The Day After the Kill

By Alpha Dominion

A classic story of conspiracy, murder, love, betrayal, and revenge beyond pardon. When a suspected group of assassins in military uniform brutally annihilated six families of retired and serving military officers in Nigeria in the mid 1990s. It cut short the dreams and future of those innocent lives lost.
A young man, Amante Dankwire (the lead character) escaped and fled from what seemed like an organized massacre. He returns seven years later to search for the men who killed members of his family. In the hate mission of compulsive veageance, he unravels the mystery, finds his enemies and eliminates them one by one.
By a twist of fate, a way was paved for him to become the President of the Republic of Ghana, far away from his native hone Nigeria. Find out how it happened. It is a must read.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Nov 7, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499089806

Alpha Dominion

Prince Alpha Dominion holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Political Science and Public Administration from the University of Uyo in Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria. At various times, he studied English at the former University of Ife, Ile-Ife in 1975 and later, Local Government Administration at University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria in 1981. He is well traveled. An avid reader and a prolific writer. Mister Dominion is the creator’s literary gift to this generation. He retired meritoriously in 2013 as a top bureaucrat in the Unified Local Government Service of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria. He is happily married to Deaconess Margaret Prince Dominion and they are blessed with three children. Mister Dominion hails from Mkpat Enin Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria.

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Copyright © 2014 by Alpha Dominion.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 11/03/2014

Xlibris

0-800-056-3182

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Author’s Note

Introduction

Chapter 1 The Day Before The Kill

Chapter 2 Daylight Urban Terror

Chapter 3 The Flight To Nowhere

Chapter 4 Twist Of Fate

Chapter 5 Shattered Dreams

Chapter 6 Nowhere To Hide

Chapter 7 A New Identity, Another Life

Chapter 8 Sweet Vengeance

Chapter 9 The Gambit

Chapter 10 Sudden Turning Point

Chapter 11 Justice Served

Chapter 12 The Pain Of Betrayal

Chapter 13 Beyond Pardon

Chapter 14 The Face Of Betrayal

Chapter 15 Change Of Game Plan

Chapter 16 The Final Aces

Chapter 17 The Reminiscences

Acknowledgements

I am most grateful to the Almighty God for the gift and wisdom endowed upon my life, which had resulted in my prosecution of this book project from my hospital bed in 2012. When I suddenly fell a victim of stroke, I tapped into this latent reservoir, and it resulted in this book.

I am appreciative of the invaluable sacrifices made by my wife, Margaret, in seeing me through the challenge in a very commendable supportive role. During the trying period, she never left my side; indeed with the added encouragement of my children, I not only recovered greatly but had something to show for those traumatic days spent in writing this book.

Like a kid in a candy store, my expectation is limitless, and the best is yet to come.

Dedication

I dedicate this book, first, to God Almighty for the talent and the undying inspiration to prosecute this book project and to my beloved wife, Margaret; my daughters, Margaret and Victory; and lastly my son, Samuel, for believing in me.

Author’s Note

This novel is a crime-based romantic fiction, produced from the resourcefulness of the author’s figment, and it is not based on any real life experiences; therefore, any similarities in names of characters and place names are mere coincidence and highly regretted.

Introduction

The story is set in present-day Nigeria, and the events span through the dying days of the military era of the late 1990s into the civilian administration of the early 2000s. Death came knocking suddenly one bloody Friday at the doors of six families that were all massacred in cold blood in one day by unknown gunmen in military uniforms.

By a stroke of luck, a young man Amante Dankwire, who is the lead character, and a young woman narrowly escaped annihilation at the hands of the professional assassins. After the kill, Amante Dankwire found himself running from pillar to post. Some years later, Amante Dankwire returned on a vengeful hate mission to avenge the death of members of his family at the hands of the suspected military death squad.

At a point in time, circumstances prevailed upon Amante Dankwire to take on a new identity as Cervantes Bonda in the later part of the unfolding story. Whether Cervantes Bonda would succeed in his quest to find the killers of his whole family was subject to his ability to wade through the intractable web of intrigues, internal conflicts, and blatant deceits. For Cervantes Bonda, it was a harrowing experience, and the task of finding the nefarious villains was daunting, but with unwavering courage, he was committed to taking the bull of his destiny by the horns.

Cervantes Bonda sets out in a blow-by-blow pursuit of the unknown enemy, successfully unravelling the mystery behind the seeming devastating pogrom that took place several years before and tactfully followed with perseverance to eventually eliminate one by one the perpetrators of the dastardly evil and morally reprehensible enterprise.

The story features several notable characters in a well-defined schematic act of love, betrayal, hate, and revenge, which eventually culminates in Cervantes Bonda by a twist of fate becoming the president of faraway Republic of Ghana.

Chapter 1

THE DAY BEFORE THE KILL

It was eighteen hours GMT on a breezy Friday evening in the second week in the month of August when the breaking news broadcast on National Television spotlighted the speedy advance of Boko Haram insurgents from Nasarawa State just behind Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory. The militants numbered approximately two battalions, backed by mercenaries of northern African Islamic state’s extraction down, and they poured into the territory in droves, sending down sheer angst and trepidation amongst the spines of all concerned citizenry. Literally speaking, it was like waiting for death as rumours of crude barbarity and unabated slaughter of unsuspecting innocent men, women, and children greeted everybody’s ears within the territory.

