Road To Hegemony

PROLOGUE. CH7: JOIN THE DSS

“There’s something I have to tell you. It’s about your health.” Said Senior Detective Balogun. “You are pregnant.’

Mrs. Shade Balogun was stunned. Unconsciously, tears started flowing from her eyes. “Finally... Finally…” she said. She could not describe her joy. She only kept mumbling the same word while rubbing her stomach.

‘Kola was right. Her reaction is as strong…  No! It’s stronger than we expected.’ Senior Detective Balogun thought as he remained silent.

Shade later calmed down. Only then did she notice something wrong with her husband’s reaction. As if on cue, her husband continued, “Your condition is making things complicated. “

“What do you mean?“ an agitated Shade asked. Senior Detective Balogun went on to explain the situation and the choices to her. Almost immediately he finished his explanation, Shade said with total conviction, “I am keeping my baby. I will give birth safely and watch the child grow up. I have waited for a long time and it’s finally here. I won’t give it up.”

Senior Detective Balogun held her hand and nodded. He said, “if that’s what you want, I will be with you all the way.” They both smiled and looked to the future. 

Dr. Maja was made aware of their decision. She emphasized that Shade had to be in the hospital at least once every week. She also hinted to Senior Detective Balogun that the treatment would be expensive.

Later that day, Shade was discharged from the hospital.

Detective Balogun Residence

Mr. and Mrs. Balogun arrived home later that evening after Shade was discharged. “It’s good to be home. I don’t know how Ayoola does it but I can never get used to the hospital’s disinfectant smell.” She said.

“It’s her job and passion after all. I don’t want you to get used to it either.” Said Senior Detective Balogun. Shade merely smiled in response.

Kola came from his room to welcome back his parents. Under the urging of Senior Detective Balogun, Shade went to rest in her room while Kola and himself stayed in the sitting room.

Senior Detective Balogun said to his son, “She answered as we expected. We have to do everything we can to support her.”

“Yes sir” replied Kola.

Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong!  The doorbell rang.

Kola went to open the door. He saw a man in army uniform, with an eagle and two stars on his shoulder, with his back facing him. A Colonel. The man turned around. It was his granduncle’s eldest son, Colonel Bolaji Balogun.

“Uncle Bolaji” Kola called out. The man gave him a bear hug in response.

“Wow, look at you. You’ve grown so big.”

Colonel Bolaji is 184cm tall, a slender muscular build. He is just a little above average in appearance but has the aura of someone used to being in charge.

Senior Detective Balogun walked up to his older cousin-brother and they shared a hug. Senior Detective Balogun said “Bisola told me you might show up but I wasn’t expecting you today. You just missed her. She already went to bed to rest. “

“My visit today has nothing to do with your wife. I already had plans to come here tonight. We need to talk.” Said Colonel Bolaji Balogun 

“I will go check on mom.” Said Kola, tactfully taking his leave.

The brothers came to sit on a sofa in the living room.

“What’s up, bro?” Asked Senior Detective Balogun

“I need you to take the D.S.S job.” Replied Colonel Bolaji Balogun, dropping what was akin to a bomb to Senior Detective Balogun

“Why? Did the family pull some strings to get me the job?” asked Senior Detective Balogun, clearly showing annoyance.

“Hold it there. You know the family would never do that. It’s against family rules. Father would never do that. He knows your nature too well. We just want to take advantage of the offer. Or rather I should say ‘I’ want to take advantage of it.” Replied Colonel Bolaji Balogun hastily.

“Explain. “ said Senior Detective Balogun

“I can’t. It’s classified. At least until you agree to join the D.S.S.”

“It seems I might not like it. You wouldn’t be concerned about my choice otherwise.” Said Senior Detective Balogun

“Yeah. It’s a little in the grey area.” Said Colonel Bolaji Balogun 

Senior Detective Balogun sighed and shrugged, “I already decided to join the D.S.S. So, out with it. What is the military planning.”

