Dog Day Rage

By Prince Alpha Dominion

Follow Montana Otonovo, a crack Secret Service Agent and his Red Team as they battle insurgencies from the Boko Haram and other clandestine terror groupings in Nigeria.
The story is double edged as it also involves Montana Otonovo, a Christian engaging in a personal war of love to win and marry his heartthrob Zarina Turaki a Muslim against all odds. When everything else failed it was love that prevailed. Find out how.
Also find out how Montana Otonovo showed extraordinary gallantry in foiling the attempted assassination of a former sitting President of Nigeria, Mr. Bo Bella Johnson by the military and the dog day rage attack unleashed by an unknown terror group during the swearing-in of the newly elected successor, President Dan Kano Balewa. How did Montana Otonovo do all of these and still lived to tell the story another day. It is a compelling epic encounter skillfully crafted for your reading pleasure.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Jan 31, 2015
• ISBN: 9781499093650

Prince Alpha Dominion

Prince Alpha Dominion holds you spell bound in his latest book – Dog Day Rage and shows the finesse in his endearing story telling capabilities. Other books by the same author are –1. The Day After The Kill – 2. Emmanuella – 3. Hard Tackle – 4. The Dream Street. Watch out! The Dream Street is a masterpiece that would simply blow your mind away. In all these books, love takes the centre stage, while domestic violence and terror receives a load of bashing and knockings. In very likable reading format the themes and sub themes receive intense but subtle treatment. Mr. Dominion is a political scientist and a retired public administrator of repute. He hails from Mkpat Enin Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria. He is happily married and they are blessed with three lovely children.

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Copyright © 2015 by Prince Alpha Dominion.

ISBN:      Softcover   978-1-4990-9364-3

                eBook         978-1-4990-9365-0

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: 01/24/2015

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Contents

Dedication

Synopsis

Author’s Note

Chapter One Co-Incidental Rampage

Chapter Two Birth Of A Militant Group

Chapter Three Strike Back

Chapter Four The Abuja Intervention

Chapter Five Season Of Romance

Chapter Six Resident Evil

Chapter Seven The Abduction

Chapter Eight Unfortunate Reprisal Attack

Chapter Nine The Worst Nightmare

Chapter Ten Uncovering The Mystery

Chapter Eleven Another Backlash

Chapter Twelve Extraneous Adjuncts

Chapter Thirteen Killing The President

Chapter Fourteen The Aftermath

Chapter Fifteen In The Belly Of The Beast

Chapter Sixteen Closing Moments

Chapter Seventeen Exit Wounds

Dedication

God has been so merciful in giving me a second chance to live and fulfill one of my greatest desires. Writing books and getting published has been a great source of joy for me at this crucial time of my life. For this reason I am grateful and I dedicate this book project first and foremost to the Almighty God.

I also dedicate this book to my wife Margaret, my son Samuel and my daughters Margaret and Victory to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for their love, support and kindness.

Synopsis

The story is set in the north central midland of Niger state of Nigeria in the town of Shandam, a suburb of Minna. The ordinary student’s protest turns tragic. A simple demonstration against the Federal Government’s increase in school fees in the tertiary institution spirals out of hand, laying in its wake a seedbed of future tragedy beyond anyone’s wildest imagination.

Federal University of Science and Technology, Shandam received the news of the increase of fees from the Vice Chancellor at the institution’s freedom square. Professor Etosa Konga did not quite finish what he had to say when the student’s union President comrade Raskin Dawada rudely interrupted him and after he presented his protest on behalf of the students, there was spontaneous uproar and outrage. Just like a bolt out of the blues an unfortunate rampage set into place and the peace of the place was shattered.

What the students left behind in the wake of their senseless demonstration of rage was to say the least collateral damage. The Mobile Police terror squad was called in to restore peace and safeguard lives and properties but the crises was mismanaged as has always been the case, resulting in the death of not less than 7 policemen and no fewer than 19 students. As a result of which the University was closed down indefinitely.

Eventually, the Federal Government reopened the institution and the President Mr. Bo Bella Johnson went visiting. On this occasion, violence and rage from reprisal attacks from armed student went down as the bloodiest day in the annals of history of the institution since it was established. This time around the death toll was colossal, with the student militants dealing a daming blow on the police.

By a Presidential order, the military Special Forces sent to identify, downgrade and bring to justice the student militants were swatted away like flies. All murdered and their carcasses decapitated and burnt.

The State Security Service personnel that went on a similar mission just virtually disappeared. Frustrated by his failure to make any tangible progress in bringing the killers to book, the Secret Service was called in and they were on their way to what was like a mission impossible.

Montana Otonovo with his Red Team not only succeeded in identifying the threat and rather than downgrade the student militants, they annihilated them in a bizarre massacre. There was umbrage, agony and national hysteria but the Secret Service had acquitted itself creditably, thus pushing Montana Otonovo into the limelight.