Their intention was to overrun any existing security arrangements put in place and, if possible, take over the seat of power at Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja. The tragic rampage and menace carried out by the trigger happy war mongers were colossal, awesome, and worrisome.

But if the Boko Haram commanders thought they would come off easily in their operation ‘Sahara to the Atlantic’, they unsuspectingly had a worse bargain coming to them. This incident occurred during the last days of the military regime of Gen. Obanta Obanta, the last of the military presidents who was busy conducting elections to usher in an elected civilian administration.

Unfortunately, he was out there at the United Nations General Assembly telling the whole world that at last Nigeria was ready to have another try at democracy. When the breaking news came on CNN broadcast, one could only imagine how sorely disappointed and minimised he felt. The offensive news of the daredevil insurgency and insurrection blew across his face like an insulting dirty slap. Indeed, nobody in Gen. Obanta Obanta’s shoes could have treated the whole episode with kid gloves nor like a child’s play. It grieved him that his very countrymen had decided to smear dung on the collective will of the people of Nigeria to find an enduring democracy after many years of militarism. It put a sour taste in his mouth, and every minute he waited out there in New York was like a moment of comforting emptiness, seeing that all his efforts at securing a lasting democratic dividend for the country was about to go down the drain.

While the altercation lasted, he was left with the difficult task of taking every decisive action to nip the assault in the bud and dispatch the dogs of war and brazen murderers to their early graves and halt the imbroglio or risk the country descending into anarchy and disintegration. So General Obanta ordered his joint chief of staff Gen. Maduki Abdul-Rahman to mobilise and deploy an assault counterforce to contain the menace threatening the corporate unity of the country as scores, and scores of innocent citizens were being cut down and literally slaughtered in their hundreds.

The most vexing of the issues making up for the demand of the insurgents was that the military junta should proclaim the nineteen northern states and Abuja, the Federal Capital, as Islamic states, while in addition the Christian military president should convert to Islam within seventy-two hours before the Boko Haram could call for a ceasefire and broker a truce. This was grievously most embarrassing to the military junta, and certainly the last straw that broke the camel’s back because hitherto Gen. Obanta Obanta’s regime had intended to treat the clandestine operations of this terror gang as child’s play. But with certain disaster staring him right in the face, he needed to take a proactive and pragmatic action.

It is usually said that it is darkest before it is dawn; therefore, it was high time General Obanta withstood these war dogs once and for all. He was not going to remain helplessly stressful and handicapped in New York without lifting a finger to save his country; he was not going to let the matter go from bad to worse with him being too democratically inclined and soft-bellied as if he had no stomach for a hit back.

All that niceties ended the moment Gen. Obanta Obanta gave the go-ahead to his joint chief of staff to engage the Boko Haram in a military offensive, and the outcome of the mobilisation and deployment was a three pronged counter-attack at Lokoja, Nyanya, and Minna. In the ensuing stand-off, about 200 insurgents were rooted out in the first day of counter-offensive, another 600 civilians lay dead being caught in crossfire or killed by the retreating insurgents, while two towns and six villages were flattened and completely wiped off the map of Nigeria and made desolate and uninhabited. That was the extent of collateral damage angrily vented on the nation.

Influx of persons fleeing the war zones into neighbouring towns and villages unleashed a deluge of refugees into the suburbs of Abuja and its environs. A situation which overnight stretched the available moderate physical amenities and created an alarming and terrifying social stress and scream of desperation across the nation.

By the second day of the military engagement, another 200 or more were killed, both civilians and combatants. Mass graves sprung up everywhere, and the stench of burning houses filled the air, while debris and carcasses of dead animals caught in crossfire or deliberately slaughtered littered the environs.

When Gen. Obanta Obanta returned in the evening of the second day, having cut short his overseas trip to the United States of America, he mobilised more men, equipment, and gunboats in a tactical intensity never witnessed in any military operations ever except during the civil war and defiantly was hell-bent on crushing the insurrection. Within a week, the Boko Haram and their mercenaries were forced to abandon their quest and flee in disarray, driven way back into the Republic of Chad, Northern Cameroon, and Niger Republic.

That same evening, a breaking news greeted the nation with shock and panic. A group of Boko Haram militants stormed the University of Abuja in the nation’s capital, taking hostage of sixteen dozen students, lecturers, and invited guest at the venue of a book launch.

In that state of palpable fear and confusion, Gen. Obanta Obanta did the unthinkable. He offered to negotiate with the terrorist, but when they rebuffed his gesture, the next morning he ordered the elite anti-terrorist commando unit ‘Operation Flush’ to storm the building and free the hostages.

It was reported that the insurgents had infiltrated the multi-purpose conference centre dressed as utility event’s personnel coming to mount public address systems, lighting equipments, and so on. Once they gained easy access, they killed the security guards on hand and some staffers from the Events and Media Department, who had come to prepare and set the equipments in order.

Once the security forces arrived, they sealed and cordoned off the building and zap there were rapid burst of heavy gunfire, and when the guns went dead, ten dozen persons lay dead, including all the twelve militants.

