SCENE THREE
The restoration of electricity reveals John on his reading chair. He immediately flips off the desk lamp that he was using to read Barack Obama ‘s The Audacity of Hope before the restoration of light.
JOHN (Holding the newspaper on his laps; he seems infatuated with The Microscope, as he reads it almost every day) Who are these? (He stares at the picture on the front page and later scrolls his eyeballs to the part of the headlines. He reads).
“Harrison, the Eagles Leader; Three statesmen, The Founders’ - read details at page thirty six” (He coughs) does Harrison really want to tarnish the images of these respectable statesmen? This will yield nothing but punishment if it’s truly realised that these men are innocent. How on earth could he have done such? (He pauses). Wait is it Senator Orisayemi, the reputable politician, highly honoured among the traditionalist in virtually every shrine and among the Yoruba that could be believed to have done this?
Rather, shall we imagine Barrister Chukwudi Chiemeka, a vibrant legal practitioner and activist, a well-respected Christian, ‘The ambassador of the Igbo and the nation,’ as he usually says during his admonitions to us youths, to have involved himself in insurrection? (He looks at the statesmen‘s pictures on the front page of the newspaper and shakes his head) Ah! Harrison caused mess, 11 you people. Oh, I almost couldn’t recognize him he looks very sad in the photo; Prof. Danjuma Hassan, the Deputy Governor of Sabo State. Such an influential Hausaman, how could he get involved in such a mess? Perhaps, Harrison would have gone scot free, if he had accused an ordinary street man of such an abysmal crime. (He stands, walks to and fro, dragging his hands on the headrest of the three-seater cushion and goes back to his reading desk, he stands with his arms resting on the desk). We can no longer trust anyone in this twenty-first century world. Can we? I don’t think so. That’s why this case is... (He hisses and wags his head as he sits)... but this is a religious male Muslim.
Harrison has got three buffalos to grapple with at a time. These men are religiously, politically and socially influential. no one, including me, would believe that any of these statesmen could be an accomplice of Harrison.
(He pulls down his eyebrows as though he is interrogating a kid; trying to help him to
throw up the truth). Weren’t these men even conferred with honours about three days ago at their different places of worship? In order to know their reason for engaging in such crime, I will go through the story in the newspaper. Or I should say in order to know Harrison’s reason for accusing them of being his accomplices. (He reads) “‘Harrison, the Eagles Leader; three statesmen, the founders.’
As the Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS) promised, some facts have been gathered about Harrison’s sponsors, his reason for engaging in terrorist acts, and how the terrorist group sprang up. He disconcealed these when interrogated by our correspondent:
Correspondent: Last time we interacted, you said that you were the leader of the Eagles, Mr. Harrison.
Harrison: Yes, I still affirm it. I am the leader, my fathers are the founders.
Correspondent: If I may ask, who are these fathers of yours?
Harrison: Lady, no man is worth being trusted in this life. The three statesmen:
Senator Orisayemi Herbert, Professor Hassan Danjuma, the Deputy Governor of Sabo State; and Barrister Chukwudi Chiemeka, are the founders of the terrorist group.
Correspondent: If it was true that these people you mentioned are the founders, why did you yield to leading such a dreadful group?
(He stops reading) That is the question every reasonable being would ask. How on earth could he subject himself to leading a terrorist group, for God’s sake? (He stretches his hands and looks down at the newspaper with the zest to continue reading it) Oh my gosh! Power outage? (He wags his head) Nigeria is becoming interesting, every scene here has always been nightly and dramatic; I think I have to write a literature text on what is happening here. (He flips his torch on ) I believe that at the end of every tunnel is light: at the end of every night scene of this country is a day scene; a sunny day scene at which everything vivid and obvious awaits us. I will finish this story before sleeping tonight (He continues reading)
Harrison: That’s the question I actually expected. I loved my father exceedingly and I believed he loved me too, because whatever I asked him, he would do. Since I have been able to differentiate between my left and right hands, Senator Orisayemi had never refuted any request of mine.
