INIKPI

Ayisha. The conclusion.

Part Three

The 2007 general election was gathering momentum. President Victor Abela's rating along with that of his party members was at an all time low. The absence of the Bama girls coupled with the falling standard of living and rising insecurity were points the opposition parties capitalized on to intensify their quest to wrest power from the ruling party. Abela, himself, knew he had to go the extra mile to ensure he returned to Aso Rock after the elections and he was willing to do just that.

The failed attempt to snuff life out of the leading opposition candidate - Alhaji Ciroma, which he directed his Chief Security Officer to handle with utmost secrecy, had added to his poor rating. He secretly resolved to sack the Chief Security Officer if he returned to office for a second time for gross ineptitude.

His next move was bizarre. He granted state pardon to all ex-convicts who could help him, one way or the other, to win the election. One of these persons had jumped bail from the United States of America dressed as a woman. He had been arrested for money laundering when he was a governor in one of the states in Nigeria. On getting back to the country, he was impeached and, after a shoddy trial at the law courts, he was sent to jail for only two years after entering a plea bargain that saw him returning part of his loot.

Chief Ozekomor London - the culprit, was not only given a state pardon, the rumour mills were agog with information he would be contesting the 2007 elections as the ruling party's candidate to represent his senatorial district in the National Assembly.

Another ex-convict that was granted state pardon was Chief Edward Oladunni from the South West part of the country. Oladunni had served a two-year jail term for corruptly awarding contracts when he was the Managing Director at the Nigerian Maritime Agency. Abela’s legal aids were able to prove that the incident was not yet an offence in Lagos State when he committed it. This got people confused.

A wanted drug baron who escaped arrest in London was another beneficiary of Abela’s desperation. Not only was Chief Wale Durosimi given the clean bill of health, he was also the ruling party's flag bearer in the race for the Senate in his state. Abela’s agents had arm twisted the other candidates at the party's primaries and had used enormous amounts of money as bribe to ensure Durosimi emerged the eventual winner.

Chunks of dollars were also shared among members of the Actors' Guild of Nigeria, National Union of Road Transport Workers, Ndigbo Coalition - a pan- Igbo socio-cultural group and their Yoruba and Hausa counterparts - the Oduduwa People's Association and the Arewa Assembly, respectively, by the Chief Security Officer to support the ruling party.

President Abela's wife has not been complacent. She had been using her office as the First Lady of the country to mobilize support for her husband and his party.

Governors of all the states especially those states where the ruling party held sway, were made to contribute chunks of money monthly to her office, usually after receiving their monthly allocation from the Federal Government. Those who were reluctant to pay soon found operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission asking probing questions concerning their state’s finances.

On a daily basis, bags of rice, tins of milk, wrappers etc were shared to women during her interactions with them in order to win their support during the elections.

******

The one week truce was over in Sambisa Forest but the excitement still hung in the air. No one could believe their leader - Abdul Shekau's parents were still alive but the fact was indisputable.

On the eighth day after their entry into Sambisa Forest with his parents and family, Shekau summoned a security meeting where his fifteen key loyalists including Abu Qaqa and Aminu attended.

“Gentlemen, the party is over,” he remarked tersely. “We must get to work to capture more territories and consolidate our hold on captured territories,” he explained further.

It was at this point Alhaji Idris walked in. His entry was completely unexpected and unannounced.

“You must give up this life you are living now,” he stated solicitously. “I will not allow my son live the life of a fugitive with the blood of so many innocent souls on his hands.”

“Did you say innocent souls?” Shekau countered hotly. “Any one not doing the will of Allah cannot be called innocent.”

“Where in the Holy Koran did you –” a hot slap from Shekau instantly cut him off.

“Get him out of here!” he further instructed.

Two of the men promptly jumped to their feet and dragged the old man out of the duplex. He made an attempt to resist but the men were too strong for him.

The meeting was declared adjourned as soon as the men returned.

******

Alone in the room he was taken to, Alhaji Idris became instantly convinced his son was mad. The look in his eyes when he had slapped him and had ordered him to be taken out convinced him of this beyond the shadow of a doubt.

“How could I have fathered such a son?” he asked himself the tears rushing to his eyes.

The whole thing was beginning to look like a nightmare all over again. Momentarily, his mind wandered to that fateful night when he sneaked into Ayisha’s hut and forcefully took her innocence.