Jasmine Fabio Gallon, daughter of the Deputy Inspector General of Police eventually gets married to Montana Otonovo as an outcome of a sizzling romantic exploits. But in a twist of fate Zarina Turaki a Muslim, captures Montana Otonovo’s heart, meeting his needs at the darkest time of his life.

He a Christian put his life on the line and strove through the crucible and stormy waters to gain Zarina Turaki’s love. When everything else failed it was love that lifted them out of despair and Montana Otonovo, a Christian successfully married Zarina Turaki, a Muslim against all odds.

Events pervading before this time saw Montana Otonovo becoming the Chief Security Officer to the President but that did not precluded his ardent resolve to do battle with terror elements everywhere they could be found. This notoriety earned him the sobriquet as the baddest ass in all of the Secret Service.

Montana’s gallantry was unrelenting as he not only helped crack the mystery of the ring leaders behind the former student’s insurgency. As fate would have it, the culprits were all assassinated and their public shame and confessions were never heared publicly. Montana Otonovo was later to foil an assassination attempt by the military on the President Mr. Bo Bella Johnson. This earned Mr. Montana Otonovo the gold star medal, a merit award for outstanding gallantry.

In the closing moments, Jasmine Otonovo gets a divorce and her marriage to Montana Otonovo is nullified. Montana Otonovo married Stephanie Briggs who was appointed a Judge of the Federal High Court. Unfortunately in the aftermath DIG Fabio Galon shot and killed himself while his daughter Jasmine Fabio Gallon was indicted for complicity in an attempted murder of her ex-husband and his new wife.

On a ceremonial afternoon of 29th May, Nigeria’s Democracy Day during the handing over by Mr. Bo Bella Johnson to his successor Alhaji Dan Kano Balewa, the dogs of war made a devastating terror attack, raiding the exciting throng with two Apache attack helicopter, that rained bullets and bombs on the hapless guest .

Again it was Montana Otonovo that put paid to a well rehearsed and orchestrated ploy to assassinate the new President, the former President and other VIP’s. It was a day that could only be described as a day filled with dog day rage as a little short of one million persons were murdered in cold blood, and until today nobody knows where the conserted assault came from ane who ordered the hit.

It was devastating as it was a colossal opprobrium. It was the worst day fury was let lose on the common integrity of the people of Nigeria. A new President of northern extraction Alhaji Dan Kano Balewa assumed office and made Montana Otonovo his Minister of Homeland Security and decorated him for the second time with the gold star medal.

President Dan Kano Balewa in his first six months in office, made fight against terror his first cardinal priority and successfully waged war against insurgency wherever they were to be found.

Alhaji Dan Kano Balewa reclaimed the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Nigeria by having the military and security agents locate, downgrade and squash the festering, annoying affront referred to as Boko Haram. He set the country on the course of reconciliation, rehabilitation and socio- economic revolution.

Montana Otonovo served the new President Alhaji Dan Kano Balewa for two terms of eight years and then his people voted him into the Senate of the National Assembly as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He thereafter returned home and lived happily ever after with his wives and many children.

Author’s Note

This work is fiction and not based on real-life occurrences; therefore any similarities in names, place names and characters are purely coincidental and are produced by the author’s imagination. Wherever there are similar references to existing situations, they are highly regretted.

CHAPTER ONE

Co-Incidental Rampage

Kadija Hassan and Kertima Hassan were two young daughters of Mallam Mahmud Hassan a moderate Muslim Cleric who had waited a whole thirty five years of his adult life to have his first offspring. The twins sadly enough were born premature but their parents kept the faith and reposed their unflinching confidence in the Almighty God, that they would be spared the agony of and unripe fruition jesting upon their destiny and rubbing scorn on them in mournful numbers assuming their children suddenly died in their youth.

As fate would have it, the children survived the early trauma and grew into the most beautiful and adorable young women in Shandam in the northern suburb of Minna the state capital of Niger State. They did not go unnoticed as young men already had armed themselves with marriage proposals awaiting when the girls would be fully ripe for marriage and the number of would-be suitors were increasing by the day.

They were brilliant girls with enviable intelligent quotients that made them stand towering above their male counterparts in the area of academics and contemporary socio-political activities. In fact Kadijah and Kertimah were the toast of the society.

Benuah Itad and Kentua Itad the twin sons of Zebua Itad a crossover fire-brand Muslim proponent turn Christian crusader was not particularly perturbed by the association of his boys with the Hassan girls, but curiously was somewhat very accommodating in giving some room for his boys to befriend the girls in the simplest of terms. So the Itad’s household was like a second home to Kadijah and Kertimah. In short the Itad’s home was the melting point for a growing group of young boys and girl’s of the Federal Government College, Minna a little more than ten miles away from the Federal University of Science and Technology, Shandam. .

This particular year was that milestone for the Itad boys and the Hassan girl’s as they were in their final year class and were preparing for their senior school certificate examinations. While sharing a casual moment together a fond conversation ensued.

