The Last Insurgent

His first video

Kamal came into the room with alacrity. The three Military Intelligence soldiers inside the room stood up and saluted.

“How did you get it?” He asked.

“It was posted on social media, Sir. Source-unknown.”

“Let’s have it.”

“Yes, sir”

The soldier put on the laptop and played a video.

A huge man with rough beards, wearing military uniforms with a bandage round his head appeared. There was an AK 47 hung over his shoulder.

Behind him were ten men, also dressed in military uniforms with masks on their faces stood grimly behind him.

Behind them were two trucks and they seemed to be in a forest.

The man with the bandage began to talk.

“You infidels! You Nigerians! I have a message for you. I had wanted to send this message long time ago but it is today God ordained. I am Sadiq Jahl Al-Bornowi. Enough is enough! We started with admonishments. Peacefully calling you to renounce infidelity, debauchery, oppression, ungodliness and embracing the devilish western education.

But you kept arresting us, killing us until you got us to the wall. The Holy Jihad is on. We are not relenting; nothing will deter us until you all leave infidelity and embrace the laws of God!”

“Godu Akhbar!” The men behind him shouted and they fired shots into the air.

“You leave girls to wander about, without getting married. You allow young girls to go into prostitution in the name of education. Young able boys that should serve God waste in your filthy schools. The time has come for a complete revolution. We will keep saving these girls by taking them off your dirty world and getting them married; give them Islamic education so they can make it to paradise.

You cannot stop us! You that call yourself the president of Nigeria, John or whatever they call you, we will deal with you. Your soldiers are nothing! They fear us! We kill them. Sending them to Borno is death sentence.

I know you attacked us last night. You think I am dead. Sadiq Jahl is alive! I am alive! I escaped the bomb blast. We are not scared of your grenades, tankers, fighter jets. You have; we have. May the best man win. Here are some of the poor girls you send to doom in the name of school. Look…..”

The camera turned towards some girls who were force to sit down on the ground, all covered in veils, reciting a part of the Qur’an.

“The war has just begun.”

Kamal kept looking at Jahl.

“Get Derrick!” He said.

.

Leena was confused. She knew what he meant. He would leave if she told him that she was betrothed. It was more than just an introduction. If not for the abduction, she would have been in Dammy’s house by now. His dowry was still there and a date has been fixed.

She would not lie about it. She would tell him the truth. He would understand. Understand? This was Mufty. He may have confessed his love for her but his strong stand on issues like this made her thought twice. She never had the slightest idea that he liked her. Who could have thought he could express his feelings with such beautiful words?

She had to make a decision now.

She looked into his eyes and looked down.

“No. Everyone knows about the relationship but it has not been formalised.” She said. She felt ashamed of herself. She lied to him and denied her relationship status with Dammy. It was not her intention to deny Dammy, or deceive Mufty. She was just not ready to let him go. She did not know where all of these would lead to. She knew he would always find out. This cannot be hidden for long but she just wanted him to still be around for now, and hoped things would be sorted out.

“Are you sure about that?” He asked and she found it hard to meet his eyes. With a courage that came from where she knew not, she looked directly into his eyes.

“I am sure about it.” She said.

There seemed to be a big relief on his face.

“I will stay behind. Leena. You are my solace; you pull me from beneath to surface; you keep me in position like shoe lace. I don’t want this to be a fling, because you shine like bling, and just when I thought I had exceeded the elastic limit you pull back the string.

But I am a man that is lost, living at a cost, for being unjust. How can you live with me, when I seem not to fit into your world?”

“You have no right to play God because only God can judge.” She said, “I hope you-we get this self-condemnation behind us. Start afresh and I want to start with you. I beg you in the name of God to let it go. Seek for forgiveness, feel remorse and never do it again. That is how God makes it easy for us because of his infinite mercy. You condemn yourself while a lot of girls out there, with their parents, friends and loved ones are praying for you for saving them. Just promise me something….let it go.”

He looked at her and smiled.

That smile.

“I will try.”

“Nah. Don’t try, do it.”

He nodded.

“I don’t have a job, and when this madness got into our heads, most of us tore our credentials.”

“Oh my God! Was it that bad?”

“It is worse than you can imagine. We were made to believe that western education is nothing but a deviation from the laws of God. I was so gullible because I was in a situation where I hated the world for my sins. I don’t know where to start from.”

“This sect is really pernicious.”

“You can say that again. Remember the night Jahl hit me for claiming to be your husband?”

“Yes. How can I forget the night that I was taken away?”

“I was sent to kill a sheikh. You know him because he was famous. As I waited to kill him, I heard his sermon which revealed things I never knew. It changed my views and I realised that Islam was a sine quanon of education and civilisation. I ended up not killing him but someone else did it. It had been resonating with me. I wonder who did it because I combed the place and saw all of the people around him.

That was the day I realised that I was serving God in the wrong way. In fact, I was nothing but an enemy of God. Then you became an instrument that took me away from that life completely. Now, I have no one but you. I don’t want to lose you but what if I am not accepted into your life by your parents?”

“It is going to be alright Moore.” She said almost in tears. He just said he had no one but her. And she could not believe she was instrumental to saving a soul; taking someone out of an abysmal life. This was the best thing she had ever done because for her sake, about hundred girls were saved.

“You will start court processes. Affidavit and all of that. I don’t know much about these things but you can just a give a story. You lost your credentials in a fire accident or something.”

He nodded like a child. At that moment, she saw a completely different side of him. The hardness in his façade was gone. He looked like a child, so innocent and vulnerable. The taciturnity was gone and no one would have believed this was the dangerous Mufty that even the insurgents feared.

