THE EXETA

CHAPTER FIVE

 Pan Africanism is a perception by Africans at home and abroad – in the diaspora that they share a common destiny and interest as a people of African descent. Pan-Africanism is undoubtedly the result of s*****y and colonialism in Africa. As a socio-political movement, it can be traced to the first pan-African conference of July, 1900; in London. The conference was convened by Henry Sylvester Williams and the African Association (AA); which H. S. Williams founded in 1898. The conference set up the Pan-African Association (PAA) which later metamorphosed into the Pan-African Movement (PAM).

            As a philosophy, Pan-Africanism represents the aggregation of the historical, cultural, spiritual, artistic, scientific, and philosophical legacies of Africans from past times to the present. Pan-Africanism as an ethical system traces its origins from ancient times, and promotes values that are the product of the African civilization and the struggles against s*****y, racism, colonialism, and neo-colonialism. As a movement the Pan Africanism had certain goals and objective which included -- Formation of the United States of Africa -- a USA including Caribbean countries. Ensuring closer ties between peoples of African descent the world over. Bring about friendlier relations between people of African descent and other races. Securing the civil rights of all Africans in the world and promoting the businesses of Africans globally.

But with all the goals, paramount among all was the formation of the United States of Africa. As that had been believed to be only formidable way Africa could stand out and take its rightful place in the world. With this quest in mind, the PAM were able to entrench the Organisation of African Unity which later evolved into the current African Union (AU). With the AU still agile and vibrant, the dream of a united state of Africa (USA) has not been still been realized yet. So we can all ask the question over again and again, can there ever be a United state of Africa. If yes how and if no, why not? And if there could be ever be a USA, what will be the economic, political, social and continental corollary of that?

The Azumah Nelson sports complex formerly known as the Kaneshie Sport complex was a public sport and recreation facility that was established to serve as the grounds were school children and the Ghanaian public could enjoy them self with any sporting any recreational activity. It was an epitome of a sport complex stocked with an enormous soccer pitch, a handball pitch, a table tennis area, a long tennis arena and basketball and baseball spaces.  It also had an athletics tract that was oval shaped that went around the soccer pitch for athletes and other athletic games. It also had a massive spectator arena that was structured in a descending order for soccer lovers to sit and to enjoy their games. Due to it’s structure, it had a lot of enclosures and rooms that were lairs.

            One of the lairs which was popular known as the D2 lair, had a very strict security guard that ensured it safety. D2 was totally segregated from where the main pitches, were most of the sport activities took place. Every Sunday night, astute and noble men influxed the Sporting arena and the only place of interests was the D2 lair. Like every Sunday, the tunnel in the D2 lair lead to a door shaped like that of a Traditional Ghanaian symbol popularly the adinkra called akofena – a royal ceremonial sword. In the D2 lair was a nicely adorned auditorium that housed the astute and noble men. This was the Court of the Black Guild. The Black Guild was an ancient African brotherhood who were not popular in any history. They were a collection of stoic, altruistic and astute men who stood for the greater course of Africa. For many years they had thrived and continued to thrive with one main purpose – to aid in the realization of the Unity of Africa.

            Right in the auditorium, Grandmaster of the Black Guild, Dr. Clarence Frimpong Manso, was ready to preside over another convocation. As the leader of this noble brother hood, necessity was laid on him to do all for the benefit of Africa. After he arrived in Accra with the scar of the death of his mother still palpable, Clarence had quickly sought out the man he had been given direction to find. Denis Ato Aikens had been charged to locate the next grandmaster of the Black guild and the HARBINGERS OF TRUTH had informed him of the coming of Clarence. Upon their meeting, the History professor had given the truth and the secret about the Guild to Clarence saying he was the rightful heir as the next grandmaster. Clarence was still agnostics with all that Dennis had narrated to him. But it all made sense to him after further conversation which that had in secret. Dennis hade narrated that,

            “Clarence do you know who you are?” Dennis said.

            “Yes, I am a physicist, just trying to be a better person.” Clarence replied. 

            “No my friend you are more than that.”

            “And why do you say that?” Clarence inquired.  Dennis remained calm on the airy table and chair they sat on that afternoon in a cool restaurant.

            “Your mother all her life had lived to protect a very powerful secret. And this secret is also the secret of Africa. She was the leader of the men you met when you lastly visited your mother.” Dennis narrated.

            “I know all that, and that liked me because I was the first son and whatever…. anything else to say. I need to be somewhere in the next fifteen minutes.” Clarence demanded.