‘Kertimah what do you two want to study in the University?’.

‘Why do you ask, Benuah?’.

‘Come on don’t Jones me…Be serious for once,’ Benuah chided.

‘All right we intend to make medicine our first choice,’ Kertimah responded.

‘You see…we also want to make that too our first choice at the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Examinations’.

‘Benuah that’s easy to guess…you guys are copy cats.’

‘No… Sincerely that’s our project and we are thinking you girls should be a part of it,’ Kentuah cut in.

‘How and why, Kentuah?… I don’t know what you are talking about,’ Kertimah argued.

‘We have a very lofty vision. Building the first ultra-modern private hospital in our community. So we are thinking it would be worthwhile if you girls joined… In that way we can pull our resources together, if possible establish a sort of medical foundation.’

‘Kentuah before you enthrall us with your vision, let me say that my sister and I plan to live abroad and practice medicine in it’s finest environment.’

‘Kertimah where is your sense of patriotism. Kadijah you too… Don’t you think you have something to give back to the society’.

‘Benuah you have lost your wits. What did society ever do for us… At least you grew up with us in this same place, what is there to talk about. Please count us out of your day dreams,’ Kadija retorted.

‘What if I say we chose separate fields of specialization within the medical sciences. Kertimah could be a pediatrician, myself an ophthalmic optician, Kentuah a general surgeon and you Kadijah a gynecologist. At the end of the day we would be needing one or two additional hands to assist… Don’t you think we can pull through,’ Benuah reasoned.

‘You two are damn serious and you have figured it all out’.

‘That’s right Kadijah. Even if it means we all studying abroad then returning home to establish the medical foundation… That would be good thinking. While abroad we could shop for not only sponsors but volunteer medical and health workers… There are still missionaries and voluntary agencies we can partner with.’ Kentuah interjected.

‘Sister Kertima… They seem to make a lot of sense’.

‘I guess so, perhaps it’s worth giving it serious thinking…it’s a pretty cool idea if only we can realize the sort of support they are talking about.’ Kertimah added.

‘And as regards pulling our resource together, don’t you think it would be best if me and my twin brother marry you Kadijah and your twin sister,’ Benuah made a wild suggestion.

The girls spontaneously cracked their ribs with wild laughter such that was not in a hurry to abate. Kenuah forcefully interrupted the girls.

‘Did my brother say something stupid… We stand to be corrected. Kadijah you are the greater culprit here.’

‘Kentuah are you crazy?.’

‘Obviously not… Do I look like one who flew over the cuckoo’s nest?.’

‘I support my brother a hundred percent in that proposal, if you ask me.’

‘Seriously Kentuah and Benuah?,’ Kadija was doubtful.

‘Of course… Are we not good enough for you two?. We are a perfect match… In fact here in the society we live in, that’s the expectation that one fine day the Itad brothers will tie the knot with the Hassan sister’s,’ Kentuah argued confidently.

‘Really?,’ Kertimah queried.

‘Yes really.’

‘That’s why I asked earlier whether you are nuts. You know that my father who is a Muslim cleric would not even want such an idea muted in his hearing’.

‘Oh! come off it Kadijah…you know as well as I do that if we take a cursory look at our family trees… We will find that it is a pot-pore, sort off a mix-blend. I heard your paternal grand mother was a Christian voluntary agency matron in the early seventies’.

‘So you know that much about our family history’.

‘Forget that Kertimah…what do you girls think, on a serious note?’.

‘Well to be candid and on a serious note… I think it’s not a bad idea’.

‘What about you Kadijah?,’

‘I am with my sister on this. Did we not grow up in this same neighborhood and haven’t we been friends since we were kids. Our families have been close knitted through many years of affinity. If our parents would allow us… We would like to marry you boys, provided you would take good care of us girls,’ Kadijah affirmed.

‘Let’s look beyond religion. I mean we are best friend and what do they say… Love conquers all and after all it is what we are on the inside that matters… And that is that we love each other dearly .’ Benuah encouraged.

‘Ask for anything else… We love ourselves and that is a fact. I am happy that we have a common goal… I can’t wait to see it come to fruition,’ Kadijah enthused.

It was a promise and they were determined to keep that promise and realize their dreams come what may.

It was an interesting but yet worrisome topic for discussion when Kentuah and Benuah met with their mother Amaria Itad, laying bare their hopes and dreams for the future. The excitement of having their mother’s support was the gingering tonic that reinvigorated their passion.

‘Mother… Are you sure that our father will give his blessing for us to marry the Hassan twins?.’

‘It is not your father you two should be worried about… It’s rather their own father. As much as you know, your father is a well rounded, emancipated and detribalized Christian. If he did not love those girls he could have said so long time ago and perhaps forbidden them from visiting his boys but you can bear me witness that your father adores those girls,’ Amaria explained confidently.