“So this monster of a son is the outcome of that misadventure?” he wondered aloud with the tears flowing freely from his eyes this time.

“Who would have believed the infamous Abdul Shekau is my own son? My own son!” he was screaming this time. The anguish was heart rending.

******

In another area of that camp in Sambisa Forest, Ayisha was still relishing the re-union with her son after so many years. She frequently raised both hands to heaven in praise of Allah for what she considered nothing short of a miracle. She had been given her own quarters and told to ask for anything she needed and it would be provided without delay.

That evening, however, her joy changed to sorrow. She had taken a walk to one of the nearby buildings and was shocked to see young girls, girls - some as young as she was and some even younger than she was when Alhaji Idris took advantage of her decades back, held in confinement against their wish. Even though no one told her, she knew from the look in the eyes of the girls that they were being sexually molested. Several of them were crammed into rooms not more than twelve feet by ten feet and each had a forlorn look in her eyes.

“Who are these young girls?” she managed to ask a turban-wearing man wielding an A.K 47 and patrolling the area.

She got no response. Not a sound escaped the man’s lips. For all he cared, she may not even be in existence.

She made up her mind she would confront her son directly over the issue. She could not bear to see her son toeing the footsteps of his father on a much higher scale.

******

Finally, it was September 2007 - a month away from the much anticipated elections. President Victor Abela and Alhaji Ahmadu Ciroma were the candidates to beat among those angling to occupy Aso Rock. Their political parties were also more likely to win majority of the positions at the National Assembly, state and local government levels from the findings of Public Opinion Polls conducted by both the government and private organizations.

In the build-up to the elections, assassination attempts - some successful and some not successful, became the order of the day. The opposition politicians were the major victims.

Security personnel, in their number, were drafted to ensure peace reigned all across the length and breadth of the country but, from all indications, they had been properly briefed by their superior officers to ensure President Abela and his party’s candidates won by all means.

Injunctions and counter injunctions were also sought by different candidates to stop their rivals from contesting the elections all over the states. Those who could afford it had travelled out of the country with their relations. The tension was palpable.

The country’s electoral body had decided the Presidential elections will hold first to be followed, a week later, with the National Assembly, state assembly and the gubernatorial elections. The local government elections were to be held afterwards by the state electoral commissions on state by state basis.

Television and radio jingles increased urging the electorates to vote the candidate sponsoring them and their parties. Newspapers and magazines were not left out as advert spaces were taken announcing reasons why one candidate or the other should be voted for. Documentaries alleging misconduct on the part of one candidate or the other or a party's chieftain were also sponsored thereby, leaving the courts overflowing with suits.

The social media were not left out as individuals - some paid and some acting for patriotic reasons, took to twitter, f*******:, w******p etc calling on the electorates to vote a particular candidate or the other and adducing reasons why his/her rivals should not be voted for. Analysts were unanimous in their views it was going to be the most keenly contested in the history of Nigeria.

******

Eventually, it was a week to the elections and the chaos increased. Going by the injunctions emanating from the law courts, it was clear some of the judges had been badly compromised by some desperate politicians.

Boko Haram militants in the North, Niger Delta militants in the South South, some unscrupulous members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Autonomous State of Biafra in the South East and the Oduduwa People's Association in the South West did all in their power to ensure the candidates who paid for their services, won the election and this led to violent confrontations among members of the groups leaving many dead or injured all around the country.

The results of the Presidential polls started trickling in less than twenty four hours after the voting exercise. The result favoured President Abela, at one point, and, at another, the pendulum swung in favour of Alhaji Ciroma.

Finally, the results were announced.

A new President had emerged in the person of Alhaji Ciroma! It was unprecedented in the history of the country that an opposition party's candidate would win an election at that level and left the world shocked.

Abela did not take things lying low. He promised to hand over but challenge the result in court.

At the National Assembly level, the main opposition party won the majority of the seats vied for. The same happened at the gubernatorial and state house of assembly levels across the states.

It was the first time such would be happening in the history of the country.

******

In his maiden address to the nation, President Ciroma left no one in doubt he meant business. He promised to probe the previous administration and recover all looted funds belonging to the country. He announced the new head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and urged him to get to work instantly. The names of the new service chiefs, Inspector General of Police and Chief Security Officer were also made public and told to go after the Boko Haram insurgents with vigour.

