, he knew several people in his neighbourhood who
had gone to university and acquired all sorts of degrees
only to end up in their parents’ houses as dependent
adults. He didn’t want to find himself in similar
circumstances in the future and knew that he may not
withstand the humiliation of sharing the Obiagu quarters
with his parents in the future.
Chidi had received offers from his father’s relatives to
join them as a trade apprentice in their motor spare
parts trade at Nkwo Nnewi, there were also others
that had flourishing import and export businesses
operating out of the famous Idumota and Alaba
international markets in Lagos. During the last
Christmas at Umudim, Nnewi, Chidi saw several of his age
mates who had heeded the Nnewi man’s trade calling at
their age grade meetings flaunting their boy-boy
wealth, they teased people like him whom they imagined
were still stuck in their parents’ cocoons.
While discussing his future plans with his parents,
Chidi expressed a desire to pursue a university degree
but also offered to shelf his plans for trade
apprenticeship in the interest of the family. Mr and Mrs
Okeke thanked Chidi for thinking about their family,
particularly his younger siblings but remained adamant
at his offer. His parents were unanimous in their
decision that Chidi should focus on pursuing a
university degree. The family also considered the option
of Chidi travelling to Germany as people who recently
went had already started to ship back used cars (tokunbo)
back to their families. Chidi mentioned his friend Tony
who recently sent a Mercedes Benz 230 E saloon car to
his parents after only 6 months. Though Tony was older
and was three years his senior in secondary school, they
had remained friends even after Tony finished from Nike
Grammar School and went to live with his uncle in Lagos.
Chidi’s parents were receptive of the idea but knew that
the family would never be able to fund Chidi’s migration
to Germany.
Despite the family’s dire financial circumstances,
Chidi’s parents managed to sponsor him to University.
They received financial assistance from friends and
distant relatives because the cost of sponsoring
students to Nigeria’s universities had increasingly
risen beyond the reach of poor folks like the Okekes,
and without any form of government bursary or support,
families were left to their own means. Hostel
accommodation was never guaranteed so students had to
contend with the exorbitant rents charged by shylock
landlords who provided off-campus accommodation around
university communities. Facilities were usually below
standard, libraries don’t stock up-to-date books, even
the few books available would have been ripped, and
relevant chapters torn by students, such a situation
encourage unscrupulous university lecturers to produce
and sell poorly prepared lecture handouts to students,
and make the purchase of such regurgitated academic
thrash mandatory, and prerequisite to the students
passing the course.
Other expenses which the Okeke family had to contend
with included tuition, medical and most importantly
living expenses. Some families in their situation in
Nigeria would have sold a piece of family land or other
family treasure to finance their children’s education
but unfortunately for the Okekes, there was none of such
available to be pawned off, but the family was quite
determined, particularly Mr Okeke who hoped that on
graduation, Chidi would be able to support and sponsor
his younger siblings.
It was with such huge burden and great expectations from
him that Chidi entered Abia state university (ABSU)
Okigwe to study political science and public
administration. Chidi knew that he was on his own, there
were no visits from his family in state-of –the-art, or
government plate numbered cars, there were no
mid-semester reinforcement of supplies such as
toiletries and pocket money, no memorable stories about
summer trips to London and America to share with fellow
students and course mates. He therefore set about
crafting his own personae.
Chidi spent the first semester studying his new
environment and fellow students, making mental notes of
what made them tick. He could see that majority of the
students liked partying, they also liked dressing
fashionably. He could easily identify students from rich
homes, and also the wannabes, there were hangers-on and
leaches who feasted from the campus rich students. He
wasn’t fazed by his new surroundings and knew that with
the right schemes, he could put the entire student
community in his pocket. Chidi still dressed as a
kpod, but that wasn’t a problem, once he opened up
his revenue streams in the campus, Lobito and
Sputes boutiques in Enugu were only an hour drive
away, he would bounce back stronger in subsequent
semesters.
Chidi observed the traditional October rush, a period
when students, usually returning students preyed on
‘innocent’ female students known as jambitos, it
was usually a time of panic and heartbreaks in Nigerian
universities for returning female students who are
dumped by their campus boyfriends for the new, naïve and
younger looking female students. He enjoyed the
different stories shared at the students’ centre; some
of the stories were also reported in the university’s
student-run gossip magazines.
It was in the first semester that academic, social,
sports, humanitarian and cultural organisations such as
the Rotaract Club, the Kegites club aka the
Palmwine Drinkards Klub, the Jaycees, departmental
associations, Chess and Scrabble clubs, state
associations and so on recruit new members. Also during
this period, the more sinister groups such as the
Pyrates Confraternity aka The National
Association of Seadogs (NAS), The Buccaneers
Organisation of Nigeria (BON), The Supreme Vikings
Confraternity, The Eiye Fraternity, The Black Berets,
The Mafia, Mgba-Mgba Brothers, The Klansmen (KKK), The
Black Axe, The Mafites and other campus secret cults
begin their clandestine manoeuvres to recruit new
members.