‘Well mother that’s a plus for our father but Mallam Mahmud Hassan is somewhat like a closed book. It’s difficult to know exactly where to place him. As a Muslim faithful one cannot say exactly his perception and disposition towards matters like religious tolerance and inter-ethnic or inter-religious marriages.’

‘My son Kentuah… Don’t you worry, when you get to the bridge you are certainly going to cross it.’

‘Mother it is not worth building up love and friendship on a false hope. The foundation matters… You know that if the foundation is faulty, whatever is built upon may not be able to withstand much pressure in the face of the storm,’ Kentuah argued.

‘My problem mother is that it is not worth giving your youthful years loving someone who may turn out to say no to you when the material moment of decision comes. We love the Hassan girls, me and my brother certainly know no other friendship like theirs. We want to grow up and be able to get married and build our dreams together.’

‘By and by along the way you will understand if it is a wise decision. So cheer up boys… Get into the University first and foremost, then from there you can move ahead… Remember to live this life, one day at a time because there is no hurry in life.’

‘Mother thank you for being so accommodating but do us a favor… When next you see Kertimah and Kadijah, can you source their opinion about them trading their religion for marriage to your sons. In that way we would know we are not wasting our time, energy and love on them for nothing,’ Benuah requested.

‘Alright my sons… I’d like to do that for you,’ Amaria their mother assured.

‘But let me ask you my mother… How do you feel about the proposal?,’ Kentuah demanded.

Their mother Amaria observed some silence for some minutes then spoke rather practically.

‘My sons… To be honest, I believe in this thing call love. I also believe in religious tolerance. Come to think of it, we have inter-married and inter-mingled all through the ages. Our forebears have lived together and loved one another for as long as this community has existed. My great grand father was a Muslim and I am a scion of a great ancestral Muslim family that is well known all over Kwara State. Those girls are at the least my distant relations if I must be realistic. As somebody with a very liberal mind… I think this our country Nigeria can continue living together as one indivisible entity. Marrying and inter-marrying among and across ethnic and religious lines. Watching those girls with you two… I think that they are in love and you my boys should give them love in return. I completely endorse your proposal and whole heartedly welcome them into my home as always at anytime,’ Amaria stated unequivocally.

‘Thank you mother,’ Kentuah and Benuah almost said in unison.

‘I will help discuss the issue with your father and get his opinion. Besides, whenever there is the convenience… I will like to address the issue with their mother or father.’

‘Thank you mother, you have been most useful.’

So the little chit chat between mother and sons ended on a palatable note as they all moved to the different house chores.

One year later the Itad brothers and the Hassan girls had gained Admission into the Federal University of Science and Technology to study for a Degree in Medical Sciences and that was in furtherance of their future ambitions.

After the first Semester news started circulating through the grapevine that the University authority through the instrumentation of the Federal Government intended to make unilateral increase in tuition and accommodation fees.

‘Those guys must be assholes. They cannot just wake up one fine morning and increase fees just like that,’ Raskin Dawada the Student Union President objected.

‘Raskin… Some of us know that the Minister of Education is more or less a scattered brain as far as administration is concerned… He has no pedigree… He’s a square peg in a round whole, it can never fit into place,’ Kentuah argued.

‘Here’s the thing… If the news is true and they actually put the new fee regiment in place, it will be a surprise take. We will not only resist them but as the target of our ensuing protest… Mr. Ali Aliyu must go,’ Benuah stated unyieldingly.

‘That’s it comrades…Ali Aliyuh must go. That will be our protest slogan and our war cry.’

‘Presido… Let’s say we give the University authority a run for their money. We will let this place burn,’ Katrina Eyibio the (female) Student Union Vice President maintained.

As the students gathered in groups and discussed the impending announcement by the authority, the atmosphere was tense and the usual bubble and shine associated with Campus life momentarily had lost its flavor. That particular day passed without any thing being out of place neither was the cat let out of the bag literally speaking. It was like a comforting day of sheer emptiness as there was nothing gained and nothing lost. It was certain that the evil day had been postponed so to say.

Meanwhile the Hassan girls were getting more and more sucked into the idea Kentuah and Benuah had sold to them and some sort of wider interest was developing amongst them. Another day they had continued their earlier conversation from where they stopped.

‘I mean if you guys are not good enough for us… Who else will be. Already we are like a family… Guess we are best of friends too’.

‘But Kentuah, you guys are not making a marriage proposal because that would be too forward’.

‘I know we still have a long way to go but in the right sense of it, that’s a proposal’.

‘It’s that how it is done?’.

‘Don’t pull my legs Kertimah’.

‘Honestly I am serious…do it right’.

‘Okay let me start after all I am the eldest… (they all laughed) Kadijah would you marry me?’.

‘Yes Benuah… Anytime, just when you are ready, I am’.

‘My turn then… Kertimah would you be my wife?’.

‘Yes Kentuah… I will be your wife, anytime you want me to’.

It elicited rapturous laughter amongst them.