            Your name, it not just a normal name – The great man who conjured the secret we protect had the same name as you. You are destined to be our leader Clarence. You are a great man.” Dennis replied taking time to explained to him all that he knew to know about the Black guild that he was supposed to be the next leader – the next grandmaster. Clarence still saw all as some fairly tales. Until some nights when he slept a radiating emerald will appear to him and whisper to him saying…

            “I am the Exeta…. I am all you need…. I am tha hope of Africa…Africa need you.” Clarence was so frightened with that as he purposed not to tell anyone about it. But after many failed attempts to hide it, he finally opened uo to Denis. Clarence finally accepted the responsibility to be the new grandmaster of the Black Giuld after he was subjected to a lot of training and what they called THE ORDEAL OF THE GRAMDMASTER. It was a series of emotional and psychological enhancement that had made Clarence the grandmaster of the Secrets African society. But that was seventeen years ago. Thus, before he met his wife.

The 4 recruits that had passed the training in the forest stood linearly facing the Grand Master. The auditoriums were arranged such that, a long horizontal table sat in the center. Around the table were 12 permanently stacked seats. The seat of the grandmaster was at the other far end of the room. On his right was Professor Denis Ato Aikens as the Vice-Counsel of the Guild and on his left, was, Mr. Matthias Morrison as the Curative Counsel of the Guild, at the far end facing the grandmaster was the Lawyer Ernest Adane Lokku as the Legal Counsel of the Guild. Together these four were known as the four horsemen of the Black Guild. All four where Ghanaians due to the fact that, the headquarters of the Black Guild was in Accra, Ghana.

            The interior of the auditorium was adorned with gold and black colours. Behind the seat of the grandmaster was the emblem of the Black Guild which was a huge black star inscribed in a circle and a golden African map embossed in the star. On top of the emblem was a large white space that was used as a screen for viewing images from a projector. The rest of the eight members of the guild who also sat at the high table included representative from different African Countries including, Northern Africa – Tunisia, Western Africa – Guinea, Eastern Africa – Ethiopia, Southern Africa – South Africa, Central Africa – Cameroon, and finally a rep from Madagascar. Left was two seats and that had to be fought for by the 4 recruits who hailed from, Nigeria, Sudan, Malawi and Kenya. The two who qualified in the final test will have the honour to join the rest at the high table while the other two who fail will join Sentinel Okoh as Sentinels of the Black Guild.

Also on the top sides of the auditorium where the portraits of the past members and grandmasters of the Black Guild. There included; Kwame Nkrumah who was the first Grand Master of the Guild, H. S. Williams, W. E. B Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, George Padmore, Haile Selassie I, Cheikh Anta Diop, Julius K. Nyerere, Malcolm X,  Martin Luther King Jnr, Jomo Kenyatta, Nelson Mandela, Patrice Lumumba, Thomas Sankara, Muammar Al Gaddafi, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chinua Achebe and Sekou Toure. Each portrait followed a Ghanaian adinkra symbol then another portrait in that manner. The Black guild was found of the Adrinkra symbols in that Adinkra which meant ‘goodbye’ or ‘farewell’ in Twi a local language of the Akan ethnic group of Ghana was believed to have their origin from Gyaman, a former kingdom in today’s Côte D’Ivoire.

According to an Asante legend, Adinkra was the name of a king of the Gyaman (Nana Kofi Adinkra). Adinkra was defeated and captured in a battle by the Asantes for having copied the “Golden Stool”, which represents for them absolute power and tribal cohesion. He was finally killed, and his territory annexed to the kingdom of Asante.

The tradition had it that Nana Adinkra wore patterned cloth, which was interpreted as a way of expressing his sorrow on being taken to Kumasi the capital of Asante. The Asante people around the 19th century then took to painting of traditional symbols of the Gyamans onto cloth, a tradition that was well practiced by them till this day. Currently, the adinkra symbols has become a part of the Asante tradition of the Akan especially the Asante to wear cloths decorated with Adinkra symbols that signify historical events, human behaviour and attitudes, animal behaviour, plant life forms and shapes of objects, wisdom of the old, traditional believes and philosophy, and sacred connection to one’s ancestors. The Black Guild believe the adrinkra symbol maintained the strong connection they had for their fallen heroes and ancestors. As the norm, Clarence was on the front podium as the recruits stood quite ready for what was to befall them. Clarence begun to speak,

            “The Black Guild was established on the 8th of August 1968 in Ghana two years after the overthrow of Ghana’s first President Kwame Nkrumah. With all now lost Kwame Nkrumah saw it fit that the only hope for African Unity was the formation of this secret brotherhood. As the father of Pan Africanism on the African continent, he and his then comrades of the Pan-African movement knowing the difficulty of achieving a United State of Africa conceived a contingency plan called The Black Guild. The Black Guild was an ancient African brotherhood that housed and protected one of the most powerful African relic in the history of Africa. And this artefact was called The Exeta. The Exeta was housed in protective encasing called the Aingiant Exovine.”

