Returned

Taking Over

Five

Taking Over

The Chinese had taken over everything. Their first wave of invasion had come in the summer of 2039. But the invasion had not been an outright take-over like some coup de tat. It had been more subtle, insidious… pernicious, and it was successful because the Nigerian governments had sold out a long time ago. It had begun some time in 2015, when the Government of the time had taken insurmountable amounts of loans from the Chinese Government. The Chinese too, had been a willing lender, but with more sinister motives beneath.

The Chinese loans had amounted in several trillions of dollars; money that was never invested, or put to use on rather trivial projects without any Return on Investments. Most of the other cash had been carted away into the coffers of politicians and their associates… and the cabals. It had gotten to a point the corruption in the government had been high, and ostensibly, the military had to take-over power from the politicians in a coup de tat.

The coups had begun in West Africa around 2021, with countries like Chad, Gabon, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Sudan all coming under the wing of military rule after a long prevalence of democracy in the West of Africa. Several other African countries like Cameroun, Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea and others, had later followed. Soon, most of Africa had returned to military rule with a succession of coup de tats as it had been in the mid twentieth century. Nigeria had been one of the last in the fold, as the politicians had corrupted the high ranking officers with a lot of money and had kept them from any coup action.

The strategy had worked for a time. And the more reason it worked was the Chinese’ interest in Nigerian affairs. Most of what circulated in the Nigerian economy was their money, or so they presumed. Now, they tried everything they could to maintain control over Nigerian affairs. But when Nigerian politicians again turned their dynamic gaze of financial need to the Canadians, the Chinese would not have any of that, so they sponsored a coup in Nigeria through the junior military officers who would be answerable to them, in a more consistent and docile manner. But the officers had been naïve and not strong enough to maintain the large economy, so the Chinese had offered to send troops and economic experts to help run the Government on the sidelines for a period of four years, after which they would leave the country and have the indigenous army conduct a transitional election and hand over power to the politicians.

But they never left. Or showed any signs of leaving anymore. After five years into the initial arrangement, more troops were sent in from China, and soon, the Nigerian army was outnumbered in an unlikely marriage fusion of an elite military coalition known as the Chinese-Nigerian International Special Forces. More worrisome however, was the fact that, most of the Chinese artillery forces and infantry divisions were made up entirely of the robots. Only the commanding officers and General Staff were actual Chinese nationals by blood. The resulting effect was that there were no more Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; not even something in its neighborhood.

With the army weakened and largely Chinalised, the top tiers of Government fell gently to Chinese grip. The army was massaged into conducting an election for positions in the parliament. The central Government was led by a premier who was not a commander in chief in the sense of the word. The Chinese-Nigerian International Special Forces (CNISF) was led by General Woo Kim Ma. And the Nigerian premier, a Fulani from the Northern part of the country, Rufai Ismaila, reported to Jon Cho Tung, the most powerful man in the country.

Cho Tung single-handedly ran the Nigerian economy and had privatized all Government owned companies and institutions including the Central Bank. Cho Tung superimposed all affairs in the country including that of CNISF and served as the direct conduit to Beijing. The Nigerian premier ran the civil and public services but under the tight supervision of Mr. Cho. Generally, Nigeria was under colonial rule once again.

China, Russia and India had become the world economic powers and had succeeded in dominating the United Nations’ Security Council. Most of the decisions made by the body were influenced by these nations, with the US and Britain having to concur even under disagreeable circumstances. The colonies that had now been instituted on the moon and Mars were primarily owned by these three powers, with a small fraction left to the US, Britain and UAE.

Of course, the US and Britain were still powerful nations, but they had chosen to lower their grip on international politics in order to concentrate on their weakened economies that had been hit terribly by cryptocurrency in the past twenty years and the recurrent pandemics which had been orchestrated by the Chinese for that special purpose. The Dollar, Pound and Euro had dwindled drastically in value. Now, the US and Britain were said to have been back to the drawing board, concentrating on their citizenry and strengthening their economic reserves. In the meantime, Russia, China and India, were blasting off on top gear, trying to shame the world and put most of Africa under wraps of new colonization. The UAE had also become a big figure on the international scene, but they deliberately kept away from the politics, concentrating on getting richer and stronger, and minding their business. They too had built colonies on Mars.