‘This one that you girls have readily consented to our proposals… Did you discuss it with your parents?,’ Kentuah inquired.

‘Yes. We first told them about the proposal on the Medical Foundation and my father very surprisingly was excited about it. He even offered to help and said he never thought he could live to see his very own children think of doing such an organized act of benevolence. Then we dropped what sounded like a bombshell,’ Kertinah explained.

‘Make a guess, come on boys. See the colors change on your faces,’ Kadijah poked Benuah in the ribs.

There was cracking laughter.

‘I guess your parents must have frozen and were speechlessly fixed,’ Benuah suggested.

‘Bull’s eye. What a smart Alexander you are Benuah. That’s exactly what happened. Then the two of them went into the usual traditional debate that bordered on religious differences and all that stuff. We argued at length and sort of convinced our parents that in spite of Muslim or Christian religious differences… You two were the only male friends we have loved all through our young lives and moreover we were one people from the same country. Boys it was not easy… But love won at the end and they gave us a tacit approval,’ Kertimah the eldest of the twins stated in clear terms.

‘Waoh! That is great… That is great,’ Benuah exclaimed in a mild yell.

‘Let’s go to the canteen and celebrate,’ Kentuah offered.

‘Benuah… Kentuah we have to be discrete, one word out and we would face a not too sweet music…you know what I mean… The religious bigots will definitely want to play the spoiler,’ Kentuah warned.

‘In very clear terms, that is understood. Let’s celebrate,’ Kentuah restated and the foursome went their way to have a good time.

So that was the secret bond that existed between the Itad brothers and the Hassan sisters. It was the second most important thing that drove their desire to remain closely knitted together and bonded in love. They vowed that nothing was going to ever come in-between them. They were committed to seeing their dreams come true. As the days went by the boys and the girls were inseparable. The ensuing closer and stronger affinity was even noticed by their different parents. Somehow they condoned it maturely but all the same watched their children closely.

It was this foursome that provided a rallying point for others in and around the University in the bustling satellite town of Shandam, so much so that the friends of the Itad’s and the Hassan’s were visibly recognizable and well accepted in social circles.

From all cursory glance, the student population was ready for the authority but the authority was not ready to match what the students had in store to offer as a counter point.

Another fine day on one Holy Ash Wenesday in the Christian Lent season the bubble finally burst.

The news filtered through to the student community that the authority would address the students that day. So the students started gathering at the Freedom Square, the hallowed and highly respected ground.

The Vice Chancellor, the Registrar, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Dean of Students Affairs, the Bursar and some other were in attendance. Without much ado the Vice Chancellor moved to address the students after the due protocols had been observed.

He notified the students that beginning from that second semester of the academic year the Federal Government had introduced a new fees regiment in all Federal Universities across the country, therefore it was pertinent that those affected should be properly informed.

The Student Union President Raskin Dawada rudely interrupted the Vice Chancellor and would not let him continue with his address to the student community. Like just a play, he told the VC that the student would not comply with the Federal Government order. Raskin Dawada did not stop there, he added that immediately they were going to show vital signs of their resistance, to send a message back to the Presidency that the students had rejected the new fee proposal.

He did not quite finish what he had to say when war cries erupted and before anybody could say Jack Robinson, the whole place went into a frenzy and fiery, contumacious conflagration. The throng of students descended on the University authority representatives and beat them black and blue, leaving them in various stages of incapacitation and in some cases coma.

The students went on a fiesta sort of rampage. The collateral damage was on a massive scale and it went on like that until two detachments of the Mobile Police Squadron 68 arrived from Minna the capital city. There and then hell new no fury like what the trigger happy cops did to the students.

Trust the Police because the Police would always act the same wherever they may be found in the whole wide world. They descended on the hapless somewhat jinxed students, clubbed, kicked, bludgeoned them mercilessly.

As more and more students rushed on the Policemen to mob and lynch them in a feat of fury and unquenchable anger, suddenly gunfire erupted and more and more students were mowed down and swiftly routed.

What a pitiable, horror stricken sight seeing the avalanche of students running in retreat to escape the dreadful gunfire from the malcontented, grudging Policemen.

By the time the guns went silent, 9 Policemen and perhaps as much as 30 students lay mournfully cold and very lifelessly dead. The Vice Chancellor miraculously escaped unhurt, while others received varying degrees of battering and physical abuse.

Information travel fast they say. It was the Director of the State Security Service Mr. Atiga Funso who arrive first from Minna the State Capital with some of his men to have an on-the-spot assessment of the situation on the ground.

‘What a rage!,’ he exclaimed as he found so much dead bodies strewn over the whole place.

‘It’s a real bad day to die,’ one of Atiga’s men quipped.

‘I bet you. The President won’t like this at all… the crises have been badly handled by the Police and believe me… The Students will now spoil for and all out war.’

‘Your guess is right Boyce. A war has been declared and the government must brace up to the present challenge,’ Atiga remarked.