An orchestrated game of blame greeted General Obanta’s decisive action, and the vehement outrage, apprehension, and outright vilification rubbished General Obanta’s group image and particularly his service chiefs, garnering for him odium in the print and electronic media.

By the second week, when the Ruling Military Council (RMC) as a matter of emergency met, its membership was already sharply divided between the protagonist and antagonist. The opposing forces within the RMC were in the majority and clearly outnumbered what they dubbed ‘the hawks of war’, and in the subsequent vote, Gen. Obanta Obanta and all his service chiefs were forced to step down in addition to being court-martialled. It was a humiliation seldom witnessed in military circles, especially among very senior officers of the armed forces because traditionally the military has a way of protecting its own.

A new Military Transition Ruling Council was instated and inaugurated immediately under Gen. Abu Kadiri. It was Gen. Abu Kadiri who arranged for democratic elections just afterwards because the structures were already in place.

Gen. Obanta Obanta and his group were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment and stripped of their ranks, but through the new military head of states’s magnanimity, they were pardon, reinstated into the armed forces, and compulsorily retired in public interest.

After this bad toast by the military, Gen. Obanta Obanta had not been vocal in national issues and had maintained a very low and inconspicuous profile. He distanced himself from the new Civilian Administration and rather chose to remain an elder statesman. In actual fact, the bad memories of the ill-treatment by his former colleagues lingered, and he never really had forgiven any one of them who had a hand in shaming him and causing him disrepute. It was safe to say that the last of General Obanta had not been heard because persons who knew him too well could readily attest to the fact that General Obanta was by nature vindictive and plain unforgiving. It was all in bad taste to cross him in any way because he more often than not showed his true colours by avenging any evil done him.

Two young lovers Amante Obed Dankwire aka Flavour, son of Rt. Gen. Obed Dankwire, and Ophelia Tito Ankara, daughter of Air Marshall Tito Ankara, were lovable and admirable lovebirds with a passion. These two were inseparable and owed one another everyday happiness and companionship.

In the University of Abuja, where they studied, they were a noticeable pair, and wherever one found Amante, following closely behind was Ophelia even though they majored in different courses of study. In other words, the two were some worth inseparable. Their love life was observably filled with sunshine and happy feelings that presented them like two very serious lovers who had something going on between them, an intimacy expectedly that would lead to marriage in future.

While Amante was in the first year of his postgraduate studies, Ophelia was undergoing the 400 Level of her undergraduate programme. To avoid domestic distractions, they both chose to live in the university hostels so that they could meet as often as they wanted, far away from the prying eyes of their parents and perhaps other mischief makers in their immediate neighbourhood. It was not that their parents did not know of their children’s friendship; in fact, they approved of it and even encouraged them to end up as couples in future if they so chose.

But Minimah Atete Dankwire, Amante’s cousin, was a killjoy because most of the times she was the one who dotted over Amante like she was more of his girl than Ophelia. Somehow, Ophelia managed to stomach Minimah’s indiscretions with less and less complaints with the fervent hope that one day her love for Amante would cover all the misdeeds. It was this forward-looking attitude that made her condone Minimah’s theatrical antics and positioning adversely affecting her relationship with Amante Dankwire.

Everywhere Amante Dankwire went Minimah went along even at the detriment of Ophelia’s demanding privacy with Amante. Clearly put, Minimah made life unbearable for Ophelia and posed a serious challenge to the abiding love between Amante and Ophelia.

Some people rumoured among their circle of friends that Minimah had cast a love spell over Amante. Expectedly, Amante had done nothing actively to extricate himself from Minimah’s control and compelling yielding because he obeyed her like a slave but reacted awkwardly towards Ophelia, the one to whom he professed he loved.

Observably, their circle of friends believed that there was something going on between these two cousins than actually meets the eye. Denials and continuous lies characterised their daily living, and Ophelia stomached all of it for all the years they had courted up to the extent that the talk of amorous relationship between Amante and Minimah became a commonplace issue.

One of those times when Ophelia had a mild quarrel with Amante, the interaction as usual was terse and devoid of any further luscious romance as it used to be, and it was worth complaining.

‘Amante, don’t you keep pretending there is nothing between us at least there is friendship between you and me. Forget that we do sex and rather remember that we share a dream and a very strong affection with each other in spite of efforts by your cousin Minimah to ensure that she makes me miserable.’ She made a point of note.

‘Ophelia, you speak well, but that aspect of passion is not like a mere illusion … You know beyond doubt that I love you and I intend to marry you one day when …’ Amante did not finish what he had to say when Ophelia interjected.

‘When will this be? That will not be so because your cousin Minimah has taken your love and your heart away from me … I am wondering if you two are not sleeping with each other?’

‘What, Ophelia? Did I here you well? My goodness, this can’t be true. We are blood relations for heaven’s sake … How many times do we have to talk about this?’

‘Amante, go tell that to the marines. You love Minimah more than any other person in the world, but I love you with all my heart. Ever since we met in my first year in the university, I have not changed my love for you. Thank you for making me feel so differently loved and cared for, and no matter what this relationship will turn out to be … I’d never regret spending so much time by your side, even though your cousin Minimah is such a killjoy.’