Chidi had followed the activities of these organisations
through gossips and stories while he was still in
secondary school. There were even rumours at Nike that
the secret cults had made incursions into secondary
schools, and were now recruiting future members from
schools in the hope to catch them young. Chidi was never
approached but any young man growing up in Enugu was
aware of the dangerous and deadly activities of the
secret cults. Just a few years back, Enugu was gripped
by a wave of armed and violent attacks on family members
of rival cult members. The respective battles for
supremacy amongst the confraternities in the various
campuses had spilled over into Enugu, the coal city.
There were reported incidents of members’ families being
attacked with acids; some others were also shot to
death. The Enugu State University of Science and
Technology (ESUT), and Nnamdi Azikiwe University – NAU
(formerly Anambra State University of Science and
Technology - ASUTECH) appeared to be the hotbed of such
violent students’ nocturnal activities in eastern
Nigeria.
There was one incident that gripped the whole coal city
with fear; it was the story of Afam Nwosu, a member of
the Mgba-Mgba brothers who was dragged out of the
classroom where he was writing his final year
examinations and shot in the presence of other students,
invigilators and lecturers by hooded assailants, alleged
to be members of the Black Axe. The attacks continued
the next day with the cold-blooded murder of Afam’s
elder sister (Chinwe) and mother at the family’s Achara
Layout residence. It was stories like these that made
Chidi’s parents to caution him against selecting ESUT,
NAU or even the University of Nigeria, Enugu campus (UNEC)
when he was filling out his Joint Admissions and
Matriculations Board (JAMB) University Matriculation
Examinations (UME) forms.
None of the various academic, social, sports,
humanitarian and cultural organisations appealed to
Chidi, he did not want to bother with the Anambra
Students Union or the more cultural Nnewi Students
League. He had heard that people who joined such
associations were not well regarded by the other
students, especially those students in the campuses that
were regarded as ‘happening babes and guys’, referring
to students who get invited to all the campus A-list
parties, dressed in the best designer clothes and knew a
few big wigs in government. Chidi already knew which
side he wanted to be on, it was only a matter of time
and he would force his way into the elite campus society
of big boys and big chics.
Chidi became a campus hustler in the second semester of
his first undergraduate year at ABSU. It was something
that happened through a chance meeting with Doctor Edwin
Okoro, a successful Onitsha based medical practitioner.
Prior to the encounter Chidi had already successfully
undergone the rigorous initiation and induction rites of
the Pyrates Confraternity. Despite the showy and
flamboyant nature of the other campus secret cults,
Chidi was bowled over by the maturity with which the
Seadogs went about recruiting new members. He was also
impressed by the fact that the organisation appeared to
be the only one that had a credible face in the larger
Nigerian society, this it does through its various
seminars and workshops as well as through other
community development projects which it carries out
nationwide.
Wole Soyinka, the National Capone of the Supreme Pyrates
Confraternity, continued to identify with the lofty
goals of the founding seven members of the organisation
and this impressed Chidi because he had the utmost
regard for Prof. Soyinka. Although the Nobel laureate
had severally claimed that NAS was not a secret cult and
that the organisation does not operate branches or what
they call decks in institutions of higher learning,
Chidi knew that this was not true but did not really
care. The Pyrates Confraternity had a strong presence at
ABSU and unlike the other confraternities that recruited
members based only on their socio-economic status, or
ability to apply violence and viciousness when
necessary, NAS focused on the potentials of the new
recruits, their academic standing and the new member’s
ability to abide by the age old creed of the
organisation – odas is odas, this means discipline.
Chidi was offered a free ride by Doctor Edwin Okoro in
his silver coloured Mercedes Benz E200 salon. He picked
Chidi up at Garki Park in the Awkunanaw area of Enugu as
Chidi waited alongside other passengers to hitch a ride
back to Okigwe. Chidi was reluctant initially as he
remembered all the many Nollywood movie stories he has
seen concerning ritual killers. In such movies, the
culprits were usually depicted driving expensive cars.
Chidi was persuaded by Dr Okoro’s accented English and
he entered.
“I see that you were reluctant to enter the car”.
“I’m sorry sir but I don’t know anybody that drives a
Mercedes Benz car”.
“Come on don’t be silly, Mercedes is only a car”.
“I know sir but when you watch Nigerian home movies, you
normally see people driving such expensive cars being
cast in villainous roles”.
“That is the problem with our movie producers; I think
that they should outgrow such stereotypical scripts that
divide the society”.
