Fear gripped Edo and Bassey as they watched their mama push her frail frame out of the house with Papa beside her equally distraught. It was Deja vu for the Issongs’. Even Ini as young as she was when Ema passed knew how deeply the pain stung and seeing the way her folks took off and the demeanour of her brothers, that same horrible feeling four years ago swirled back through her, squeezing her heart that she burst out crying, "Effiong is dead.” Edo rushed to her, placed his palm on her mouth, "don't say that” he said "Our Creator won’t be that unjust. Ema has been taken away from us; I don't think he would let Effiong be taken too." She looked up at him, his eyes were teary and his hand on her mouth was shaking. Even he too was afraid. "Stop crying, Effiong is alright,” Edo said assuredly. “We will find him," then he embraced her.
Ignoring that it was a school day; the trio secured the house and plodded the path they knew Effiong took every day to the restaurant and back home. The sun was yet to rise but their street was already busy with Motorists queuing up to buy fuel, what many now called “liquid gold”. The petrol scarcity lingered, though the Government had warned citizens not to panic buy assuring them of the availability of the product, yet, petrol stations hoarded the product claiming the price instability affected their profits and caused them to run at a loss, so they weren’t stocking up. Many of the buyers were irritated because they believed petrol stations had petrol but used artificial scarcity to hike prices so they could make more profit. The trio passed by the motorists hardly noticing the brawl between some motorist and tempers flaring among others who were guarding their space in the queue from those that wanted to shunt in. Their senses were attuned to only anyone that looked or sounded like Effiong. “Look out for mama and papa too,” Bassey said to his siblings.
Mama and Papa were far ahead of the trio, they believed if there was a raid that involved the exchange of gunshots in the slum, certainly it would involve Mando and his gang. What was baffling Mama was as hard as Effiong had to work in the restaurant what time did he have to befriend these boys. "May have been the reason he didn't want to go to the university. “Oh, why did we give him the year off?" Mama thought. “Hmmm” she sighed “Let it be that Effiong has only run away from home.”
Alas, they arrived at Mando’s Den; it looked like an abattoir. Tiny pieces of meat splattered on the floor. The smell of blood and gunpowder lingered in the air. Because it rained heavily the previous night, there were puddles of bloody water gathered on the floor, good thing there were no bodies. However, the sight they met broke down any resolve they had of finding Effiong alive.
Groups of people made up of business owners who had been oppressed by the notorious group, passers-by, and some idle youths were already gathered there chanting victory songs. Papa and Mama appeared to be the only ones mourning; if the situation was different, they may have been among those rejoicing. Nevertheless, they were the odd ones out; it was either those rejoicing or those who just watched those rejoicing. Soon, a group of young men realised their oddness, after talking amongst themselves, they approached the Issongs. "One of the dead must be yours; hence you are disrupting our celebration with your crying,” a boy not older than twenty hassled them. “We choose to continue with the momentum set by the police by clearing off any more criminals. Being that you gave birth to one means that you are one- it is a common saying that the child of a goat must be a goat” a voice spoke from behind. The person speaking emerged, and sure, he was the leader of the pack. He took off his shirt and left on his khaki shorts. He was a short, muscular man in his late twenties. Mama and papa were taller than him but his stocky frame, coarse face and husky voice intimidated them. “Yeah!” His supporters agreed. He grabbed Papa and Mama by the neck and whispered to them "I will make an example of you two. Then he announced, "We are roasting this meat”. The rest of the pack cheered and swung into action. While some pushed the crowd backward to create space a few of them ran into corners. Mama and papa received heavy blows on their heads that sent them to their knees. Two boys emerged from a corner each holding a tire racing toward them. The tires were forced down their shoulders to their stomachs wringing in their hands. A third boy emerged with a jerrican of petrol sprinting towards them. Unable to stand back and watch the horrors unfolding a few people from the crowd pushed through the human wall formed by the gang, but were stopped by bars of iron jamming into their skulls, knocking them unconscious, this sent fear to the rest who dared to perform any act of bravery. The boy emptied the jerrican on them and stepped back. "Lighter, matches" the mob commander screamed, "Anything to light them up," hyped by the adrenaline pumping in his body. “Pass me a lighter” He screamed again impatiently before dipping his hand into his pocket and pulling out a lighter. “Aha!” He exclaimed, and then he laughed wryly. “Any last words,” he asked, but Mama and papa didn’t respond. They had already accepted their fate as soon as they received the first blow. It was time to stop fighting, not that they were tired of fighting. If they had the chance they would go on, they had three other children to fend for but they had no more strength to fight a battle they knew they couldn’t win. Irritated by their silence Meska kicked them one after the other in the chest and they landed with their backs on the wet ground, wincing in pain. Then he lit the lighter; at the instance, a gunshot sounded. Meska staggered backward and fell on his back. Two Vans screeched to a halt, the first one belonged to the police and the second to the environmental sanitation department, there to clean up the human remains on the street. The rest of the gang members snapped back to reality from the trance of seeing their leader fall down flat cheaply to one bullet, then they scrambled away, clearing their way with the weapons they held.