‘Ophelia, you know that I love you more than words can express.’

‘Then express it in other terms more than mere words. What is the real deep reason that you have often refused to make me feel like a woman … and for four years, now I cannot count up to ten times that you have made love to me, Amante. Can it be said that Minimah is responsible for this? But you promised at the onset that nothing was going to come in between us … so what happened to that love? Tell me, Amante, is there anything Minimah has between her thighs that makes her so magnificently different from me in such a way that whenever you contact her, you don’t feel like having me again?’

‘You know I want to marry you, Ophelia … We shouldn’t be in a hurry.’ Amante made a lame defence.

‘People say that Minimah has bewitched you,’ Minimah opened up without fear of any backlash.

‘Could that be true and do you believe that nonsense? I will tell it to my mother and seek your opinion.’

‘Amante, when you do, also tell your mother that she’s made you sleep with her.’

‘You know that is not true, Ophelia.’

‘Stop lying to me and denying anything, Amante … It really hurts when you do that. She could have overrun your defences and overpowered your capacity to resist her charm and wits.’

‘Ophelia, somehow you have to find a way and believe me. Let’s not keep arguing over this issue again.’

‘Amante, you know this for sure that you can’t stand the fun of another man loving me. I tell you the truth … you are going to make me love somebody else if you keep on treating me the way you do. Your mother even asked me the other day if I have gotten pregnant yet.’

‘My mother … oh, did she? How pitiful.’

‘What is so pitiful about it, Amante? Isn’t she a woman and does she not genuinely feel for me? Look at you living in denial when Minimah dots over you everywhere. We never even have our private time together ever … She will disappoint you one day, you’ll see … Just mark my words.’

‘Why did my mother want you pregnant?’

‘She said you plan to go abroad once you finish your master’s degree programme … Is that true?’

‘Yes, exactly.’

‘So you didn’t plan to tell me, but Minimah is privy to that information, and perhaps you plan to run away with her … That’s why you kept it a secret from me. See how you are, Amante?’

Ophelia did not quite finish what she had to say when somewhere in between, she parked her books and bolted away in confusion, distaste, and annoyance. As she stomped her heavyweight and backside booty along the corridor of the male graduate hostel, finding her way back to the female hostel, she almost bumped into her rival Minimah, walking past her and heading for Amante’s room.

‘Ophelia,’ Minimah greeted.

Ophelia turned swiftly and twanged Minimah with a ferocious dirty slap and cursed.

‘Bloody husband snatcher …,’ Ophelia snarled.

‘You slapped me?’ Minimah questioned madly.

‘Yes, and I would gladly do it again … bitch.’

‘What did you just call me?’ Minimah snapped back but chose to refrain from a fist fight. She ignored her and rather preferred to be silent, regarding that as the best answer for a thwart.

As Minimah found Amante, she not only wore a forlorn face but also had a complaint to make, and Amante did not take it kindly.

‘Did you know what your girl did to me? … She slapped me and called me … She called me a bitch.’

‘Minimah, I have told you to avoid any confrontation with Ophelia.’

‘But, Amante, what did I do wrong to deserve the slap?’

‘Minimah, how many times have I told you to avoid Ophelia? … But all I get from you is endless complaint … You know how much I hate it when you sulk.’

‘Amante, so what did I do wrong this time. I just greeted her, and I didn’t deserve the response I got.’

‘Minimah, chill out, will you?’

There was silence between the two chiefly because Amante was not in the best of moods smarting from his earlier chit-chat with Ophelia. He surveyed Minimah and wondered doubtfully if the allegation that she had bewitched him was true.

‘Why do you look at me like that?’ Minimah noticed his awkward gaze and queried him rather suspiciously.

‘Nothing the matter, I was just admiring you … That’s all.’

‘Do you mind accompanying me to the cafeteria?’

‘Whatever.’ Amante could not really say no to Minimah on any matter; no matter the request she made, it was strange to say the least.

Somehow, Amante was torn in between, and he was about to refuse the offer, but when she seized him into her embrace and kissed him on his full lips, he melted like cheese in the face of a sharp knife. She even held his two palms and helped him fondle her breast. He tried to disengage from her, but he was not fast enough. Too late, Ophelia, who barged in right that moment, caught them pants down in the very act.

‘You see what I mean. You scarcely kiss me but you kiss your so-called cousin and without her begging for it like you make do. See … she even helps your hands to fondle her boobs … What sort of cousins does that … ? You two are shameless oafs.’ After that bashful commentary, she banged the door as hard as she could, leaving the two behind startled and speechless.

‘Minimah, now we can no longer properly defend that we are brothers and sisters … at least we have made a fool of ourselves.’

‘Just stop it, Amante … You know what it is called … It’s the power of love. Do you think I find it pleasant to share you with that slut?’ She spoke disdainfully about Ophelia.

‘Minimah, don’t make the mistake of trying to ruin my chances with Ophelia because I intend to marry her and not you. Remember that you are my blood relation, and my mother will never let you spoil my relationship with Ophelia.’

‘Mother, Mother, and Mother. You don’t have any idea how I hate your mother, Amante.’

‘Minimah, how terrible … that’s despicable. You make me nervous to hear you speak of my mother in such terms. A woman who took you in from nowhere and cared for you like her very own daughter … You have the effrontery to minimise her? … Damn you.’