‘It was one damn stupid mistake by anybody’s estimation. Well we will go back and make our security report known to Mr. President.’

After surveying the whole area and taking adequate notes the SSS team left and returned to Minna.

The sort of fury let out could have only been done by bush animals or mad dogs that did not only growl but did really bite also.

By what the Police did to the students, the government that sent them had screwed up big time and had played into the hands of the students and the enemies of the State.

Agreed, the government owed its citizens a duty to protect lives and property as well as restore law and order but this one that just took place at the Federal University of Science and Technology, Shandam was and adventure gone haywire leaving much grief for everybody and a great show of insanity.

The Police by killing 30 defenseless student had unwittingly handed to them the burden of revenge which was going to come sooner or later because there would be a payback some day.

The Students by also killing 9 Policemen had invariably courted their wrath towards a rematch because for every defeat there is always a return match. How they would have liked an opportune offer to strike back at the students and deal a death blow finally and shut their loud mouth for good.

The poor handling of the matter by the government agents angered the populace especially the opposition. There was public outcry and the Presidency was not only embarrassed but helpless.

And by that costly mistake the opposition cashed into the unplanned skirmish and went for the unbelievable, unusual feat, that of arming the students against the Police for a revenge mission ostensibly to show the whole world that the government had failed the electorate. A government that would send its agents to murder innocent defenseless students was not a real humane government at all.

Judging from what had just happened in the past few hours, it was safe to adjudge that who ever gave the orders lacked the milk of human kindness. In their judgment they could have tempered justice with mercy.

The Police by their actions had without doubt continued to erode public confidence in their services to the tax payers.

The President Mr. Bo Bella Johnson after receiving the report from the State Security Service summoned the Inspector General of Police (IG) and after dressing him down, equally gave him the marching orders.

‘I want a full report on my table first thing tomorrow morning… I want to know who gave the orders to have those students shot… And if you don’t I will fry your ass… Got that?,’ the President slammed.

‘Understood Mr. President. Without being rude sir… I am told that it was when the students had started lynching my men that they spontaneously opened fire,’ Mr. Makinda Swattah tried to offer an explanation.

‘If you have no better thing to say to me, you may take your leave,’ the President instructed.

What the President said forced the Inspector General of Police to take his leave abruptly.

As he left it worried the President that a better explanation would not be forthcoming from the Police and that in the final analysis he would need someone to assist him repair his image as well as make his unpleasant feeling less painful and hurting. Already his ego had been so badly bruised. What if a similar incident repeated itself or something worse happened he reasoned because the bulk had to stop on his table and there was no way he could pass it unto somebody else.

CHAPTER TWO

Birth of a Militant Group

Nothing was more painful than the fact that the hopes, dreams and aspirations of those promising young women were cut short and their lives were eclipsed in broad daylight.

The parents of the slain students and their relations joined in a candle vigil in the township square, grieving over the dead and fallen students. Both Muslims and Christians joined together to pay their last respect to their sons and daughters that they would not see again ever. It was a pitiful, tearful sight to behold. Even at that the Police still showed their ugly faces within the vicinity and for their ungraceful presence, they were pelted with fresh eggs by youngsters and there was nothing they could do about it.

Kertimah and Kadijah were among the 30 students mowed down by the Police in their brazen-faced impertinence. Benuah and Kentuah mourned their irreparable loss like they were their mother or father, seeing that their hopes and lofty dreams about the future lay shattered in pieces that would never fit again into place.

Kentuah and Benuah would never see their girlfriends and future lovers anymore. Their vow now was to avenge the death of Kertimah and Kadijah and they would even be willing to die trying.

Now there was this palpable rage by those who suffered deprivation from the hands of the trigger happy and brutish law enforcement officers, repressive agents of the state.

It is often said that one cannot hurt a people for too long and nothing happens. Since after that dog day Friday afternoon, the Police, State Security and Civil Defense operatives had laid siege on the University campus and normalcy had since then not returned to the neighborhood.

It worried the Itads seeing their sons so grieved after the death of their girlfriends. Kentuah and Benuah moved in and out of their family house with disturbing frequency and it worried their mother.

‘What is all this nonsense?,’ their mother accosted them as they were leaving the house again.

‘I thought you boys should rest at home now that your University has been closed down. Your frequent movement in and out of the house is giving me a cause to worry,’ Amaria Itad complained.

‘Mother we are grown ups and no longer toddlers. Let’s have some air of freedom.’

‘Kentuah… If you boys are planning anything sinister… It means you want to die also like your girlfriends,’ Amaria remarked with sadness in her voice, seeing that she would not be able to dissuade them from whatever they were planning.

‘Mother forget about what you are thinking.’

‘What are you boys planning to do that I don’t know about… Do you mind telling me?,’ Amaria Itad their mother asked worriedly.

‘At a point in every man’s life… A man has got to do what a man has got to do,’ Kentuah responded.