The horror show was over and thankfully Mama and papa survived, barely though. The two were already seeing heaven, they didn’t realise they had been saved. The crowd dispersed quickly, especially the youths, because they didn’t want to deal with the police. Majority of youths in the slum had experienced police brutality and many times based on false accusation. Some business owners and a few sympathisers joined the police to help put the Issongs and the others injured in the police van. “We couldn’t do anything, we just watched helplessly” A woman complained to the police as they watch the van speed off to the emergency unit, blaring its siren. “It’s just gone from the reign of one terror group to another,” a man said, “they seem to be more ruthless than the other gang.”
“I’m inspector Ayo and I would like for you all to come with me to the station for your statements”.
“No, I don’t want to give any statement at the station, you people have too much drama” An elderly woman who owned a food kiosk, Madam Nanchat said.
“Please come with us, It will only take a minute, your statement will be very crucial in enforcing peace in this community,” Inspector Ayo cajoled them.
Eleven people from the slum followed the policemen back to the station. They trekked about ten minutes because the Van had been used to take the Issongs to the hospital. By the time they arrived at the station, the cloud had darkened and it thundered, threatening to rain. In front of the police station were the bodies of the slain gang members spread on the floor. Policemen ran with transparent polythene bags and covered the bodies to protect them from the rain. The witnesses passed by the bodies and looked to see if they could recognise any one of them, but they could not see through the polythene bags clearly.
It took about an hour for the police to start recording witness statements, by then it was raining heavily. The witnesses left one after the other after giving their statements. Despite being the first to give her account, Madam Nanchat was stuck outside the station for fear of trekking under the rain and getting sick with pneumonia. Having a car in the slum was a luxury- motorcycles being the only means of transportation available at that time were riskier than walking. She waved the ten witnesses goodbye as they left, they were far younger than her and could withstand the cold.
Standing under the shed in front of the police station, Madam Nanchat noticed movement underneath the polythene bag where the bodies were kept. She freaked out and yelled to alert the police as the person rolled out of the polythene bag covered in blood and gasping with pain. Unable to stand, he dragged himself on the floor with his hands as fast as he could, attempting to escape from the police station. “Why are you making noise here, madam,” A police sergeant asked as he strolled out of the building nonchalantly. She pointed to the crawling man. “We have a runner” the sergeant yelled and ran towards him. The crawling man turned to face them as he continued dragging himself; Madam Nanchat reacted in utter disbelief as she recognised the face, “Effiong” she screamed as she ran towards him. The policeman got to Effiong before her. He stamped his left foot on Effiong’s right hand and stayed firm on it. “Bring a gun,” the sergeant said to the policemen running out of the building and a corporal returned to get a pistol. While he waited for the gun the sergeant began kicking Effiong’s head with his left leg; Effiong curled to his side and raised his left hand to shield his head from the kicks. Madam Nanchat pushed the sergeant off Effiong but she didn’t have the strength to make an impact. On her second attempt, he shoved aside and said: “Do you know you are assaulting an officer of the law?” Sighting the corporal appear with the pistol, Madam Nanchat begged the sergeant not to shoot Effiong. “Fire the head” the sergeant yelled, ignoring her plea and the corporal aimed the gun at Effiong’s head. Madam Nanchat dived on him to protect him. “Get up” The sergeant ordered; the corporal had the pistol pointed at her. “Please don’t shoot him,” she begged, holding onto Effiong as tight as she could and refusing to let go. From his office upstairs, Inspector Ayo heard the commotion in front of the station and went out. He pushed through the crowd of policemen to where Madam Nanchat shielded Effiong “Stop all this” he yelled. “What’s going on here?”