“But sir, some of these things are real, they happen”.
“Please call me Edwin or Eddy, stop this sir nonsense”.
Both of them laughed and carried on with their
conversations.
“Who are you visiting at ABSU today?”
“Oh, just a friend of mine, maybe you will know her, her
name is Queen Umoh, she is a third year law student.
“The name sounds familiar; maybe if I see her I might
recognise her”.
“Good of you to have asked, you will help me to look for
her when we get there, I feel a bit shy coming in there
to look for girls”
“Is she your sister or something?”
“Sister? Are you kidding me, of course not” “She is some
girl I gave a ride in Enugu sometime ago, I promised her
that I would come and visit her in school, I like to
hunt for girls in universities far away from Onitsha,
I’m sure you know lots of them”.
Chidi didn’t want to sound naïve and accepted that he
did.
“In that case, if we can not locate Queen, you will set
me up with another chic, you will be taken care of too”.
They drove for a while in silence; this gave Chidi the
opportunity to think about the proposal that he had just
received. He knew that students were always talking
about going on runs and he had actually been shown some
female students that go on such runs but he hardly spoke
to them. The only girls he knew were his course mates
and he doesn’t even talk to them that much. He ran off a
list in his mind of the other girls he knew that may be
open to such offers. He thought of Emem, the big bosomed
level 2 History student who goes by the nickname Beyonce.
She always came across as someone with a ‘long throat’,
Chidi got that impression the day Azuka invited him out
to one of the joints up gate; Emem was in their company
and bored Chidi to death with her empty boasts of
knowing all the politicians in Nigeria. Chidi knew
immediately that she was lying, a wannabe if you like
because if she knew those politicians as she claimed,
then she won’t be in the habit of asking boys to buy her
breakfast or lunch, more over she dressed in cheap
okirika clothes. Chidi felt that she might be
convinced to go out with Dr Edwin but his problem was
that he didn’t know where to locate her. He dared not
ask Azuka because Azuka was a member of the Black Axe,
and he would not take kindly to the fact that Chidi was
trying to connect Emem to Dr Edwin knowing that he was
also interested in her.
Chidi was in luck as Queen had travelled to Lagos, he
was then mandated by Dr Okoro to seek out another female
student that would spend the night with him. Chidi found
Emem after much hassle and she didn’t need much
convincing to accompany Dr Edwin to his hotel room in
Okigwe town. Chidi was now in business and made money
setting female students up with visiting government
officials or business men from outside Okigwe town. His
reputation gradually grew and he became a sought-after
campus dude. He did not lack women ready and willing to
spend the night with strangers in exchange for cash and
other gifts, and the girls rewarded him for his
connections with both cash and sex. What amazed Chidi
the most was the fact that even some children of the
supposed high and mighty in the society participated in
the illicit game, he felt that it wasn’t for him to
judge their morals, if they were willing to sell their
bodies, then he was willing to supply them with buyers.
Everyone knew Chidi and wanted to be his friend, boys,
girls and even his lecturers, some of whom he bribed to
pass their courses. This was at the height of lecturer
strikes over poor or delayed salaries, at a time that
some lecturers survived by selling handouts to students,
Chidi knew how to reach them. At some point he
functioned as a broker between students and lecturers,
male students who wanted their grades increased would go
through Chidi who in turn would charge them for his
services, likewise female students, they would pay
either in cash or in kind by sleeping with both Chidi
and the lecturers. It was a dirty and corrupt system,
the larger society seemed not to care, neither did Chidi.
Chapter Four
Ifeoma easily adjusted to life in the university, though
it was a lot different from life at the Federal
Government Girls College (FGGC), Sagamu where she had
finished from; she made new friends with other
Sagamites, her fellow students from FGGC, Sagamu.
The Udoka family had intended for Ifeoma to commute
daily from their home to the university but after doing
this for 3 months, Ifeoma suggested to her parents that
she be allowed to move into the female hostel in Delta
Park like other students. She had been contemplating
this in her mind for some time now and was beginning to
feel that her parents were becoming over protective, she
felt that she needed to break out of the mummy’s or
daddy’s daughter mould. She didn’t really blame her
parents and knew that they were doing everything for her
out of love, In fact she was happy and lucky to be so
privileged to be born into such a loving and caring
family, but still she felt that she needed the
independence to learn and grow, make her own mistakes
and learn from them. Moreover she was beginning to get
irritated by all the jibes from her friends who lived on
campus. They had been teasing her over her usual excuses
that her mum or dad may not approve anytime they invited
her out to parties. Since she had a car, her friends had
hoped that Ifeoma could put the car to their use by
taking them along to the many student parties in Port
Harcourt town. Just the other day, she almost fell out
with Ebere, her course mate. It was at Mama Nnenna’s
bukataria opposite Choba Park. She was standing outside
the bukataria having a conversation with Grace, another
of her friends when Ebere walked up to them.
