UNTAMED

Part Forty Six

{Do you suppose they are embarrassed over this outrage? No, they have no shame. There’s no hope for them. They’ve hit bottom and there’s no getting up. As far as I’m concerned, they’re finished.}
               Cindy tried coming over to her but Wild stopped her. He did not console her but allowed her to cry. The noise and shouts stopped after the other soldier shouted.
“Unfortunately, we are aware of your impotence Chief Esegie. But that does not change the investigation we carried out” Major said.
“This is arrant nonsense” the man that gave her to Chief shouted.
“That is Umaru” Wild said.
She nodded.
“Mr. President Sir, we need the immediate release of Obinna for interrogation. The Police Force should be allowed to carry out their duties” the IG said.
“I called General Ahmed after he and his team successfully stopped a bomb that could have killed millions from exploding, not to forget we lost General George, a gallant soldier during the battle. I called him and his team to look into a recent increase of robberies, kidnappings and assassinations all over the country, especially in the South South region. This was supposed to be the work of the police but after the IG reported that they could not trace the source of the high increase in weapons and crimes, tips came in that there may be a national threat because there were suspicions that the weapons were supplied by external illegal arms dealers from foreign countries. I called General Ahmed to pick a team from the special force soldiers who are trained on land, sea and air to look into it as it constitutes a national threat. General Ahmed is one of my must trusted commander. I was surprised to watch what was trending on social media and the news and I was more surprised that the accused is one of the best Nigerian soldier and one of the best of the Special Force. But because of how the IG and Honorable Esegie and the House of Assembly have handled the issue, I was forced to carry out an open briefing which have never happened in Nigeria. This is because the public have demanded transparency. Different embassies have stated their interest in the news that the Nigeria government is hiding a soldier from facing the law. The whole country is watching, the world is watching and I’ve listened to both reports.”
The president paused for some time.
“The accusations from General Ahmed are too heavy to overlook, and the evidence presented by the IG must also not be overlooked. I also watched Honorable Obi’s press briefing and read a lot from newspapers and listened to different analysis. But numbers of men killed do not tally. According to the police, Obinna and an accomplice murdered eleven personal security guards of Honorable Esegie but according to General Ahmed, they had encountered at first, twenty eight heavily armed men and later, ten. So whose report should I belief? General, you need to address the issue of the witness” the President said.
“I’m not denying it” Major said.
They started making noise again.
“So you accept that she had escaped and asked for help?” IG asked.
“I won’t call it escape. She was still in a state of denial and could not even be debriefed because of her state of mind” Major said.
“So you agree that Honorable Esegie is impotent and you don’t deny Onome’s report but you’ve refused to release Obinna and his accomplice” someone said.
“Yes but I can’t release Obinna because he and his team mate carried out the rescue under my command and I know she was an abused victim because the best team of Special Force have a doctor and a psychologist. They crosschecked her and they are certain she was sexually abused and based on my conclusion, we are indicting Chief Esegie of being the man behind Ojogolo’s arm dealers, and also for kidnapping, physically and sexually abusing Miss Halima for more than fourteen years and……”
The noise started again.
“And what is your proof?” IG asked.
“We have an hundred percent correct Intel” Major said.
“And you cannot reveal who gave you that information?” IG asked.
“Yes I can. Miss Halima is our Intel” Major said.
The noise increased this time.
“General Ahmed, is this a joke to you? You said I kidnapped and raped her and she was still the one to inform you she was kidnapped?” Chief shouted standing up.
“General please answer the question” the president said.
“Halima is one of the strongest lady I’ve experienced. She has been surprising us in many ways and her recovery has been tremendous and has beaten all debriefing protocols. This is how we came about Halima, although Chief was already in our radar, we had no idea about the existence of Halima until this was found” Major said.
Her fudged message suddenly appeared on a big screen that was up and opposite the president. The TV became two, one showing the people and the other showing the big screen. She gasped. Those sitting behind it turned.
“This was discovered inside a broken clay pot and Obinna from enquiries, discovered Halima. I sent him and one of my men to get her out but they met heavily armed men who later bowed to their superior power. She was rescued but found it difficult to accept she was free from Chief” Major said.
Chief’s face was changing. Was that fear?
“That is a…..”
“I’m not through” Major said interrupting Chief.
“She could not be taken to Abuja for debriefing because of the seriousness of her situation and the fact that we needed to trace her origin. At first, it was difficult because the criminals we were looking for were very good in hiding their crimes, but my team were able to trace her state and in the process we were able to unravel three murder cases. First, Halima is supposed to be dead because her parents who were workers of Honorable Umaru were murdered and it had been circulated that she died alongside her brother. On further investigations, we discovered that she was actually a present from Umaru to Chief Esegie and we now have crucial evidence to back up our claim” Major said.