In fact, hardly had I graduated from secondary school when he and his friend, Prof. Hassan Danjuma, sent me and Mariam, his daughter, abroad. Mariam was my primary school mate, she became my intimate friend in primary three. Also, in the university, the University College London (UCL), she was the closest person to me.
I met another lady too whose name is Flora, she is a skinny and beautiful lady. She is to be the only daughter of Barrister Chukwudi Chiemeka. She rarely comes to Nigeria. I met John, my... (He stops reading) This guy just mentioned my name? Did he want to incriminate me too? I don’t care about other names he has mentioned but his mentioning mine is what I detest. (He continues reading).
Harrion: “... John my intimate friend as soon as I was through with my degree programme in the UCL...
Correspondent: Sorry for interrupting.., what course did you study?
Harrison: Biochemistry... after my degree programme, my father brought the idea of going to military school, I concurred because I had flair for the military since childhood and I graduated from the UCL very young.
I was enrolled in a military school, headed by one General Walter Hughes. We lived very close to the UCL and I only went home once in a while, in as much as I had my room on the military campus I saw no reason to go home frequently.
The fulfillment of my destiny began as planned on the day I phoned Mariam and informed her that I would be coming home that night - we lived together. Her response was inviting. I zoomed my red Honda car home delightedly. As I creaked the door open, I got struck with what I saw,, I shivered in my black leather wet cardigan. A guy was on her, struggling to have fun with her,, Mariam screamed for help. I rushed in and aggressively gave the man an elbow knock on his nape with the notion of concussing him.
Correspondent: What did you do after concussing him?
Harrison: We had to wait for him to wake after Mariam had handcuffed him. She worked with the intelligence of the US, so she applied all the knowledge she had to bring him back to life, so that we could report in the police station; but he seemed to have died. We were troubled, we didn’t know what to do.
Luckily, it was announced that there would be power outage for some minutes. The imminent darkness brought a dark idea into Mariam’s mind. We should go and drop his body in a place very far away, she advised.
Correspondent: What did you do then?
Harrison: I seized the opportunity; I drove speedily to a very far place as Mariam had suggested and I dropped the remains there. However, while dropping it off the car, from nowhere, I was given snapshots twice. I thought it was lightning because I didn’t hear the flash sound. I drove home with a sigh of relief that solution was approaching. How unpredictable we human beings are! Some minutes ago my heart was as light as air and, soon, it became something like an hundred kilograms weight carried by a twelve-year-old boy; my heart was heavy, too heavy to be borne by my ribcage.
Correspondent: What did you do when you got home?
Harrison: When I reached home, I immediately accessed his bio data on the net through the materials I got from his pocket and I realized that he is an half caste of Nigeria and America. I got the information that his father was a member of Real Countrymen’s Party (RCP), an antagonistic party to my father’s party, and his mother is a reporter... to be continued in page fifty-two.”
JOHN: (He flips to page 52) So, my friend was manipulated,. I shall not fold my arms and let those people go unscathed;’ I will not avenge by killing but I will ensure that this case is not just puffed like some other ones. I’ll surely tail it to the end and ensure that justice is done at its utmost. (He continues reading) “... continued from page nine.
Correspondent: Did you tell your father that...
Harrison: I did tell him. He told me that all I could do was to start killing whoever knew about it or whoever the case concerned.
Correspondent: And what reason did he give you for bringing such an idea?
Harrison: He said it would become a means of propaganda against him and his party, if the secret is revealed. He further said it would be a disgrace to us if it happened to be a court case and we lost to them.
Correspondent: The snapshots you were given that night, what was the outcome?
Harrison: Yeah, the next day, I saw it on the TV news, but I was wearing a face cap; and luckily the person could only capture my back.
Correspondent: What was Mariam’s opinion about your father’s idea?
Harrison: She urged me to start; she worked with the US intelligence as I said earlier, so, she’ could provide me detailed information. I was trapped, I became a terrorist group leader. Virtually all the people whose information I was given were members of as an opposition party.