“Hi girls, what’s up?”
“Fine, we were just talking about Joe’s party”, Grace
told Ebere.
“Oh, really, I’m looking forward to it. I’m sure Ifeoma
would be nicely tucked into her pyjama at that time of
the day”, Ebere replied.
“Very funny, indeed”, Ifeoma retorted. “How can you talk
about me in such a manner as if I’m not here, I’m really
not in the mood for your silly comments this morning”,
she said and walked away.
“Ify wait now, she didn’t mean it in that sense”, Grace
called out to her as she crossed the road and walked
towards the Engineering block to meet with Emeka, her
cousin. Ifeoma didn’t have any lectures that morning and
was raging inside by the time she found him. Emeka was
in the company of his friends when she arrived, and from
the way she greeted him; Emeka knew that something was
up.
“Ifeoma, my most favourite cousin in the world, how
now?”
“Emeka, please leave me jare, I’m not in that
your jolly mood today”
“Ah, na wetin happen now?”
“It is these so-called friends of mine, always going on
about my not coming out to parties with them”. “In fact,
I’m thinking of moving into the campus, I would inform
my dad and mum and see what they would say”.
“Sebi I’ve been telling you, you dey miss
plenty action for campus, how many parties have I
invited you to but each time you keep saying my mummy
this, my daddy that”.
“Emeka, you too, that’s not what I came to you for,
rather than calm me down, you have also joined them to
have a swipe at me”.
“But that’s the truth, as a student, you not only go
through the university, but you have to also let the
university go through you”.
“Okay, campus bobo, I’ve heard”, as a small smile
broke out on her face. She reasoned that she may have
been overreacting, and told Emeka so. As Emeka walked
her towards Mama Nnenna’s bukataria where she parked her
car, they fine tuned the strategies that she would use
to convince her parents to agree to let her move into
the campus. Emeka was in support of the idea, and hoped
that Ifeoma would let her drive her car when she moves
in to the campus.
“No more hustling for rides on Friday and Saturday
nights”, he reasoned to himself.
Ifeoma’s parents lost their cool when she muted the
idea, she couldn’t remember ever seeing her usually cool
and calm parents that mad before. Her dad in particular
would have none of it, and told both Ifeoma and her
mother so. He told Ifeoma that he was aware of all the
different negative reports emanating out of uniport
concerning the sordid lives female students at uniport
live. Such stories have been making the front pages of
the tabloids. The most current story concerned three
female students who had allegedly stolen huge sums of
money from a Caucasian male oil worker, but before that,
the man had already photographed the girls in various
nude positions. Out of anger, he released the pictures
to the local media; the pictures have also been making
the rounds on the internet. John Udoka reasoned that it
was only girls that lived on-campus that could engage in
such sexual escapades, away from the prying eyes of
their parents and families. Ifeoma had her way
eventually and moved into the campus where she lived an
above average student life until her graduation, but she
still graduated with a 2.1.
Chapter Five
As Chidi alighted from the Okada motorcycle which had
brought him from the Makurdi Motor Park to the Katsina-Ala
College of Education, venue of the 3-week long National
Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation exercise, he saw
other new arrivals queuing up by the security gate
waiting to be signed in, and to be formally inducted
into the camp. This was the beginning of another journey
in life for him and hundreds of other fresh graduates
from Nigeria’s many institutions of higher learning. The
compulsory one-year national youth service was their
final rights of passage to adulthood. Having heard so
much about life in the orientation camp, Chidi was
determined to make the most of it. His friends who had
also taken part in the scheme had told him that life at
the orientation camp was the best part of the NYSC
scheme, and he was determined to find out for himself
what made them to arrive at such conclusions.
He remembered when his friend Sunny visited him and some
of his friends at Okigwe to show off his NYSC catch,
Annette was quite a head stunner, slender and beautiful
and had kept tongues wagging for days. Only Sunny could
pull off such a stunt, despite the fact that his campus
girlfriend Princess was still a student at ABSU, the
love for controversy proved irresistible for Sunny as he
ended up humiliating Princess thus bringing to an end
what everyone thought was one of the most beautiful and
enduring relationships at the Okigwe campus of Abia
state university.