Umaru and Chief stood up but there were soldiers at their back who made them to sit down. They were really afraid.
“Surprisingly this crucial evidence came from the same Halima. This is Halima with Chief and Umaru” Major said.
She was very small on the screen. It was the day her parents died and the day she was given to Chief but how did they get a picture?
“Then on further investigation, we discovered there was a link between Ojogolo arms dealers and the recent killings in the north in which the victims have always been those close to Umaru, the most recent being the gruesome murder of Farouk and Umaru’s lawyer. Their whole family were not left out. But now we have evidence to prove that Umaru has been the perpetrator of all the murders” Major.
“Unbelievable, you lie” Umaru shouted but was pushed back to his seat.
Major pressed his phone and Umaru appeared on the screen. He was speaking with another man in a room and he told the man he was going to take a break because a soldier have messed up his plan. He said the police will never be able to trace the killings to him. People started shouting. Umaru’s eyes were wide, he was shaking.
“I’m not through. This is Mrs Osagie and her two children who were murdered even after the kidnappers were paid a ransom. With permission from her husband who is Chief’s party member, I am going to play a video, some part have been blurred because of the violent contents.
“No! How? How?” Chief shouted trying to stand up but was pushed back.
The woman she had seen earlier was really dead. Chief had killed her and her kids. But only Chief’s face showed on the video. She could not watch, she could not listen to what Chief was saying to the woman, she closed her ears with her palms and bent her head down.
“Look Halima” Wild commanded making her raise her head same time three gunshots were fired.
Tears started falling from her eyes but it looked like she was not the only one crying, Cindy was crying too. The people on the TV had burst out shouting. Some were already standing to attack Chief but some soldiers blocked them, but why? They should allow them beat him. But there was something about Chief. He was shaking and shouting no. She could not believe it was the same man she was afraid of.
“I have so many things to play but they are too terrible and unfortunately I had to go through them. But I have one more. Like I said my team are the best. The psychologist and doctor said it was possible that Chief even though impotent, had raped Halima for more than fourteen years. He could still function as long as he physically abused her and also kept her afraid” Major said pressing something on his phone.
Thank God no one could see her. It was just Chief they could see. He was flogging her back, she wanted to run away, she did not want to watch it but she forced herself to look at the TV, to look at Chief and look at how he was shaking. Another one showed Chief pulling off his clothes, she was lying on the bed waiting for Chief to rape her but the video stopped and she was grateful.
“I don’t think we all want to continue this video. Sir this is John and Ojogolo. John is the man always found with Chief which raised our suspicions, we have videos proving they are also kidnappers and murderers. Mr. President, some of the best of my team are on ground. One is by Escravos River, another on air not far from where Ojogolo arms dealers are waiting to receive weapons from their foreign supplier. Others are around Ojogolo’s territory, we are all waiting for your command.  
“I’m short for words. I will deal with the incompetence of the Police Force later. As of this time, Ojogolo’s arms dealers and their suppliers are wanted dead or alive” the president said.
Chief was still shaking.
“Roger that. You heard him, return fire for fire” Major said pressing something on his phone.
She saw a boat, then Mark. He was by the edge of the boat. No one would know him because he wore something on his face. He was holding something big, but she was now seeing his head as if she was looking from the sky. There was a bigger boat close to his boat.
“This is the Nigerian Armed Forces. You are not permitted to go further, surrender your weapons” Mark spoke into the stuff he was holding.
Suddenly he was shot at, she gasped same time Mark dived into the water, there was a bag on his back. They had killed Mark, even the people on TV were also worried. The screen changed and showed a Helicopter, it was Fast. He covered his face and head too. The door was too open, but he was not afraid. There were many men on the ground. He threw something down from the helicopter and flew close to the men. They picked the stuff and looked at it. One of them lifted his gun and fired at Fast but the bullet did not even hit the helicopter, Fast flew it too fast. They all started firing at him and the helicopter but he was spinning it and the bullets were just hitting the body of the helicopter, he was the only one and he was going to be killed like Mark. She did not see him bring out a gun, she could hardly see him with the way he was spinning the helicopter. She just knew that he was firing back because the men on the ground were falling one by one. In just few seconds, they were all dead and Fast flew high and was leaving the place. The whole crowd in the TV, apart from Chief and Umaru who were being held by soldiers, stood up and started shouting and clapping.