Within weeks, former President Abela, his service chiefs, the Inspector General of Police under him, as well as his Chief Security Officer, were arrested. Some former governors under him including Alhaji Sanni Musdaper were arrested for offences ranging from embezzlement of public funds to murder. Their trials in the law courts began in earnest.

Soon, the diversion of funds by the former service chiefs rather than buy arms for their troops was discovered. At the end of their trial, their accounts containing billions of naira were frozen while their houses located in Abuja, Paris, Dubai, London and America were confiscated. They were also sentenced to long years in jail along with all those found to have aided and abetted them in anyway.

Abela’s challenge of the results that removed him from office was found to lack merit and the suit was thrown out. Shortly after, the sleaze he had been involved in were made public and after the trial in the law courts where his lawyers tried to use technicalities to frustrate the trial, he was sentenced alongside his wife and chieftains of his party to long prison terms. His property scattered all over the world were also confiscated and handed over to the government.

******

Ayisha was taken aback when Shekau told her not to mind what she had seen and focus on other things, when she eventually got to ask him about the incarcerated young girls.

“Just enjoy yourself here and leave that issue alone,” he told her with a tone of finality.

“How can I look the other way and enjoy myself when you are repeating the very evil your father committed against me on a much larger scale?” she asked tears already flowing from her eyes. Shekau would have none of it. He simply walked away from her and instructed his personal guards not to allow her unfettered access to him from then on.

Ayisha retired to the quarter she was given - a well furnished room and parlour, and wept uncontrollably refusing to eat for days.

Alhaji Idris was also barred from seeing Shekau and when he asked to be allowed to go back to his palace, he was told in clear terms he could not leave. Kano was now an enclave of Boko Haram and a town could not have two kings. They expected him to understand that.

As the days turned into weeks and weeks turned to months, he soon realized he was a prisoner in his son’s enclave. He was not maltreated though. His three square meals, well prepared, were served him in his room, religiously and, from time to time, well tailored babariga were sent to him so he could have change of clothes.

The same treatment was meted out to Shekau's half brothers and sisters as well as Alhaji Idris’ last wife who were carried into Sambisa Forest on the night Kano fell to the insurgents.

******

The news of Alhaji Ciroma’s victory at the polls, hit Shekau like a bomb. He summoned an emergency meeting as soon as the news was confirmed over the television. He knew, even though Ciroma was a Muslim, he was equally a no-nonsense person. He enjoined all his men to be alert to prevent losing captured territories to the Nigerian forces.

True to his predictions, checking the menace of the Boko Haram sect in the North was one of the cardinal objectives of the Ciroma administration as contained in his maiden broadcast to the nation. Shekau and his key officials had listened to the broadcast with rapt attention smiling mirthlessly.

A month after he was sworn in, Alhaji Ciroma ordered an air raid over Sambisa Forest. Even though the attack did not affect his own part of the forest, Shekau knew he had to take pro-active measures to prevent the new administration from decimating his captured territories.

He summoned another emergency meeting and dictated orders that should be relayed to the rank and file, with immediate effect, to the fifteen men gathered.

******

President Ciroma’s anti-graft war left no one in doubt he meant business. Soon, the international community who had lost confidence in Nigeria due to the high corruption level of former President Abela's administration began to repose confidence in him.

He travelled officially to the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Saudi Arabia and many other countries in Europe and South America. He also visited sister African countries like Ghana, Niger Republic, Chad, Cameroun etc. The only issues he discussed on these visits were how the countries could help Nigeria to check the menace the Boko Haram insurgents were posing in the sub-region and the need for these countries to help to locate the loot of corrupt government officials stashed away in their countries and help to return them to Nigeria to help in developmental purposes.

Soon, aids in terms of weapons, logistics and information began to pour in leading to the arrest of individuals and politicians who had helped to enrich the sect due to their desperation for power. Ciroma’s economic policies also effectively cut off external sources of funds to the group. Gradually, the soldiers started getting better arms and ammunition while the standard of living in the Internally Displaced Individuals' camps, scattered around the Northern states and Abuja, improved tremendously.

Alliances were formed among the different countries the insurgents operated in. Cameroun sent three thousand troops, Niger Republic sent two thousand troops, Chad sent one thousand five hundred and even Mali sent a thousand troops. More ammunition and weapons were donated to this force which took the name Allied Forces, by America, the United Kingdom , Saudi Arabia , France and so on and the offensive soon took a different shape.