As Clarence spoke, there was a display of the Exeta on the screen by the projector. The image depictured somewhat an artefact that resembled a lantern. It was the same image Clarence had given Professor Aikens to see. The Aingiant Exovine was showed with horizontal lines pointing to where they began and ended. And right in the middle was an emerald glowing object that was hexagonally shaped exuding an emerald radiance. “And the Exeta is the green shaped object you see in the Exovine. It had enormous powers and can transform the whole of Africa when unleased. “Clarence explained.

 “The Exeta has been believed to be the only hope Africa has of Unity, since the Exeta has the ability to unite the souls of all Africans together and finally the dream of achieving a United State of Africa will be a viable reality. We as the Black Guild of Africa have one sacred duty. And that is to unleash the Exeta when its time is due. And the transformation of Africa into the utopian continent we have all dreamed of will become a factual reality.” Clarence explained and moved on altering the image on the screen. He then remembered something.

“A lot of you may be asking in your head, how did we obtain this Exeta and who obtained it. I will tell you as you should know. There lived in the 15th centuries in Ghana a great and remarkable Sharman called Okomfo Anokye. In the Ashante history, Okomfo Anokye commanded the Golden Stool from the skies that served as the symbol that binds the souls of all Asante’s together. In the same way he commanded The Exeta from a sacred river called Daankwsuo which had withered many years ago. The Exeta then emerged on the back of a female crocodile. It was believed that Okomfo Anokye prophesied the Unity of Africa and to confirm that, the gods and ancestors sealed his prophesy with the coming of The Exeta from the river. After many efforts by the Asante king to keep the existence of THE EXETA a secret it ended up in a national museum. Kwame Nkrumah had gone on a tour one day and after hearing the legend regarding The Exeta, he took hold of it and did more inquiries into its origin.”

“After walking down memory lane through the Ashante history, he got to understand what The Exeta could do. So, he called a meeting with his fellow Pan African comrades and after that rendezvous, the THE BLACK GUILD was formed. The Black Guild is a secret African organization no one knew till today. And they have been protecting this secret - THE EXETA till this day. Just like British wanted the Golden Stool for themselves it is believed that, the Europeans would do all to obtain the Exeta if they were to know of its existence.” Clarence ended his talk and moved to his seat. The other members of the brotherhood had nodded in agreement to what their grandmaster had the just expounded. Clarence upon taking his seat called on his assistant to take over. Professor Aikin rose to his feet and started to address the guild,

“We are all here because we believe in the future of Africa. We believe that a time is going to come Africa will not be counted as one of the poorest countries though it has been endowed with so much natural and human resources. If you look at the top here around you.” Prof Aikin pointed to the fallen members of the Black Guild. His hands was on Kwame Nkrumah.

“They started a course and the laid the foundation for us. And it’s is our sacred duty to see to it that, their toils and sacrifice is never in vain. For many years Europe and America have taking a keen interest into the affairs of Africa. From the Slave Trade to the current United Nations. Africa has always been a victim of their greed to be on top while we wallow in repression and tattered penury. And if they saw any Africa leader who was headstrong and was foresighted of making Africa a better place they sought after that person and did all they could to eliminate that person. That was the story of Kwame Nkrumah. As he said and we all know that the independence of Ghana was meaningless unless it was linked with the total liberation of the whole Africa continent. Indirectly, he was advocating for a United Africa. For he knew that was the formidable solution to the woes of Africa – A united states if Africa.” Prof Aikens explained.