Correspondent: This implies that you were manipulated by Senator Orisayemi as an instrument to be used against his political enemies?
Harrison: Yes, I could only perceive it a little then; I wasn’t convinced. They really caught my Achilles’ heel. So I didn’t think I could turn back when I perceived that I was being used by him.
-Correspondent: With all what you’ve stated, it could be blue, red to you that they were not giving you those orders to your own advantage. Rather, you were not convinced of being manipulated, according to what you said. What particularly, then, convinced you that you were being manipulated by your fathers and Mariam? How was everything revealed to you?
Harrison: The light of revelation shone on the night of my ignorant mind when the pursuit was hot in London? I took my flight back to Nigeria with John, my friend. I didn’t tell him a word about everything happening. In fact, he regarded me as a weakling. All he knew was that we went to the UCL together. He knew nothing about me beyond campus life. I did everything to ensure I avoided him. Yet he would call and I wouldnt pick his calls...
Correspondent; kindly go straight to the point, time is a terrorist against us.
Harrison: In a nutshell, it was Barrister Chukwudi’s daughter, Flora, that revealed everything to me. She gave me a flash drive which contained every agreement of using me. They were the authors of my life. Almost every character I met was the work of their creation. Mariam herself always said to me; be careful of caring parents, be careful of intimate friends, for they might be the most distant people from you in their hearts . All I did was to commend her for her wise saying, I had never thought of her being harmful to me, I loved and trusted her with no thought of asking her out. The half caste man is one of the villainous characters they created against me. They knew that love, loyalty and temperament were my flaws; they studied all these in me and applied them.
Correspondent: And what was Flora’s opinion?
Harrison: She advised me to turn myself in.
Correspondent: Didn’t you suspect that she too was used against you?
Harrison: Truly, had the feeling. I perceived that her advice that I should turn myself was for the purpose of executing me after being through with using me. But in all she said, I perceived elements of truth. What actually spurred my turning in is to know if Orisayemi Herbert is my
‘mouth father’ on am his real son. Another reason is: I want peace for this country, I want progress, I don’t want our youths to fall into the trap of manipulation. I want everybody to learn
from my flaws. To aid this, I deliberately want the press to interrogate me, lest this information is withheld.
Correspondent: Where is Mariam now?
Harrison : Mariam? I killed her.
Correspondent : She is an Intelligencer in the US according to what you said; and apparently, those people are wise beyond measure, w did you manage to kill her?
Harrison: A week after the particular day that I promised her I would arrive, she arrived at Nigeria to know what could have delayed me. I told her that I had to execute some people. This exactly, was what I told her when she called from America. She trusted my innocence and obliviousness as I trusted her faithfulness and allegiance before I knew who she really was, this made killing her easy. We had a nice time together in the bathroom, in the course of which she told me that if she had known I had feelings for her from the scratch, she wouldn’t have offended me. I didn’t know if she was saying her mind or wanted to get information from me. I sensed bitterness in the sweetness of our action; it reached a stage which she closed. I mourned her. She was as close to me as blood could be to veins.
Correspondent : Sorry.
Harrison : Why sorry? It’s my joy that I did that.
Correspondent : You said you love this country earlier ,but don’t you think that killing an intelligence operative of the US could be a threat to the security of this country?
Harrison : Yeah, I knew that but I think that, with the strategy of using the press, the US
Intelligence, too, would understand that Mariam was involved in terrorism and she could be of a threat to the security of their country.
Correspondent: That is true. Thank you today for entertaining us, Mr. Harrison.
Harrison: You’re welcome, gentle lady.
JOHN (he stops reading) Ah! (Tears glimmer on his face) Harrison, I am sorry for judging in ignorance. I am sorry for not being inquisitive enough, I am sorry for not visiting you constantly, I am sorry for not being a good friend. At least, I would have had a bit of knowledge of what was going on. Maybe I was just a stranger to the closest people to me, very close to me physically, but informatively far away (He flips the torch off and flounders towards the bedroom).