Colonel Bolaji Balogun had a sigh of relief. He had expected to face difficulty convincing this younger brother of his. He can be really stubborn. Well, it’s a trait every Balogun shares. Who knew he already decided to join. ‘Well, that’s half the hurdle.’ He thought to himself

“Have you heard of the name Ebube Onuoha?” asked Colonel Bolaji Balogun 

“Who hasn’t? Best Nigerian programmer in recent times. Why do you ask?” replied Senior Detective Balogun

“He designed a program for the military that monitors every electronic communication and security system in the country’s airspace linked to a wider network. Emails, texts, calls, social media, security cameras, phone cameras, etc. The goal is to predict acts of terrorism against the country. Allowing us to take a better preventive approach rather than a reactive one to terrorism. It’s been in use for 2 years now.” Said Colonel Bolaji Balogun 

“That explains the gains of the military in the anti-terror war. This isn’t legal, right?” Senior Detective Balogun retorted

“It isn’t illegal. We have senate approval but we can’t exactly go public and admit we are spying on our citizens nor do we want to tip off the terrorist. “ said Colonel Bolaji Balogun 

Shocked, Senior Detective Balogun asked, “How did you get the Senate committee on Defense to approve you spying on their constituents?”

Colonel Bolaji Balogun chuckled as he gave an unexpected reply, “Let’s just say we can to an understanding that Nigerians don’t care if you invade their privacy, as long as they are safe and can sleep better at night, they would eventually forgive. Besides, the various groups were toying with the military, and citizens no longer felt safe. We decided to rather ask for forgiveness than for permission.”

Intrigued, Senior Detective Balogun said “As expected of the military. I’m surprised about the lawmakers though. Anyways, I can see your point. Safety is more important than privacy. I don’t agree totally but it makes sense. So, how do I come into the equation?”

“Well, seeing the success it achieved in our theatre of operations, the Senate committee asked if it could be employed by law enforcement agencies to stop preventable crimes. Imagine a scenario: A person wants to commit murder and not get caught. He has to plan. Acquire some things eg guns, hire a hitman, etc. He would, for some reason or the other, use electronic communication. Hence, the program would find out about it and alert the authorities thus preventing the crime. Wonderful, right?” Colonel Bolaji Balogun explained.

Senior Detective Balogun nodded, ”Ideally, that’s good. I’m sensing there’re some concerns though.”

“Indeed. Quite a few.” Colonel Bolaji Balogun agreed. “Have you heard of ‘Minority report‘?” he asked

“No” replied Senior Detective Balogun

“It’s a theory that says that even if a person has the intentions to carry out a crime, provides himself the means and opportunity, as long as they haven’t committed the crime or taken actions to a degree infinitesimally close to the crime, they can’t be said to be guilty of said crime. I want to kill someone and I  buy a gun to do so, I can’t be charged with murder or even attempted murder until I actually put someone’s life at risk because I can still change my mind before it gets to that point ergo I haven’t committed a crime.” Colonel Bolaji Balogun explained.

Senior Detective Balogun nodded showing his agreement. You can’t convict someone of a crime they haven’t yet committed just because they’ve thought about it. Almost all, if not all, human beings have, at one time, thought of committing a crime. Very few ever go through with it though.

Colonel Bolaji Balogun continued “So, the first concern is how to convict someone of a crime they haven’t committed just because we, statistically think they would. Second, a lot of people vent on social media, we have to come up with parameters that can reduce the number of, perhaps even eliminate, false-positives. Third, how do we make sure a crime we’ve prevented doesn’t occur while we aren’t looking. These are just some of the concerns we have.” He stopped and pointed at Senior Detective Balogun and said, “That’s where you come in.”

Puzzled, Senior Detective Balogun said, “I don’t understand. What can I do if your people can’t do anything.”

Colonel Bolaji Balogun answered, “We intend to start a pilot stage of the program in Lagos Island. So, we needed someone from law enforcement who is connected to the grassroots, intelligent, and experienced enough to use the information given to him and has the confidence of all parties involved with regards to his confidentiality.“

“Who better than a seasoned Lagos detective who happened to have received a job offer from the D.S.S and is a relative brought up and trained by the head of the Balogun family. “ said Senior Detective Balogun as he cut in to finish his elder brother’s word.

“So, what do you say?” Asked Colonel Bolaji Balogun 

Senior Detective Balogun didn’t answer but folded his arms while his index and middle fingers of the right hand kept tapping his left arm.

“I agree to join the program but on two conditions…”