“It’s now my turn”, Chidi told himself. “I’ve got to set
myself up with the coolest chic in the orientation
camp”, “Okigwe, here I come”. Not that Chidi left any
girlfriend back at the university; he was one of those
students that lived life to the full, a man about campus
who was seen in all the good parties, each time with a
different girl in tow. He had a knack for younger female
students, known as jambitos, the starry eyed ones still
struggling to come to terms with the workings of the
ivory tower. Chidi knew how to feast on their ignorance;
also because the girls would have been experiencing
freedom in their lives for the first time, after years
of living in protective custody in their parents’
houses, they usually fall into Chidi’s well sprung trap
through the many parties he and his friends,
particularly members of the Pyrates Confraternity
regularly organised. Surely if there was any such thing
as one having had his lifetime dose of sex and women,
Chidi would be one of those people. Often whenever he
was confronted on the lifestyle he led, he replied that
it wasn’t his fault that there were so many women in the
university, and that if they were willing to share, then
who was he to decline? Chidi thus went through his four
year degree programme, which though stretched to six
years due to incessant lecturer and students’ strikes
and crises without having a steady girlfriend. He would
often joke with his friends that he knew that he would
be a big sucker when he finally falls in love.
Chidi was assigned to Platoon B and was allocated to
Blue Hostel where he would share sleeping space with
other corpers. Next stop, he went to collect his NYSC
gear, comprising a set of light green khaki combat
trousers with matching jackets, jogging shoes, a set of
military style boots and two sets of NYSC branded
jerseys. He also collected his weekly 200 naira
allowance (allowee) and went straight to his assigned
hostel to dump his stuffs alongside 3 other corpers that
were assigned to the same hostel. Being the first day at
the camp, there was not much formal activity and so he
spent the rest of the evening hanging out and making new
friends at the mammy market, the centre of all social
activities inside the orientation camp.
Chidi recognised a few faces from his university at the
mammy market, severally he thought he heard coded
signals around the mammy market and knew immediately
that it was members of the respective confraternities
searching for their members from other universities and
schools. It wasn’t long before he heard the peculiar A-hoy
signal of the Seadogs, and just like the way moth is
attracted to fire, it wasn’t long before other Seadogs
assembled at the source of the whistle. Chidi had found
his brothers and he wasn’t alone anymore.
The next day, Chidi was awakened by the sound of the
bugle at 5.00 AM. Once it sounded, corpers were expected
to have themselves ready in military precision within
seconds and to proceed to the parade ground for the
morning’s match parade and physical exercises. He still
felt drowsy from the previous night’s late stay at the
mammy market, where they had drank Guinness stout as if
it was going out of fashion.
At the parade grounds that morning, just as he was about
to turn the bend at the end of the field so as to
synchronise his steps with his formation, Chidi saw her,
in her sweaty white shirt and short pants, standing
tall, and elegant in the midst of the laboured footsteps
of the matching corpers. From the short distance Chidi
noticed her long smooth legs, because she was standing
in front of her platoon, he concluded that she must be
the platoon leader. As Chidi’s mind conjured up several
other questions with blank answers, he was jolted back
to reality by the shrill shouts of Corporal Asuquo, the
parade commander. “Hey boy, wat is that you slow down,
move, come on”, he shouted at Chidi in his broken
English. The female corper marching behind Chidi
muttered that Corporal Asuquo seems to have sold his
entire teeth at the mammy market, the other corpers
burst out laughing.
Later that morning during breakfast, Chidi looked out
for the platoon leader at the canteen but didn’t find
her, his enquiries had already told him her name; he was
also informed that he wasn’t the only one interested in
her. Apparently the camp commandant and several other
corpers have been licking their lips over her.
After breakfast, Chidi went back to the mammy market to
meet with the boys, for some reasons, they have decided
to make Esther’s shop their joint, all the other
confraternities also adopted their own favourite hangout
shops. There wasn’t any confrontation as yet; perhaps
they were all growing up slowly, who could have imagined
that members of Nigeria’s campus cults could actually
co-exist in the open alongside each other? Had they been
in their respective universities, the local police would
have been counting body bags by now, a kind of uncanny
camaraderie spirit seemed to have developed amongst all
the cultists in the NYSC camp.
Just as Chidi was about to get up to walk to his hostel
to chill out before the afternoon activities, he saw her
walking towards the mammy market accompanied by two
other girls. From the way she smiled and greeted fellow
corpers, Chidi knew that he would have to turn on his
best charm if he was to even have a chance with her. He
waited in Esther’s shop praying and hoping that she
would stop over there to buy whatever it was she wanted.
Perhaps, that Wednesday was Chidi’s lucky day, Ifeoma
stopped at Esther’s shop and all discussions ceased
momentarily. His friends already knew his plans as he
had told them earlier; they were now waiting to see
Chidi make his move.
It was as if the whole world was watching him, Chidi
noticed that his heart was beating very fast. He didn’t
want to say the wrong thing and make a fool of himself,
more so he didn’t want his new found friends to think
that he was lily-livered. His mind was torn into two. He
managed to say Hi to the three girls before Ifeoma
excused herself to visit a nearby shop to pick up some
provisions that Esther didn’t have in stock; this was
after placing her order of fried dodo (plantain) and
rice. That seemed to be the opportunity Chidi was
waiting for; he went up to Esther and asked her for the
total bill of what the girls had ordered.