In all of this, the Nigerian identity had taken a downward turn. There was much bickering amongst the tribes and blames directed to one tribe or the other, as to who had opened the gateway for the Chinese incursion. All indigenous multinational businessmen had naturally aligned with the new authority and carefully shunned any politics that sought to malign that authority. But they too were not as powerful as they had been; only, they were independent and free to operate their business, and have something for their dining tables. But their independence still had to depend on the sympathies of Jon Cho. Nobody was courageous enough to dare the Chinese, as far as the status quo was concerned.

But as always, Jennifer had been the smart one. Despite Cho’s power, he had the ears of Jennifer. She had met the Chinese man in Singapore during her days with Atir. Cho had been a young man then, rising in the drug business. Anyone who knew him at the time was aware of his ambition, but even Jennifer would confess that Cho had surpassed all expectations. He had climbed to the very Zenith of Beijing’s power and had almost single-handedly masterminded the Nigerian take-over. But now, he had to depend on ground sources like Jennifer, to maintain a stronger grip on the economy and its peoples. Jennifer too didn’t mind at all. There was nothing she could do to curtail the unfortunate situation of the Nigerian peoples. Besides, she had not brought this upon the nation; she only needed to do her part now, for her own dining table too. Who could dare do otherwise?

It was only unfortunate that a good peasant population was held almost as slaves in concentration camps working for factories and industries to increase wealth for the Chinese. Only stipends were offered to them, just enough to run their families, and the enough was always too little. All the working population had their identities planted in chips on their foreheads and was read at the database of the National grid and the particular companies to which their allegiances were attached. Only privileged and wealthy citizens had their identity plates given to them as golden cards, to which their financial transactions were tied, the kind of which Jennifer had used to transact with the doctor earlier. Traveler cards were offered at the airports to foreigners coming into the country. Through these measures, records were kept strictly, on everyone that was present in the country.

Jennifer’s covert participation in the Chinese-Nigerian affairs increased her wealth and power monumentally. But she only exuded these in her personality, as she kept her contact with the Chinese a secret, yet she had good access. But even as this was the case, she had never been satisfied. She had never had her own man; and now, the dusk of her life was already setting in. A lot of men had tried to woo her, but she always knew they were coming for her wealth. Besides, she now considered herself old for certain pleasures, and would only pay some man to lay with her at a time.

***************

Tile could not believe his ears as he sat listening to all of these from Jennifer. It seemed that the world had turned upside down in the past decades of his disappearance. And unfortunately, from what he heard, there was no help in sight. He now remembered his adventures and heroic exploits on Eris and realised how powerful he had been in the alien land. How come he was now feeling so human and vulnerable? If it were back in Eris, he could just fly to Cho’s headquarters and demand for answers right away. But he couldn’t fly now could he? It was a stark realization that he was now back to earth, where everyone else would see him for the human he was. In fact, he felt so human… so inconsequential within the space of the stories he was now hearing.

“Bhrutu rhum gha rhum tu!” he exclaimed suddenly in Eridian, half-heartedly.

“What did you say?” Jennifer asked, confused at the strange muttering. But before Tile could answer her, it dawned on her that her lover had just spoken in the language of the peoples from where he had recently arrived. “What does it mean?” she asked coolly.

Tile smiled. He too was just realizing that in his boiling anguish, he had spoken in alien words.

“I feel as if I should do something,” he said.

“There is nothing you can do,” Jennifer said with utter finality. “Do not even think of trying.”

Tile felt amused by her scare. If only she could see me performing wonders in Eris, she wouldn’t see me so small. Jennifer too noticed the sneer on his lips and was amazed at the courage she now perceived in his countenance. Clearly, this seemed to be a different Tile she was now dealing with. There was something daunting about his inner being and comportment now. He seemed sure of himself; at least more that he was thirty years ago, as far as she could remember.

“Let us turn in for the night,” Jennifer invited. “It’s already late.”

Jennifer hoped that they could continue in bed, whatever more there was to discuss. But Tile turned and looked in the direction of Rita’s window. This time, Jennifer turned too.

“You’re worried about your white girl? Please do not ruin this moment for me Tile, please,” she begged.

But when Jennifer extended her hand once more towards Tile, he jerked from his seat and scrambled a few feet away. Again, it was Uzira he was seeing.