‘Listen to me my boys… Don’t let me die before my time. Spare me the agony of having to lose you. Who will bury me if you are dead?… Help me please… Help me please,’ she said and burst into a tearful wail.

‘Mother don’t do this…’ Benuah tried to comfort their mother.

‘Like it or not my son… You cannot fight evil with evil, do you here me. Stop what you are being misled to do otherwise you may not live long enough to regret it. God knows I have warned you… And that is my last word on the matter,’ their mother noted brusquely. It was like a note of finality because thereafter her boys left home.

Persistent harassment, restrictions, curfew and almost martial law regulations characterized the day to day existence in and around the University community, thus sending home the message that the Federal Government was not prepared to condone any further acts of lawlessness and extreme indiscipline in its tertiary institutions.

Students Union activities had received the greatest bashing. The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) was proscribed nation-wide while student union leaders in the Federal University of Science and Technology, Shandam were hounded, arrested and incarcerated in jail without trial.

Looking back, the resultant damage of lives and properties arising from senseless barbaric acts were colossal and in structural and financial terms undeniably huge. It had forced the government to close down the institution and students sent home on an indefinite stay-at-home order.

It was the government’s undoing because that had provided the students the opportunity to consult and consort with their colleagues at the nearby Niger State University, Minna.

The hawks and the dogs of war gathered and their pent up rage sought expression in the birth of a militant group under the aegis of the dreaded cult group K.K. (Klan Kult). This student’s militant brigade as they referred to themselves coined a motto which they dubbed – the Shandam death code.

Persons that were to belong to the student’s militant brigade were forced to swear to an oath of secrecy and subscribe to the death code.

On that fateful Friday, Raskin Dawada the student union leader was first to subscribe to the oath, followed by the vice president Katrina Eyibio. Kentuah and Benuah joined up along with others.

It was Zakari Mohammed a.k.a Holy Mallam the spiritual leader of K.K (the Klan Kult) who presided over the oath taking. And those that lost their friends and relations were eager to be enlisted in droves. That particular day about two hundred and fifty young men and women sang and danced to war songs and shared camaraderie amongst themselves in the Abana forest.

It was the first day of the rest of their lives as these young men and women started readying themselves to do battle with the government enforcement agents whenever the opportunity presented itself again.

They reveled at large, drinking assorted alcoholic brew and smoked marijuana excessively, thereafter they elected their commanders.

‘Warriors… Today signals the beginning of what may be a long struggle to avenge our brothers and sisters that were brutally discharged to their early graves by the repressive agents of government. We are not going to deceive anybody that we are simply going to defeat the evil men who want to use their power to control and unduly harm other people especially us… Because they have the power to do so. Warriors… We are going to train hard… We have got support from friends outside. Don’t be afraid because as we speak, the supreme commander and black avatar are shopping for arms and ammunitions. I leave no one in doubt that we can do it… We can shame our common enemy… And together we can get stronger… Strong enough to embarrass the government that set out the dogs of war upon us. I rest my case.’

‘Holy Mallam… Holy Mallam… Holy Mallam.’ The chant rent the air as he was carried shoulder high around the arena.

Other less prominent but strategically useful combatants spoke one after the other in a show of solidarity.

‘Fellow combatants… It will not always be that when the government sneezes, we have to catch cold, no. Let us for once stand up to the government and show them that we are not second class nor third class citizens of this country but free born. We will call their bluff and strike deepest where it will hurt most.’

The throng yelled in acceptance.

‘Comrades… what we are about to do will certainly shock the entire nation. It is not for ourselves but rather we are going to do this as a sacrifice of love, for the sake of our dead and fallen compatriots and by hindsight for posterity. So get ready to fight to the death,’ another speaker had just finished his admonition.

‘To the death… To the death… To the death.’ They sustained the chanted then dispersed thereafter.

CHAPTER THREE

Strike Back

During the intermission the Federal Government had undertaken the reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure in the University and final preparations were made for the reopening of the institution.

The warriors were also preparing for a show down expectantly with the Police. It was going to be an opportunity to strike back at the government. Since the government and its agents had an appetite to shoot and kill students at the slightest provocation, the students were learning first hand to show guts and would not pander to the government.

The students were not asking to be pampered nor spoon fed. The students felt they have had enough of brutality from government agents and the many deaths in every single year was bold face fury and it was going to become hard to settle by mere rhetorics and brazen gunboat diplomacy.

The University had re-opened eventually after necessary renovation and rehabilitation works had been completed. The President and commander-in-chief Mr. Bo Bella Johnson was billed to pay an unscheduled visit to the institution as the visitor to the University. There was already a breach of the security information which meant that the student warriors were prepared to confront the authority squarely on its own familiar turf even without them an the government having an inkling.

Security was beefed up in a around the institution awaiting the August visitor. Nothing was left to chances and expectations were high. The students were going to retaliate the government’s earlier acts of aggression against unarmed defenseless students but this time the hunter was going to become the hunted.