‘Are you an idiot, Amante … ? For all that matters I could be a total stranger with no blood relationship, and unfortunately, she is forcing us to bond like brothers and sisters.’

‘Stop this nonsense, Minimah … you ungrateful bitch.’

‘I don’t care what you call me. You better get used to it … It’s the truth. Why did your parents not subject me and your uncle to a DNA test until the poor man later died. Now you can never really say with certainty that the man was in any way my father. My mother could have simply lied in other to help her offload me unto him.’

‘Minimah, you will gain nothing by all these insinuations. You will never have it your way … In the end, you will lose everything. Don’t let my parents ever hear you say those awful things. Otherwise, they will throw you out on the streets.’

‘Then I would be free to love you the way I like.’

‘Ophelia was right.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘You are actually a bitch.’

‘How dare you, Amante!’

‘Are we going to the cafeteria or not?’

‘You are a real prick. Do you know that, Amante?’

‘Minimah, I wish that one day I could really have a chance to show you what a real prick I am.’

‘What a pathetic excuse of a man you are?’

That day was the day the battle lines were drawn between Ophelia and Minimah. That night, Amante and T – Boy his room-mate and best friend attended a bachelor’s nite, a party in honour of one of their lecturers and a member of their very close circle of friends who was about to wed the very next week.

As usual, Ophelia and Minimah were present. At a certain moment of excitement after the bride-to-be and groom were introduced and were about to give their short speech, Ophelia did the unthinkable. In the full glare of guest, cameras, and paparazzi, she picked on T – Boy, gliding into his arms with the grace of a gazelle, and kissed him long and most sensuously. Amante felt embarrassed and slighted. He reacted by prising the two apart violently.

‘That’s my woman if you don’t mind … What’s happening here that I don’t know about … ? Is this some form of circus … ? Are you two clowns?’ Amante made an outburst just to cover up his shame.

‘If it is a circus, then you are the clown … Are you jealous, Amante? I thought you should have a taste of your own medicine,’ Ophelia retorted wryly.

Amante turned to T – Boy, looked him straight in the eyes, and reached up to him.

‘I thought I could trust you.’

‘You saw what happened … Your woman forced herself on me.’ T – Boy was on the defensive.

‘How long has this been going on behind my back, if I may ask?’

‘Be sensible, Amante … I would have nothing whatsoever to do with Ophelia, and you know that.’

‘Damn you bloody liar.’

Amante was livid; he must have lost control as he smacked his best friend across the face. Jerked and ruffled by the blow, T –Boy reacted spontaneously, downloading some powerful blows on Amante. Before anybody could call the two to order, a bare-knuckle fist fight had genuinely ensued between them, each fighting for their wounded ego. They put their friendship aside and fought bitterly for honour and pride as the arena turned to a theatre of battle.

Their mutual friends had a Herculean task separating the two contenders. Once that was successfully done, T– Boy left the party arena in company of Ophelia. They left in Ophelia’s car, and with conflicting thoughts, they drove in silence for a distance before a melodrama took place between the two.

‘Ophelia, what was that all about back there … ? You took me by surprise. You saw how the tables turned on me, and it made me feel guilty before our friends.’

‘Don’t worry, T –Boy, our friends would understand. In fact, I couldn’t take it any more … Do you know I caught them red-handed this afternoon kissing and fondling each other? So something in me snapped, and I was determined to embarrass him at the slightest opportunity.’

‘And you thought it wise to pick the right time to join me in your issues. You needed not to have brought me into your affray.’

‘I am really sorry, but that does not take anything away from the fact that I have been waiting for a good opportunity to break up with Amante.’

‘What better harm could you have done than to choose me as your battering ram … ? I don’t deserve it, Ophelia … You know that me and Amante are best of friends. What else would he call it except betrayal … ? It’s like a stab in the back.’

‘T-Boy, maybe you don’t deserve the upset, but you deserve me, just to say the least. I have had a crush on you so many years ago since the first day Amante brought you to our house.’

‘That’s not any good reason to start flirting with me, Ophelia. Remember that you and Amante have been together for four years now.’

‘And he seldom touches me … He does not want me often the way a man wants a woman.’

‘What do you mean by he seldom touches me?’

‘Don’t talk like a nonentity … Amante treats me like a plague. He wouldn’t kiss me, not to talk of making love to me.’

‘Unbelievable … Could his cousin Minimah be the reason for all that? … But he gives a very good public show of your affectionate companionship.’

‘Yes, T-Boy, what you see is a charade. The plain truth is that … they are in love and secretly fraternising.’

‘But that’s incestuous … Aren’t they cousins? I don’t believe they are sexually involved. But I don’t understand … You are more adorable and prettier and readily acceptable than Minimah.’

‘Are you flattering me?’

‘No, Ophelia … I mean it the way I have said it.’

‘You make it sound so emotional. The truth is I wish I was in love with you, T–Boy.’

‘Don’t start … I am not buying any of that. You have already put me in harm’s way. Find a way and make up with Amante by giving him a second chance … If you want my help, I could oblige you.’

‘No, T–Boy … it’s all over between me and Amante. I don’t know how to pretend … There was no fun while the friendship lasted.’

