Chapter Three
649 Words
The Court Martial and the Aftermath
Brigadier General Tanko Abdullahi did not break. He would become Christopher Mbakwe' s first and only failure. Mbakwe would never forget him.
Mbakwe had read up on him. He started understanding the man. He understood what he was up against. Tanko was not an ordinary man. He was driven by something too powerful, that his drugs could not tear down.
He took a picture of Tanko and kept it hanging on the wall of his private office, to remind him of the man he could not break.
A court martial would be held and he, along with Major Ganiyu Okurounmu, will be disgracefully dismissed from the army, stripped of all their ranks, medals and entitlements.
They would be transferred to civilian custody after their dismissal, for a formal civil hearing.
A civil court would drag for a few months. It would be the most watched court sessions in the country's history. No lawyer of repute in the country, wanted his or her name in the defense docket. A small time lawyer, seeking airtime on national television, would take up their defense.
Tanko did most of the defending, as he lectured his lawyer throughout the proceedings, even though he knew it was fruitless.
A verdict of guilt wasn't difficult to reach. The judge sentenced them immediately. Death by firing squad.
The President picked another Southeasterner to replace the late Vice President.
The Late Vice President will receive state burial and his family will be given a very generous pension to live on.
The Senate President, Dr. Gerald Olufemi, fled the country. He was in his private hotel with his most trusted aides when the news broke.
His police and GDSS guards had tried to detain him, but his aides smuggled him out of the building.
After several millions of Gongolan pounds exchanged hands, he was taken across the border to Benin Republic, where he had businesses and buildings under assumed names.
His property and businesses in Gongola were confiscated, while his family members in the country were detained for a while.
The Governor of his state ordered the demolition of his houses in the state, and his lands were foreclosed by the state.
A new Senate President from Iyi State was elected to replace him.
The former Senate President was declared wanted by Interpol, and had to spend millions of Gongolan pounds to buy the silence of some corrupt officials in Benin Republic, to keep him hidden.
Tanko and Major Ganiyu Okurounmu's execution was televised around the world with some sensor restrictions.
A p********e was watching television that day with her roommate, while waiting for the night to resume her trade.
“That’s the man I told you about,” she told her roommate pointing at the television screen.
“Which man?”
“The Army man wey wan die of convulsion,” she replied pointing at Tanko who was tied to a drum on the TV screen.
“The wan wey wan r**e you to death?”
“That one,” she confirmed.
“Eyaaa,” the other p********e exclaimed. “Chai, so I no go get my own chance make he r**e me too?”
“You no well.”
“Na that kind people I dey like,” the p********e said. “Na the only time I got feel sex.”
“You no well I dey tell you.”
“Wetin them say he do, wey make them tie am for drum for firing squad?”
As the soldiers lined up in front of the condemned men, Tanko turned to one of the cameras.
"It's not over," Tanko said.
He wore a smile on his face as the bullets struck him.
Across the nation, his message was received by several army officers who silently watched the execution. They all got to their feet in their various locations, and saluted him as he succumbed to the cold embrace of death.
For Tanko, at last, he can sleep peacefully. He has been delivered of his demons.
- Writer