The warriors met to strategize for the day of retribution. It was going to be a day like no other day.

‘Warriors.’

‘Supreme commander,’ the student militant group chorused in unison.

‘Our day of glory is at hand. A day that we are going to write our names in letters of gold and throughout the annals of history, posterity will see your sacrifice of faith and courage as the one last stand that conquered government’s brutishness. We are going to strike them hardest and leave them so uncomfortable and sore embarrassed. Perhaps that will feed them with some excitement enough to wet their appetite for blood.’

There was silence and no one responded except the spiritual leader the holy Mallam. When Zakari Mohammed spoke he only added fear to the already tension gripped militants.

‘Warriors!.’

‘Holy Mallam,’ they answered in unison.

‘What is the Shandam death code?.’

‘Kill or be killed,’ the group responded with renewed gusto.

‘This time you will go out there and get them first before they get you. Don’t spare them, don’t hesitate, take them out and kill all of them no matter how many they are,’ holy Mallam instructed.

‘What about the weapons that we were promised?.’

‘Commander Zero, the guns have been safely smuggled into the institution grounds and carefully hidden away. When the day comes you will be summoned at short notice to converge behind the sports arena where the guns will be distributed. Dress properly to conceal the weapons. Any questions?,’ the supreme commander asked the bewildered group.

‘We will need some essential toys to rattle the government errand boys. Things like smoke bombs, tear gas and grenades if we must achieve maximum effect.’

‘Thank you Dandali Dandali, you have made an important contribution. In the next one or two days those toys as you put it will be added to our arsenal.’

‘Do we have any support from the opposition if I may ask?,’ Kegiba Doton asked worriedly.

‘Kegiba… We are not a political grouping neither are we fighting for the opposition. You can rest assured that we have some sympathizers within and outside the government circles, even among the ruling party itself. As a matter of fact resistant or militant movements such as ours cannot get off the ground and stand on its feet without external support,’ Abbas Alhassan the supreme commander explained succinctly

‘Supreme Commander, if I may ask… Do we have an external base we can flee to for sanctuary just in case there is a clamp down after the mayhem?.’

‘That’s a good one Captain blood. We are in league with the ‘Fashidees in southern Niger, the Comoro militants in Chad Republic and the Ramo militants in southern Cameroon. If the worse comes to the worst our escape route will be through Niger, Chad and the Nigerian/ Cameroon border. You are not expected to take flight immediately but wait and observe government’s reaction after we might have done what we intend do,’ the supreme commander briefed.

‘Additional information.’

‘What’s that commander switch blade?,’ the supreme commander asked.

‘To all my fellow combatants, fight well die hard. If there is anybody amongst you who will be ready to chicken out, then rest assured that you will die by my hands,’ he threatened.

‘That’s a good one switch blade. We don’t need nice guys, we need warriors that are thirsty for vengeance. As a matter of fact, forget mercy and embrace hate and dispose of your adversary with ruthless aggression. At the end of the day we will leave them with unimaginable pain that will take them a long time to recover from, is that understood?.’

‘Yes supreme commander,’ the militants chorused.

That day ended on a savory note for the student militant and they seemed ready to go. Nothing could take from the fact that by their estimate a lot of shit was going down and the cookies were about to crumble, fast and unexpectedly.

So far the government had done nothing to assuage the feelings of the students. No apologies whatsoever, no reparations, nothing nothing. And this nonchalant attitude of the authority was their own undoing. Expectedly they were going to get what was coming to them. As the government failed to address the issue squarely and resolve the mistrust, it made the students adamant like flint. Nothing was going to stop them now from fighting back.

The massively heavy presence of four detachment of Mobile Policemen who stationed themselves in strategic positions right from the early morning was an indication that the President was going to visit and surely he did visit as expected.

After he inspected the repair works and was satisfied about a job well done, he thought there was need to address the students before leaving. So at short notice the students gathered at the Freedom Square, where the last mayhem and gun battle had taken place.

As he was addressing the students, the militant brigade rapidly mobilized and were readily armed for action. The President Mr. Bo Bella Johnson was in company of his Minister of Education Ali Aliyu who stood besides him.

By their strategy, the Supreme Commander Abbas Alhassan and his combatants was to attack the Police frontally. Commander Switch Blade and another group of combatants were to attack from the east flank, while Commanders Black Avatar and Captain Blood with their men were to carry out the attack from the western and southern flank.

Halfway into the President’s address the throng of students started shouting, ‘Ali must go… Ali must go… Ali must go.’

Deafening whatever Mr. Bo Bella Johnson had to say, thus starting a malevolent rancorous umbrage.

Someone from amongst the midst of the students shouted, ‘Get down… Get down… Get down.’

Then from their different advantaged position the militants sprang a surprise, shouting their battle cry, ‘Blood and fire… Blood and fire… Blood and fire.’

Taking the Mobile Policemen by surprise, the militants gunned them