‘Are you sure of what you are telling me? So all these years … ?’

‘I just tagged along with the hope that he would marry me.’

‘You must be kidding me. Don’t you think his parents or your parents should know about the challenges you people are facing?’

‘I loved Amante above anything else. I believed in him, so I was to wait until we get married before we had sex together, but with Minimah behaving the way she did, I had to force him to dis-virgin me.’

‘Really, Ophelia?’

‘Yes, I would be overjoyed if you will accept me and make me feel like a woman for once. I don’t want to wait in vain for anybody who is trying to make a fool of me.’

‘You know this is going to upset the equilibrium.’

‘Amante took me for granted and made a fool of me.’

‘All right, all right … maybe I need to confess, too, that I have had a crush on you too for a long time now.’

‘And you haven’t given me a sign.’ Ophelia angled towards T-Boy with a tint of infatuation.

‘No, the time had not yet come to be … Now we can get acquainted.’

‘I know that Amante is not going to give up on me that easily … He is going to fight back … but can you promise that you won’t betray my love and you will stand by me come what may?’

‘Ophelia, can we give it some time.’

‘No … promise me, T–Boy … it would make me feel a lot better.’

‘But you know that I have a girlfriend and she’s not going to take to the break-up kindly … We are so much in love.’

‘All right, T-Boy, if you feel that way … maybe I will go find myself a horny prick to get me laid, even if it is a one-night’s stance.’

‘You have changed your mind, I suppose?’

‘Yes, T–Boy, I don’t want to ruin anything for you. At first, I had the impression that I came out here with you to try and find a new romance, but now I know you don’t have the stomach for it … You don’t even have the balls. Don’t worry, I am going to find myself a funky honky man the next time I hit the streets.’

‘I would have loved us to become secret lovers, Ophelia.’

‘By secret lovers you mean I would become like your spare tyre. Hmm … I don’t think so.’

‘Then confide in your parents … I would suggest.’

‘Never mind, T-Boy. I got this … I got this.’ Ophelia passively brushed T-Boy aside, considering him of no importance.

They rode in silence again for quite a distance.

‘I would like to drop off at the entrance to the university,’ T-Boy requested.

‘It would be my pleasure.’

‘I look at your face, Ophelia, and you have this far-away look in your eyes.’

‘I am thinking beyond my break-up with Amante and your rejection … That’s the reason.’

‘Ophelia, let’s talk this over some other time. Can I invite you for lunch tomorrow afternoon?’

‘Don’t bother … there won’t be much to talk about, T–Boy.’

‘I am sorry. I will get off here.’

‘Thank you for the company. Good night, T-Boy.’

‘Good night, Ophelia, and sweet dreams.’

As T–Boy alighted, Ophelia heaved a sigh of relief, sort of it was good riddance to bad rubbish. Thank God he rejected her because maybe if he did not and she gave herself to him and he later on turned out to be a lily-livered man, it would have pained her more. In spite of her misgivings with Amante, considering him again and again, he was the dream man for any woman, any day any time.

Ophelia was returning to her normal senses. What had she been thinking getting herself into such a high-profile scandal? As she drove home, she thought of how she could undo whatever mess she had gotten herself into.

As she turned into the main driveway leading to her family house, she noticed Amante’s car parked in their frontage. She made a u-turn and drove back into the cold, dark, lonely night and was not home for another three nights hence.

After waiting aimlessly into the late hours of the night, Amante Dankwire returned to the graduate male hostel to face his rival, but T–Boy was in no mood for a fight with his best friend over a woman. There could have been renewed hostilities between the two, but somehow, T–Boy tried to act like the bigger man and took time to explain himself out of the mess, and when their wahala simmered down, it was certain that the two were sincerely determined to maintain their friendship at all cost.

Amante Dankwire made frantic efforts to regain Ophelia’s love, but every effort of his proved abortive. Amante’s mother blamed Minimah for the setback. Ophelia’s mother was livid about the unfortunate turnaround of events because above all things she wished that her daughter would get married to Amante at all cost, no matter whose ox was gored in the process of reuniting the two lovebirds.

Ophelia Tito Ankara relocated to her aunt’s place to frustrate Amante’s effort at sorting out the difference between them. There was growing concern that the two estranged lovers could be heading for a final break-up. Both families were concerned why the two would not eventually get married and settle down and have a happy married home.

Ophelia confided in her aunt Lucia Danrele, who out of grave concern took the matter straight to Amante Dankwire and made a mince meat out of him as she scold and berated him and even made a public show of it, down grading him in bare damning terms. It pained Amante that his senseless actions and indiscretions had opened him up to so much external abuse.

‘Amante, do you know that you are a good-for-nothing arsehole? What is this nonsense … ? You are making a fool of my niece Ophelia because of what. You prefer to live a life of incest with your cousin Minimah at the expense of all the true love, affection, and devotion Ophelia had given to you … Are you a real man at all?’

‘Aunty Lucia … it’s not like that.’ Amante tried to argue himself out as a small pocket of busybodies started to gather.

‘Tell me it is not true that you are sleeping with your cousin …’

‘No, stop, stop, stop, Aunty Lucia. What gives you the right to come here and disgrace me in the public like you do?’