“So I want you new recruits to know that that the struggle for total liberation for the white man’s control and influence had been a struggle from time immemorial. No matter what the stakes look like, Africa will not be like this forever. A change will befall us soon. And that change begins with you. As you have availed yourself and sacrificed your all to the course of Africa. You have become beacons the next generation will be looking up to. And Africa will also be counting on you.” Prof Aikens inspired and took his seat. After Mr. Morison also stood to his feet and begun to speak,

“Knowledge is power as most of us have grown up to know and learn. Knowledge is power indeed. Even the holy book corroborates this assertion in that it states that for the lack of knowledge my people perish. We are a secret brother hood and source of our power is not some blood ritual of animal sacrifice or human sacrifice. We have never shared blood in this auditorium and for sure we are never going to shed any blood of your blood. So, you do not have to be petrified. Human being attribute evil to things they do not understand. The power we wield as a secret society is the knowledge we possess. The power we have is because of the knowledge we possess. The hidden knowledge and wisdom of the African that have all been forgotten. The secret wisdom and knowledge that have made many great and have been the blue print for the formation of many dynasties and empire is what we have in our possession. There is a lot about Africa that the world is ignoramus about. Most of the hidden wisdom that are used by great men and billionaires in the current age all originated from Africa. Most scientific and technological ideas and invention most originated from Africa. Africa has always been the cradle of humanity as Africa is the origin of the world and all the things in it.” Mr. Morrison explained. As he sat down for his other colleague to also say something.

Lawyer Lokku also stood to his feet and begins to talk, “So my young men it is good you have chosen this path, for I believe for the coming next few weeks of your life, your eyes will be enlightened to a lot you never know about Africa. You are going to be taught and you will be required to ask any question you which to ask. The power we give you here in this brotherhood is the knowledge and wisdom we give you. You get to know a lot of secrets that have affected the very core of the world and the hidden secrets behind many activities around the world. You will get to understand why Africa is still struggling to grow and developed though we have so much to eat and waste. So, I will say brace yourselves for the surprises of your life because this is our strength and merits as a guild and that is the fact that, many are the secrets that have been kept away from Africans. Our own identity ripped from our hands and forced to accept and learn a new identity. You lives will never be the same after these coming weeks. And in all this you should not be ignorant that the enemy have and always lurked in the shadows.”

Lawyer Lokku ended, he then moved out and gave sheets of papers to the four recruits. All the while, Sentinel Okoh was the heard security in the room and had been paying a circumspect attention to the activities in the auditorium. Clarence climbed the lectern again and faced the recruits, also holding a copy of the paper in hand.

“As you were all told earlier, today you begin the first part of the final stage to be fully recognized as brother of this brotherhood. You will be matriculated by repeating the oath you have in the paper given you now after me. After you first teat will be given you. So now repeat after me with that all the members of the Guild rose to their feet,

I…do solemnly swear to give my body, soul and spirit to the course of African Unity. I swear to protect The Exeta with my life, in joy or in sorrow, in elation or in pain, in peace or in chaos, in life or in dead., and I finally swear that my sacrifice and contribution to the course of African Unity will be a legacy for the future generation…. So, help me God.”

 Clarence ended the oath so did the recruits. Then rest of the members then took their seats. Lawyer Lokku then moved to take the papers from their hand. Professor Aikens then moved closer to the recruits and spoke.

“Now to the final activity before we leave, you are all going to be given four ancient boxes we call The Kodex. In the Kodex is an encrypted ancient African language. When the time for the unveiling of the Exeta is due, the decrypted language of the Kodex will be needed to unlock it. It is now your duty to decipher what each Kodex given to you means by the next 21 days. Remember the one who is fast gets a seat at the high table. Also during this 21 -day ritual, we continue to convene here every Sunday evening. There is a lot you ought to know to become members of the Black Guild.”  With that, Professor Aikens move to the recruit and present to the recruits the different boxes. He took the chance to speak saying,

“Recruit 34, you have been given Kodex A, recruit 56, you have been given Kodex B, recruit 89, you have been given Kodex C and recruit 45 you have been given Kodex D. Each Kodex have different messages when deciphered. But after all are put together they form the message for unlocking The Exeta.” Professor Aikens explained.

“And one more thing, everything, what we do and talk about here stays here and here alone. No one gets to know about what we do and discus here whether you have a mother father, sibling or wife. Everything we do and say here stays here. That is why we are a secret society not a pubic exhibition.” Mr. Morison shot back coyly.

“So, our last words are that, we welcome you to the fraternity. We are brothers, we are each other’s keepers.” Lawyer Lokku added, and handed over to the grandmaster. Clarence then rose to his feet and spoke,

“I believe we have said it all, thanks brothers for making it today and let’s keep the spirit of unity and togetherness alive, until we convene here again next week, we are dismissed.”

The convocation ended as most of them rose to their feet and plunged into the world of chit-chatting and networking. The recruits were the element of surprise of the moment that attracted a lot of talks. Mattias quickly moved to Clarence as they took stand to talk.