He paid without Ifeoma’s friends knowing, and then
hurriedly left the shop before Ifeoma’s friends realised
what had happened.
As they milled around the parade ground after the
evening’s match parade, Chidi felt a soft tap on his
shoulder from behind. He turned and saw Ifeoma standing
there, with the heartiest smile he had ever seen on
anyone’s face. “Hey, thanks for not giving me and my
girls the chance to say thank you this morning, you
didn’t have to”, she said.
“Oh, that was nothing, I couldn’t hang around to get to
know you guys as I had to rush off to sort something out
at the office, how did you know it was me anyway? ”,
Chidi asked.
“I have eyes; call it a woman’s instinct. Anyway, my
name is Ifeoma”.
“I’m Chidi”.
As she walked away, Chidi’s heart continued to pound but
he was happy that the ice has been broken.
Chidi and Ifeoma became an item inside the Katsina-Ala
NYSC orientation camp; and carried on even after corpers
had been posted to their primary areas of assignment.
Chapter Six
Midway into the journey, Chidi was jolted back to
reality by the voice of a female steward, “would you
like something to drink sir?” Chidi replied in the
negative and shut his eyes again.
???????????????
Chidi received an urgent message that his friend Tony
was in Nigeria and wanted to see him. Ifeoma had been
staying with him for the past two days in his rented
room, in the ‘boys quarters’ section of a house in the
government reserved area (GRA) of Makurdi. That same
night, he kissed Ifeoma goodbye and boarded a Young
Shall Grow luxury bus to Lagos. For some reasons,
Chidi felt that he may not be coming back to the town,
although the NYSC passing out parade was just a few
months ahead, he wasn’t bothered so much and knew that
he could always send someone to bribe the NYSC officials
to release his discharge certificate.
Tony was excited to see Chidi; they talked at length
filling each other in on what’s been going on in their
lives. Tony informed Chidi that he came home to conclude
some business transactions, but what Chidi didn’t know
was that Tony was a deportee but from the way he was
splashing cash around Chidi cared less.
Later in the afternoon, Tony took Chidi to the Berger
used (tokunbo) car market, under the Oshodi-Apapa
expressway flyover. Tony had been shipping cars into the
country from Germany to his uncle John to sell for him.
He told Chidi that he had so far shipped over twenty
five used cars into Nigeria. Chidi couldn’t believe his
ears; he felt a pang of envy and anger, envy that his
childhood friend Tony was now richer than him, and angry
with himself for choosing the education route as against
Tony who opted for trade immediately after his secondary
school education. Chidi almost regretted the long years
he spent at ABSU and wondered of what use his 2.2 degree
would be for him and his family since there are no jobs
anywhere in the country. As the oldest child of his
parents, he knew that very soon the whole responsibility
of sponsoring his six younger siblings including his
aged parents would fall on him.
Tony pointed out some of his cars on sale to Chidi,
including several Mercedes Benz salon cars. Chidi knew
that somehow Tony must be involved in some kind of dodgy
business but he didn’t care, if only Tony would help him
to come over, he would do whatever was required of him
to get rich too.
Two days after Chidi’s arrival in Lagos, Tony made him a
proposal; he was going to help Chidi come over to
Germany on the condition that Chidi would pay back the
costs eventually, Chidi wholeheartedly accepted. They
both agreed that it would be nice if Chidi informed his
parents; Tony said he would have loved to come along to
meet his parents too after such a long time but
regretted that he couldn’t as he had to stay back in
Lagos to conclude his business transactions. It was
agreed that Chidi should travel to Enugu over the coming
weekend but he never made the trip.
It was on a Thursday afternoon, as they were having
lunch at the Tantalizers restaurant on Allen Avenue, in
the Ikeja area of Lagos that Tony ran into Ejiro, a guy
he knew from Germany. Ejiro had heard about Tony’s
deportation and expressed his sympathies to Tony. As
they were talking, Ejiro enquired from Tony what his
plans were about going back to Germany. Tony replied
that he hadn’t thought much about it and was still
focussing on selling off the cars he had shipped into
the country.
On hearing this, Ejiro informed Tony that he might be
able to help, but the condition was that the move must
be made the coming Friday or Saturday night, as those
were the two days his contacts at the Murtala Muhammed
Airport and Air France were on duty. Now used to taking
decisions in a hurry, Tony did not need to think twice
about Ejiro’s proposal, his two other questions were on
the costs of the venture, and if Chidi could be
accommodated. Ejiro also confirmed that he had a contact
in Lagos Island, in the Oluwole area who could
supply two foreign passports for Chidi and Tony.