‘Shut your silly hole … You are worse than a tramp. The general must hear this, shameless dog.’

Amante Dankwire was gaining his sanity back, but the general impression among their friends was that Minimah had gotten a hold on him. Some of them actually confessed that Minimah’s control over him was not normal, and they had attributed it to some form of voodoo. Even Amante’s father had come to the unhealthy conclusion that Minimah had cast a spell on his son, and he was not in the best state of mind as he and his family tried spiritedly to contain the disaster.

‘Father, I am not sure what it is, but maybe it is true that I have been living under a spell.’

‘Have I not warned you about Minimah for years now? But you told me it’s nothing to worry about … Now she has extended it to your fiancée, and she is rubbishing every good thing you had going with Ophelia.’

‘Father, frankly speaking, each time Minimah is in my presence and Ophelia comes along … I feel a certain kind of enmity and grudge against Ophelia, and she has not really done me anything wrong.’

‘You have been caught in a web of witchcraft spell for too long now, and you need spiritual deliverance. Son, talk to your mother or see the pastor.’

‘You mean Pastor Abraham Adeoye?’

‘That’s right, and if there is anything wrong, he should know about it.’

‘I will speak with Mother first.’

‘That would be all right. Son … it’s because your mother is involved otherwise I would have been very crossed. It’s your mother that insisted on bringing in that girl, and I did not like the idea right from the start.’

‘I’ll get to the bottom of it before I react. Mother was sharing love … and it wasn’t a bad thing she did.’

‘Amante, is it true that you two are affectionate towards one another?’

‘Am I supposed to answer that?’

‘Okay, suit yourself.’

The university community was abuzz with various versions of the embarrassing scandal, and there was no hiding place for Amante Dankwire as his popularity indices among his colleagues and especially the women population had dwindled to an all-time low to the extent that he could not mix freely among his peers.

To say the least, he was being ostracised by the same university community he had been so familiar with and generally accepted. The pair of Amante and Ophelia was seen as a match made in heaven. People generally were happy always seeing them together, but now that the relationship was going real sore, there was little public sympathy for Amante Dankwire, especially following the scandal that there was another woman involved. Of course, pertaining to the things of the heart, when the things fall apart like it often does, it had always been blamed on the involvement of another woman in between.

One of the holiday periods before he completed his master’s degree programme, the concerned parents of Ophelia, Air Marshall and Missus Tito Ankara, had Amante in audience.

‘Good evening, Marshall … Good evening, Madam Ankara.’

‘Welcome, my boy … how are your parents?’

‘They are fine.’

‘Your girl, Ophelia, is not here but will be joining us soon. Let’s share some drinks.’

They waited in silence for a short while for the drinks to be served. It was a cool and cordial atmosphere, and nothing in the Tito Ankara’s attitude showed they were spoiling for a fight. When the drinks and the accompanying delicacies were served, Marshall Tito Ankara spoke again.

‘Amante … I can make all the worry and pain go away if you don’t mind my intrusion.’

‘No, sir, I would welcome anything you can do to help. I know I have messed up big time, but I still love Ophelia … I still care about her,’ Amante expressed.

A car hooted its horn outside, and it was Ophelia. As soon as she walked in and her eyes caught the presence of Amante sitting with her parents, she went berserk.

‘What’s this scumbag doing here? Can’t we have some decency instead of patronising this bad news guy? Dad, please excuse him out of here before I return … I am going to get changed, and if by the time I return he’s still here … well, then he’s looking for trouble from me.’ Ophelia threatened Amante.

‘Calm down, Ophelia … come to think of it, do you now hate him so much? … Remember it was you who introduced him to us.’

‘Mummy, I hate Amante now just like I do a very foul breath.’

‘Go change up, my dear.’ Tito Ankara bade his daughter.

Ophelia sneaked into her father’s room and fetched her father’s service pistol from the bedside drawer and tucked in away in her trouser pocket.

All that while Amante Dankwire remained calm and speechless. It was not long before Ophelia returned to the living room; in fact, it was speedy, very speedy as if she was anxious to pick a fight with Amante.

‘So I dare to ask again … what’s this bad news scumbag doing here?’ she queried from some distance away.

‘Ophelia, let’s try and sort things out.’

‘There’s nothing to sort out, Amante. Can’t you read the signs on the wall? … We are done, so our relationship is now history … just talk a walk,’ Ophelia said in a terse, angry voice.

Before Amante or anybody else could speak another word, Ophelia pulled out the automatic and fired straight at Amante from a rather close range. Amante saw it coming, so he dodged the first bullet, but quite unluckily the second shot caught him on his shoulder blade before Amasi Ankara, her mother, jumped in between.

‘Kill me, Ophelia, before you kill him.’ Amasi Ankara raised her hands in the air in a show of defiance.

‘What have you just done, Ophelia … and where did you get that gun?’ Air Marshall Tito Ankara asked frightfully while rushing unto his daughter to disarm her before she did more damage.

‘Daddy, Amante has destroyed my happiness, my life, and my entire future … He doesn’t deserve to live.’

‘Says who?’ Marshall Tito yanked the gun from his daughter.