Konduga Local Government Area was re-captured first after an intense battle lasting many days. No insurgent was spared. Ngala Local Government Area followed. Soon, other captured Local Government Areas in Yobe, Kaduna, Kano, Adamawa and the other states came under intense bombardment by the Allied Forces.

While escaping from Bama in Bornu State, the fleeing insurgents, in an attempt not to leave their wives and children behind to be taken prisoners, killed them with their own hands promising to re-unite with them in Al Janna whenever Allah said their time was up here on earth. Over three hundred corpses were discovered of these people by the Allied Forces when they entered the town and recaptured it.

In the celebration that followed, Sergeant Bodija and his co-accused soldiers were given a Presidential pardon and re-integrated into the Army. All their entitlements, dating back many months, were paid in full to them.

******

The tension in Sambisa Forest was palpable. It seemed for the first time in many years that the opposition fighters were having the upper hand. Shekau’s mood was terrible. His only appearances on YouTube nowadays were just to boost the ego of his fighters. He knew his days were numbered if he did not come up with a new strategy but he purposed to go down fighting rather than give himself up to the authorities.

Severally, mini surveillance drones were sent out to monitor their activities in Sambisa. Shekau knew the primary target was the Bama Girls he had abducted years back and he was prepared to fight to continue keeping them. He knew, but for them, an aerial raid would have been ordered over the entire Sambisa by President Ciroma.

Almost on a monthly basis, there was always an empty seat whenever he summoned security meetings of the fifteen supreme leaders of the group. Aminu went down first. Only eight attended the last meeting. None could tell if they had died or simply absconded but Shekau assumed they were dead. He could not imagine any one of them absconding. Their pictures had since been circulated with a huge amount promised anyone who could volunteer any information leading to their arrest. The Boko Haram leader was implacable.

Alhaji Idris missed Kano greatly. He could not imagine leaving the splendor of his palace where his word was law, to live in a forest, of all places, the way he had been doing for months now.

One night, he took the decision to take action no matter what came out of it. He hatched his plan carefully.

******

Sergeant Olawale Bodija’s re-union with his family was very emotional. Abike - his wife, held unto him very tightly and sobbed uncontrollably. Their only son did not even recognize him. He was about two years old now. Bodija held unto both of them tightly. He could not thank Allah enough. President Ciroma had restored him to his original position and all his past entitlements paid to him and his colleagues. The newly appointed Chief of Army Staff had re-opened their file after discovering that the billions of naira meant for the purchase of arms to fight the insurgents, were illegally siphoned by his predecessor and he had made his recommendation to the President.

Sergeant Bodija and his colleagues were given two months' holiday to spend with their loved ones and were to report to the offices in their respective states afterwards. The Army authorities felt they had put in enough in the fight against the insurgents.

******

It took Alhaji Idris two weeks to perfect his plans. Finally, it was D-Day.

Feigning illness, he explained to the two guards monitoring him that he needed to stay outdoors and receive fresh air, that night. The guards saw nothing to be worried about and agreed. That marked their undoing.

Alhaji Idris carefully moved towards their A.K 47 hanging on a tree around them, hastily took down one, corked it and fired at the guards. They went down instantly, stone dead. Moving as fast as his frame could allow, Alhaji Idris approached the front door of his son's residence and took down the three guards stationed there before they could reach for their rifles. He had not served as a Sergeant in the Police during the colonial era for nothing.

As soon as he gained entry into Shekau’s room, he met him standing with his rifle pointed in his direction. The previous shots had alerted him.

Their two rifles went off at the same time.

Alhaji Idris was caught by a bullet in his stomach while Shekau was caught by one on his left arm.

The rifle fell from Alhaji Idris' hands prompting Shekau to drop his own and rush towards him.

“Father!” he screamed. It was the first time he would be calling him that.

“It…It…It… is better to die than live in such ignominy,” he said weakly with blood dripping from his mouth adding “I…I…I… am paying for my sin with my life... So be it. May Allah’s will be done… I accept it.”

He coughed out sputum mixed with blood at this point and gave up the ghost with his head lying in Shekau’s right hand.

Shekau's pained scream could be heard for kilometres within Sambisa Forest.

******

Alhaji Idris was buried the following morning according to Islamic injunctions right inside Sambisa Forest. His last wife, five children who were captured in the Kano attack and Ayisha were at his graveside. All wept bitterly.

Shekau with his left hand draped in bandages, wore a sober look with deep pain written all over his face.