Tony spent $8,000 for his trip to Germany with Chidi,
the amount took care of passports procurement, travel
tickets and ‘settling’ immigrations and airline
officials. Everything had happened so quickly and Chidi
hoped that his family and Ifeoma would forgive him for
not saying good bye, he was taking this risk for them,
sacrificing his freedom and wasn’t in any doubt that he
may end up in prison if he was caught with the forged
British passport.
Chapter Seven
As the plane taxied down the runway at the Murtala
Muhammed International Airport Lagos, Chidi couldn’t
wait to get off the KLM flight which had brought him and
other passengers from Amsterdam. But for the skirmish
involving Dutch Immigration authorities and a Nigerian
immigrant during the stop-over in Amsterdam, the journey
from Madrid to Lagos via Amsterdam could generally be
said to have been uneventful.
???????????????
Amsterdam held mixed memories for Chidi, it was another
beautiful city that he once called home, where he had
made and lost a fortune. He relished his many nights out
in the red light district with his friends and the tons
of money he made and lost in the lucrative but dangerous
illicit drugs trade. He had almost worked his way up in
the rankings, and had clearly established contacts in
South America who ensured that he had at least a
‘pigeon’ fly in every other week with new supply.
Business had boomed as he exploited his connections
amongst Nigerian and other African immigrants in Austria
and Germany. He knew that distribution was important in
the business and he cut his buyers a good deal,
sometimes undercutting the market price. This was what
had landed him into trouble with the dreaded Suriname
drug cartel which operated out of one of the high rise
buildings in the Belma district of Amsterdam.
Chidi remembered his hurried night time escape to Spain
the day Edgar, his Suriname business associate informed
him that a contract had been put out on his head, it was
either he left town or his corpse would end up in the
local mortuary. Amongst all the immigrant hustlers in
Amsterdam, the Surinamese were the deadliest. Chidi
often wondered why violence was never part of the
operations of Nigerian drug dealers, and attributed it
to their Christian upbringing. His friends had often
joked about this, how they would do all their runs in
the week but still end up in church on a Sunday, dressed
in their Sunday best, sometimes clutching gifts for the
pastors.
???????????????
Chidi’s excitement is quite understandable; he has been
away from Nigeria, his country of birth for five years,
and was determined to make the most of his ‘earned’
holidays in Nigeria. He decided to come back during
Christmas; which was about the best time to spend time
with Ifeoma, his long-term girlfriend. They had carried
on their relationship and Ifeoma made regular trips to
visit him, he had proposed to her during her last visit
in July and she had accepted, though she mentioned that
her parents disapproved of his lifestyle and business.
Chidi cleared customs and immigration but not before
leaving a $50 tip for the immigration officer who had
raised an eyebrow over the fact that his passport bore
no departure stamp. He didn’t want anybody slowing him
down with some stupid queries. The same thing with
customs, he greased the palm of one of the officers with
a $100 bill and thus his four suitcases were waved
through without any checks.
Tony was waiting outside with Ifeoma and both screamed
Chidi’s name as soon as he crossed the security barrier.
Tony and Chidi had moved to Belma in Amsterdam from
where Tony was subsequently deported after serving a
two-year prison sentence for illegal possession of
cocaine. Chidi had been quite lucky the night the Dutch
police came for the raid, he had gone down to Amsterdam
Central to meet a business partner arriving from Curacao
and was alerted on the phone to change course as the
police were raiding their apartment. Chidi never saw
Tony again although he eventually became Chidi’s point
man in Nigeria following Chidi’s dissatisfaction over
the way his uncle John had handled his money and
business.
They assisted Chidi’s with his suitcases into Chidi’s
Lincoln Navigator SUV and Mercedes E class estate car.
Chidi had previously shipped the cars alongside other
cars to Tony. Chidi knew that Uncle John would have
heard but he didn’t care. As they drove to Sheraton
Hotel Ikeja, Tony brought Chidi up to speed with the
things that Chidi had entrusted upon him. Chidi was
happy that his friend had taken care of his things very
well. Ifeoma informed Chidi that she had taken 2-weeks
holiday from Zenith, the commercial bank where she
works. Chidi couldn’t imagine spending his holidays
without her by his side. All through his sojourn abroad,
despite his many white girlfriends, he had never
forgotten her and had actually shielded himself in
difficult times with her love. He could remember the
several occasions that he went in and out of prison in
Germany and Spain, how Ifeoma’s picture and love had
kept him going. He hoped that her parents had gotten
over their hung-up attitude by now.
Chidi spent three days with Ifeoma in Lagos before
travelling to Nnewi to see his family. He had already
decided to take Tony and Ifeoma along with him and they
would be staying in a hotel in Nnewi. Though the Okeke
family knew about Ifeoma, Chidi hoped to find an
appropriate moment to formally introduce her to them.