‘Hei, I am finished … My daughter wants to kill somebody. Why not kill me first so that I will not live to see you go to jail … What is all this for, Ophelia?’ Missus Amasi bemoaned.

Meanwhile, Amante had fled in his car, and while still bleeding profusely, he drove straight to the military hospital, where he got admitted for immediate surgery.

‘Come on, Ophelia, you might have killed your lover by what you just did, and I, as your father in complete disregard of my official position, would have not been able to save you from the gallows. That was uncircumspect … I thought you two were going to work something for the better?’

‘Dad, there is nothing to work out. The relationship has broken down irretrievably.’

‘Ophelia, he had earlier apologised for all his misdeeds and even begged us to help him smoothen out the rough edges to the relationship. I am awfully sorry for however shabby he must have treated you. What happened a while ago does not in any way represent what we, your parents, have wished for the both of you. Believe it or not … Amante still loves you, Ophelia.’

‘Dad, save your breath, and don’t try to help Amante take the cheap way out by using you to get back to me … It’s over between us, period. Next time you intend to go on a crazy scheme like you just did … count me out because I don’t want to die before my time.’

‘Ophelia … I will say this as your mother, so listen well and listen good. Next time you intend to take out a crazy scheme like the one you just did … count me out because I don’t want to die before my time.’

‘Mother, I am pregnant, and Amante plans to run abroad.’ Ophelia stunned her parents and left them dumbfounded.

‘You are what? … Did I hear you well and how did it happen, Ophelia?’

‘Mother, it just happened.’

‘Does Amante know about it?’

‘I haven’t told him yet … I got the test report today, and I was in his hostel room to show him, but instead we quarrelled and I left in annoyance.’

‘Ophelia … shall I say you have been careless or should I say you have not kept your wits effectively with you and the result is that you have been outwitted by a smarter player.’

There was dead silence as if her parents were evaluating the next word or move.

‘Ophelia, let me ask you plain and straight … do you still love Amante?’

‘Mummy, love is not an excuse for Amante to break my heart … All he is doing is making excuses why we cannot be together as we used to be when we started at first. This days his so-called Cousin Minimah goes with him everywhere like his handbag. He has screwed up big time, and I am on the receiving end.’

‘What is all this incongruous talk about Minimah? Amante’s mother, Molate, is in a bitter-complaining grouch because the other day she alleged that the girl Minimah had bewitched Amante long time before now and … she was regretting ever bringing that girl to her house.’

‘And, Mother … she has made him to be sleeping with her.’

‘Say that it’s not true. If it is, then it’s despicable if such a thing has apparently taken place between him and Minimah … That is a taboo in our traditional society. I don’t want to know if it is admissible in the advanced Western countries.’

‘Maybe all this time Amante has acted under a spell and he needs to be delivered.’

‘Dad, I took up that matter on Amante’s behaviour, and the servant of God Pastor Adeoye revealed that Minimah is a manifestation from the marine kingdom.’

‘Ophelia, my daughter, just say it the way it is … Minimah is a marine witch, period,’ Tito Ankara adjudged.

‘So what do we do now? I know Amante is severely wounded and he will never forgive you for shooting him. I blame you, Ophelia, for getting yourself pregnant in the first place …’

‘His mother encouraged me, and I wanted to have something to remember him by just in case the relationship fell apart.’

‘Are you saying that you can cope being a single parent? … All right, if you don’t care about the stigmatisation, we will give you our support.’

‘Thank you, Dad, and thanks, Mummy.’

‘Find a place in your heart to forgive Amante. That’s what I am saying, and don’t you grudge me, Ophelia, because I think like a mother. Find time to visit him in the hospital … It will surprise him. It will show that you care about him even if you are not going to come together again.’

‘Mother, that is a difficult one …’

‘When you go tell him about the pregnancy so that he knows firsthand that he has responsibility.’

‘I don’t know where to find him.’

‘Try the military hospital … you’ll find him there, and when you go, try to behave yourself.’

‘Well, Dad, I will try to do that.’

‘Ophelia, Ophelia, Ophelia …’

‘Mummy, I hear you.’

‘A stitch in time saves nine, my teacher used to tell me. Talk things over with Amante while there is still time, while he may yet be pleading for your forgiveness … Show some milk as human kindness.’

‘I hear you, Mother.’

Air Marshall Tito Ankara went a step further to pave a way for his daughter to reach out favourably to her estranged boyfriend by visiting Amante in the hospital. It spoke volumes and gave some sort of reassurance to Amante, that in spite of the face-off he had with Ophelia, he could still count on the confidence the Ankaras reposed in him.

‘Ah! Sir, what a pleasant surprise. Thank you for coming to visit me.’

‘How are you, my boy?’

‘I am fine, and I am thankful to God that Ophelia did not give me a mortal wound or even killed me in the process. I am sorry for having caused Ophelia so much pain … I wish you can plead with her to find a place in her heart to forgive me.’

‘Not to worry, Ophelia will be here in a while.’

‘Really … oh, that would be splendid. I wish I can apologise to her, and whether she will take me back, I don’t know, but I just want to know that she has forgiven me because I screwed up big time.’

‘I understand, Amante, and perhaps you have learnt your lesson.’

‘Yes, I have.’

‘I have talked to your