He had killed his own father with his own hands. Even though he had done it in self defense, he never stopped wishing he had shot him in the arm or leg - anything to demobilize him but death. He knew no amount of guilt could bring his father back so he took it all in his strides.

Later, while alone though, he shed bitter tears. Life had been too unfair to him, he reasoned. He refused to sleep with any girl that night and for the many nights that followed.

******

The Allied Forces knew time was of the essence in the prosecution of the war against the insurgents. They knew consistency in their attacks was vital if they were to bring the insurgents to their knees on time and prevent them from regrouping to counter their attacks.

While the Army fought on the ground, the Air Force launched one aerial attack after the other after sending in mini drones to monitor where civilian captives were held to minimize collateral damage especially of children and women.

The new insurance policy initiated by President Ciroma which ensured the family of any slain officer is given proper care and support especially in training the children to any level academically coupled with the new sophisticated arms and ammunition they were kitted with, gave the men a fresh boost of energy.

Soon, all the Local Government Areas had been recaptured remaining only Sambisa Forest. Shekau ensured mines were planted all around the entry points. Occasionally, a soldier stepped on one, igniting it and sending many men to their early graves. This, coupled with the need not to kill innocent captives in the forest, caused the advance of the men to be painfully slow.

******

Shekau no longer took aphrodisiacs. Women no longer interested him. He depended more now on h****n and m*******a to keep going and bawled orders to the few key officers remaining to get his orders across for onward transmission to the rank and file who were now running out of Sambisa in droves. Many of them were arrested at the borders of the countries they attempted to run into and promptly sent to prison.

Soon, lawmakers in the different West African countries started enacting laws making terrorism an offence punishable by death by hanging. All the prisoners previously being endlessly held in prisons in Nigeria and the other countries were tried under this law and the guilty ones were summarily executed.

Out of the over fifty camps the sect had in Sambisa, only twenty remained intact. The others had been taken over by the advancing soldiers. The same method was applied by the Allied Forces - the majority of the sect members were killed in battle while those who surrendered on their own, were taken and sent off to prison. The rescued captives were sent to a place prepared for them within the barracks. This place contained a well equipped hospital with medical doctors, nurses and psychologists on hand to attend to them. A dormitory with well laid beds also existed for them to rest before embarking on their journey to their different homes as soon as they were declared fit to do so. They were also fed three times a day.

******

Even though Shekau continued to prevent Ayisha from reaching him, she never stopped trying to reach him. She did not know what was happening in the outside world since she did not have a radio or television set in her room but her instincts told her all was not well within the enclave.

From time to time, meetings were held in Shekau’s sitting room but the arrival and departure of the attendees only seemed to increase the tension in the enclave.

Soon Shekau ordered bunkers to be built to serve as an escape route in case of aerial bombardments which were beginning to get closer.

This was the situation until one fateful day. A surprise aerial attack had just happened leaving only few of Shekau's men hidden within the bunkers with him and many of the young girls and women unhurt. Apparently, a drone had been sent out to locate their position before the fatal attack took place. It had lasted less than five minutes but the damage was enormous.

As soon as the raid ended, Shekau, now in a rage, asked for the Bama Girls and the other women to be brought out and made to form a queue. To the amazement of all, Shekau started shooting them one after the other at close range.

Pandemonium was let loose over Sambisa. None of his soldiers could dare to stop him. All attempts by the victims to try to run were thwarted by the insurgents who kept pushing them back.

Shekau was on the fifteenth victim when his body was suddenly riddled with bullets from a rifle. No one had seen Ayisha pick up the rifle of one of the Boko Haram fighters killed in the air raid earlier on and proceed to shoot at her son. She moved like someone in a trance. No one could tell how she learnt to operate the rifle.

As soon as the rifle’s magazine was empty, it dropped out of her hands and she screamed. It was a long piercing scream - the scream from a woman who had known pain almost all her life.

No one could tell if the arrival of the Allied Forces who landed in parachutes clutching sub-machine guns spitting fire even before their feet touched the ground, commando style, is what saved Ayisha from being killed by the members of the sect or if it was divine providence.

As soon as the remaining insurgents were killed with many surrendering willingly, Ayisha, who looked like someone in a trance, along with the remaining Bama Girls and other civilian captives, were carried to safety outside Sambisa Forest bringing the era of Abdul Shekau and the Boko Haram sect to an end.