Tony did not mind coming along, not that he had other
appealing options. Chidi was the main man at the moment
and if there was anybody in the whole world who could
resuscitate his fortunes, then it is Chidi, and if Chidi
wanted him to tag along, he would.
They settled for the Star Crest Hotel, in the Umudim
area of Nnewi. It was one of the new hotels in Nnewi
which provided 24 hours security for guests and the
hotel was closer to Chidi’s family home.
Chidi was surprised that his family took easily to the
idea of Ifeoma becoming his wife; the informal
introductions had gone on very well. His mother had even
insisted that all traditional arrangements be concluded
with Ifeoma’s family during this period that every body
was at home. From Chidi’s perspective that wouldn’t be a
problem as Ifeoma comes from Awka –Etiti, a neighbouring
town. Emboldened by his family’s support, Chidi sent
word across to Ifeoma’s people and a date was announced
for the Iku Aka, the formal introduction of both
families and declaration of intent according to the Igbo
tradition.
Ifeoma had for some time now been teasing Chidi over his
carelessness, Chidi was fond of misplacing stuffs
ranging from car keys to cash. He would leave cash (in
foreign denominations) lying around the hotel room,
trusting the hotel’s room attendants but Ifeoma kept
reminding him that he was now in Nigeria and should be a
bit more careful with his things.
On the morning of the 27th of December, two
days before Chidi and his family’s proposed to visit
Awka-Etiti, Ifeoma devised a clever plot to drive home
her message to Chidi on the importance of keeping his
valuables in a safe place. She took the sum of $500 in
crisp $100 bills from one of Chidi’s suit pockets and
hid them underneath one of her travelling bags. She
hoped that Chidi would miss the money and planned to
surprise him when she came back from Awka-Etiti.
Chidi’s family sent Jude, one of his cousin’s to the
hotel to collect some money from Chidi as pre-arranged.
His family planned to visit Nnewi market to buy a few
things for their planned trip to Awka-Etiti. Chidi hoped
to take care of incidental expenses from the bundle
which Ifeoma had hidden.
When Chidi couldn’t find the money, he called on his
friend Tony for assistance and together they ransacked
the hotel room without success. Chidi shifted his
suspicion initially to Tony but later focused on Jude
who was alone in the room when Chidi went downstairs to
the hotel lobby to attend to some visitors. Jude clearly
had a motive and opportunity to steal the money. As the
confusion continued, Tony suggested that the hotel staff
be informed. Sam, the hotel receptionist vouched for the
hotel staff arguing that they would never do such a
thing, not after what the members of the dreaded and
notorious Anambra Vigilante Services (AVS), also known
as the Bakassi boys did to Nnamdi, another hotel staff a
few months ago. He then suggested that the Bakassi boys
be informed and Chidi and Tony agreed.
Egbema, the leader of the Bakassi boys in the Nnewi area
quickly dispatched his men to Star Crest Hotel. The
Christmas season has been quite a busy one for him and
his group. Despite what people thought, he strongly
believed that he and his men where avenging black
knights and have helped to reduce crime in the town.
When the Bakassi boys led by Ugo arrived, they did not
waste anytime in putting all the people present (Chidi,
Tony, Chidi, and the room attendants) through their
machete test. They all passed as the machete did not
show blood signs. Ugo then enquired from Chidi the other
persons that had recently had access to the room, only
Ifeoma’s name was mentioned. Chidi swore on her behalf
but Ugo requested that they be contacted as soon she was
back at the hotel.
It was Sam the hotel receptionist that telephoned Ugo as
soon as she saw Ifeoma walk past the lobby. Only thirty
minutes went past from the time Sam put the call through
to the time a loud wail went out from Suite 15. The
Bakassi boys had promptly arrived and proceeded to
Chidi’s room. Ifeoma had failed the machete test, and it
was the same machete that was used in severing her head
from the neck.
Epilogue
The Anambra Vigilante Services and all such other
vigilante groups have since been outlawed in the south
eastern states of Nigeria. The members now function as
political thugs, and are used by politicians to
intimidate and harass political opponents. The killings
and mayhem continue till today.
Ifeoma’s family are still alleging foul play; they
insist that their daughter was a victim of Chidi’s
money-making/get-rich-quick rituals and point to Chidi’s
wealth as evidence. They are also proposing as a
condition of appeasement that Chidi marries Ifeoma in
death; a practice obtainable in some Igbo communities,
especially when a young unmarried woman is killed in
strange circumstances.
Chidi spent several weeks in police custody in Nigeria
before being granted bail. He has since gone back to
Madrid and doesn’t plan to go back to Nigeria anytime
soon.
* *
* * *
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updated 3 October 2007
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