“One of the boys’ isn’t dead and he tried to run away” The sergeant answered. “Madam Nanchat, what are you still doing here? We finished with you hours ago” Inspector Ayo demanded. He stretched out his hand to pull her up, but she declined his help “No, your men will shoot this boy,” she said.
“Do you know him, who is he?” Inspector Ayo asked.
“Effiong” she replied. “It is his parents that were taken to the hospital this morning. He is a good boy. He helps his parents at the restaurant all day, Monday-Saturday,” she added.
“If he is such a good boy, what was he doing with criminals at the time of the night they were busted?” Inspector Ayo quizzed.
“There must be an explanation, please, let’s take this boy to the hospital” Madam Nanchat pleaded.
“Take this criminal to the hospital and waste public funds on him? Every one of them lying down here, their parents would say similar things about them that you’ve said about Effiong but we all know the truth, they are all criminals.”
Curled up on the floor, Effiong was slipping in and out of consciousness due to the banging on his head; he was also losing blood from his gunshot wound. “I can feel him slipping away,” Madam Nanchat cried. She shifted off him and gently turned Effiong who was now unconscious to lie flat on his back. A gaping hole was on his upper right thigh, close to his groin area and blood was still pouring out. “This boy has been bleeding for hours, don’t let him die. He lost his sister from the bullet of the police gun four years ago please do justice……..”
“His sister was killed years ago because she was a criminal and he has followed suit. What a foolish boy,” The sergeant cut in.
“We lost men almost every day to this thugs, some of them have families. Yesterday we were lucky, one casualty but no deaths thankfully. When we are ruthless to these guys you shouldn’t blame us, we are doing our jobs protecting you citizens. A job we are rarely appreciated for.” Inspector Ayo said while he removed his pistol from its pouch around his waist.
All the while a well-dressed young man on his way to the station stopped to watch them, unnoticed. He was contented to stand underneath the shed away from the rain, however, hearing that the boy lost his sister four years ago got him more curious. He stretched to see if he could recognise the boy, but his face was badly beaten. “Excuse me,” The man said as he moved forward. “Morning sir” the policemen halted and saluted him as he passed them. “What’s going on here? He asked as he advanced. Inspector Ayo stood still and saluted, the man saluted back and dropped his hand and Inspector Ayo followed suit. “Sir, we raided the most notorious corner in the slum yesterday and these are the casualties” Inspector Ayo briefed him.
“And him” not waiting for a response he reached out to Madam Nanchat “I’m John Umoh, the officer in charge of this station. I have just been transferred here and this is my first day reporting for duty. Talk to me, is he your son.” Obviously exhausted from the hassling, she responded: “He is innocent”. The police van drove into the station and driver and his accomplice parked the vehicle and removed Meska’s body from the back and put him with the others. “Sir, these men took an old couple supposedly searching for their son – this boy, to the hospital. They were almost lynched by that man, pointing at Meska’s body. Hearing that, Effiong twitched. He tried to open his eyes, but they were swollen. “Madam, do you know his name,” John Umoh asked. “Effiong” she replied.
Effiong who? He asked again.
“Issong” she replied.
John Umoh folded his hands and stayed silent for a bit, his men too kept mute observing his reaction “Ahhh” he exclaimed, “Emabong Issong!” He sighed
