Road To Hegemony

PROLOGUE: CH6: BRAINS OF THE UNION

Bamidele’s father was a gang member and so was never around. The time he was though, he abused his wife and children. Eventually, his wife died, likely as a result of the abuse. Bamidele was just 12 and his sister, Anu, was 9. They were later sent to live with their maternal grandparents by their father. At 16, Bamidele's father came to pick him a few days after his secondary school graduation. His maternal grandparents tried their best to stop him but they failed. Afraid of the gang, their distrust in the police, and the fact that Bamidele was after all still his son, they didn't report to the police.

Bamidele's father trained the young boy in preparation for life in the gang. At 18, the man died in a gang war. The gang came knocking and Bamidele was initiated into the gang in the guise of taking care of their own. The boy joined due to fear for his life but was determined to get out when he had the chance. Due to his undisguised desire to pursue higher education, he was given the nickname 'Schoolboy'. The boy did all sorts of odd jobs for the gang that were neither legal nor outright illegal.

A year after he joined, he accidentally overheard a conversation between two gang mid-level bosses. They had planned to, as they put it, ‘diversify’ into the prostitution industry. What infuriated him was that one of them, who apparently hated his father, said that he wanted Bamidele’s sister to be among the first ‘products ‘ after he had his way with her. It was then Bamidele decided to leave the gang. He had to protect his little sister.

Bamidele found out about a police detective that the gang was wary of, Senior Detective Balogun of the Major Crimes department. He decided to approach the detective for help.

 This was the background Senior Detective Balogun put together after his investigations and what Bamidele told him about himself.

“I have to save him. I gave him my word.” Said Senior Detective Balogun with conviction.

The afternoon of the next day

Senior Detective Balogun spent his morning at the office clearing up loose ends from the previous raid. He looked at the clock and decided it was time to go see his wife. He handed his leftover duties to Detective Emeka.

Onikan Hospital

In Mrs. Shade Balogun’s ward, the sound of banter and laughter of three women was heard by Senior Detective Balogun. He had just arrived at the door of the ward and wondered who was with his wife. He opened the door to find his wife, who sat up on the bed, Dr. Maja, who looked like she had just finished a check-up, and his cousin, Bisola Balogun sitted bedside.

He was surprised to see his cousin. “Bisola, why are you here? “ He asked.

Before she could respond though, Shade answered, “We had planned to meet up for lunch yesterday. Who knew my illness would act up and I would land in the hospital. Since I wasn’t at the meet, she called last night to check in on me. I told her I was in the hospital and she arrived here early in the morning today. Unlike someone who just got here.“ She folded her arms and raised her eyebrow when she made the last statement causing her husband to be flustered at her obvious teasing.

Bisola also joined the fun, “You know him well by now. He obviously had a ‘more important' thing to do.”

Senior Detective Balogun felt a headache coming. Shade and Bisola are among the few people he couldn’t handle. His parents died from a car accident when he was very young and his eldest uncle took him in. He and his uncle’s son and daughter grew up like siblings. So, he suffered Bisola’s antics through the years. To make matters worse, she passed it on to his wife.

Dr. Maja chuckled. She walked towards the door, “I will see you later. I have to visit my other patients.“ She left.

‘Seems she didn’t say anything to Shade. Well, I should be the one to inform her after all.’ Thought Senior Detective Balogun

In the next moment,  Bisola also stood up to leave. She said, “I should also get going. I don’t want to be the third wheel disturbing your lovey-dovey moment.” When she got to the door, she seems to have remembered something. She turned to Senior Detective Balogun and said, “I told Father and Big brother. So, don’t be surprised if they show up at your house.” Before he could say anything, she walked out.

Senior Detective Balogun released a sigh and slanted on a seat by the bed and massaged his temple. Shade noticed that her husband was troubled by something since he did this every time he had something on his mind. She probed, “Is something wrong? “

“A bit of trouble at work. “ He answered.

“Is it about the D.S.S offer? “

“No, it’s something else.” Senior Detective Balogun replied. Then, a thought flashed into his head. “Iya Kola,  I need your legal opinion on something.” He told his wife everything about Bamidele’s case. “How do you think I can help him?” He asked

After a moment of deep contemplation, Shade said, “The problem is that he shot a police officer in broad daylight and plain view of at least a dozen witnesses. This is an undeniable fact.” To this Senior Detective Balogun nodded. She continued, “That makes it a closed shut case. The only solution I can see is to prove that he is your informant and explain why he shot the police officer, a brother thinking of his sister’s safety. The fact that the injury caused was a flesh wound at pretty much a point-blank range would also help this narrative.”

“Unfortunately, we can’t do that.“ sighed Senior Detective Balogun

“Why not? “ asked his wife

Her husband hesitated to answer. Eventually, he leaned forward on the seat, place his elbow on his knees, crossed his fingers, placing it under his nose, and answered, “Emeka and I suspect that there’s a high-ranking police official on the gang’s payroll. First, if we use this defense, the gang will find out that the kid is any informant, thereby putting his sister in danger. Second, even without the mole in force, by using this defense, the fact that the kid is an informant would have to go into record. With the gang’s resources, even in the aftermath of this raid, I don’t doubt that they would find out somehow. Also putting them at risk anyway.”

“That’s thorny. “ said Shade

“Indeed” agreed her husband

Silence reigned in the ward for the next few moments until Mrs. Balogun had a flash of enlightenment. In her excitement, she held her husband’s hand and said “If he would be charged with the gang as you say. Then they would be sent to federal prison. All you have to do is get a federal agency to release him through one of their programs and seal his record.

Confused, he asked, “Which agency can I...?”  Immediately, he understood his wife’s idea, “D.S.S!! “ He said in a loud voice.

He jumped from his seat, hugged, and kissed his wife. He jokingly said while winking, “I knew you would have a solution. As expected of the brains in our union.” This caused Shade to laugh out loud.

Both husband and wife laughed happily for a while.

When the laughter stopped, Senior Detective Balogun remembered what he still had to tell his wife. His face turned serious, he said

“There’s something else I have to tell you. It’s about your health... “