“Let us leave everything in the hands of God.” She said. She knew it was not going to be easy. She did not even know how Dammy was going to react. Who knew what he may have told them?

“What if they accept me and ask what I do for a living or…ask me to start the wedding preparation?”

The question made her gave him a sharp glance.  The expression on her face got him wondering if he had said something wrong.

He thought she just realised that it would not work out and he felt a sudden fear. He could not remember the last time he felt so scared. He had been in very critical situations, chased and shot at by the police and soldiers but he never felt the fear that swept through him now that he may lose her.

“You want to marry me?” She asked in a low tone. He just talked about wedding. He truly wanted to be with her.

“Why else will I fall in love with you?” He dropped the rhetorical question. “If it was part of our tradition to get a diamond ring and kneel down to propose, I am sure that a diamond ring would have fallen from above right now. I want to marry you and if it was within my power, I would have done that right now.”

Her lips shifted and a pretty smile was produced.

“That will be one of my happiest moments in life.” She said. “I am just worried about where you will stay. This hotel is a bit expensive for someone who has no job. Five thousand a day is a bit on the high side.”

“I am going to get an apartment.”

“But that will also cost money.” She observed. “I had some money but I bought a bike with it and used the rest to pay some people.”

“A bike? What do you need a bike for?”

“The bike I used to go to the camp and I had to pay my accomplices.”

“You used your savings to risk your life for me?”

“Don’t go there. You seem to underestimate the power of love, don’t you?”

“That is because I am just experiencing true love for the first time. I love you Leena.”

He said it for the first time.

She blushed.

“I love you too.”

“Before I find an apartment, I think I can keep paying for the hotel bills.” He said before going to the wardrobe to bring out his backpack.

She was shocked to the bundles of currencies he offloaded. There were bundles of one thousand naira notes and American dollars.

“I have almost six million naira here.” He said. “The money I made over the years. I never spent it because there was nothing to spend for. I was not there for the money and like I said in retrospect, there was nothing that excited me about this world in terms of luxury. They fed us and unlike some of our men who lived a double life or went to town to enjoy their money, I was completely stuck to the course.”

“This is a lot of money. I mean you can start up something before getting a job.”

He shook his head slowly.

“I am sorry I can’t.” he said. “This is the money I got from terrorism. The money I got by inflicting pains on people, my country and destroying the image of my religion. The only reason I will use it to rent an apartment, feed or pay for hotel bills is because I must survive to achieve my objectives. I will never invest it, or get married with it, or do anything else. It came from insurgency and it go into something that destroy them. I will still try to get my credentials back and look for a job.”

“I understand. It is a nice decision.”

“Thank you for understanding.” He put the money back into the bag. “I think it is high time you went back home. Go and ease the tension out there. They are worried, remember?”

She nodded.

“Let me type my number for you.” She said. “I left my real phone at home.”

She collected his phone and she put in the number.

“I should give you mine. I want you to notify me when you arrive safely.”

“Sure.”

When it was time for her to leave, he remembered something.

“You cannot go in those clothes. You have to wear the dirty one.”

“That is correct. This is new and I am supposed to be an escapee.”

“And remember what I asked you to tell them. ATOF will come in and question you. Never change your story.”

“I won’t.”

“And never think for a second that moments like this when we have to say goodbye to each other is not one of the most difficult for me.”

“Awwnn….why do you see through my mind? That is exactly what is going on in my heart.”

“I don’t see through your heart. Our hearts are synchronized”

“If you keep talking like this, I will not leave here.”

Liah was a twenty four year old Computer Science graduate. She was of average height, slim with very long hair. Her friends used to call her Black Indian.

She came out of her house and smiled at Dammy who sat on the hood of his car.

“Dammy.”

“Hanny, what’s up?”

“I’m good. How are you doing?”

“Breathing.”

“Come on.”

“What else? I still breath.”

“So, shall we?”

“Sure.”

They got into the car and he drove off.

“When did she come back?” He asked.

“Dammy, are you asking me? She called me this about thirty minutes ago that she just arrived. Are you trying to say she did not call you?”

“She did. I just don’t know what to believe anymore.”

“Duuhr! You are taking it too far.”

“Hanny, did you just say too far? This is a girl I am supposed to have gotten married to like five months ago and getting married to in just seven weeks’ time but she gets missing only to call me that it was not……”

“It was not what?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? Do you think I am stupid? You have been trying to hide something but you fail because words slip out of your mouth easily. What the heck is going on between you guys? Leena is my childhood friend and she told me nothing out if the ordinary. What is going on?”

“I don’t know. I think you should ask her. Do you know if there is someone else in her life?”

“Define someone else. It can’t be just all about you. She got parents, besties like me, bothers….”

“You know what I mean. Is there another guy in her life? Is she in love with someone else?”

“Even though the question sounds so strange, I will say no. She has never told me about anyone else and I never saw any sign.”

“Hmmmm…”

“Dammy, what is going on please?”

“We are going to see her now. I want it all figured out. I have kept my side of the bargain. Now I demand to know what is going on. I call you in because you are her best friend.”

“Say that again.”

“I think it has to be settled today. The rest, we will find out when we get there.” He said firmly.

They tried to change the topic but deep down, they all kept thinking about it. Liah was more curious.

When they arrived the house, they met a house in celebration. It was like a ceremony. Food was in surplus and people kept coming to see her and congratulate her parents. This time, Leena felt guilty but tried to keep it low. Even though she had narrowly escaped death, she was not kidnapped.

Dammy and Liah arrived. Liah and Leena hugged each other.

“Tell me you will never leave again.” Liah said.

“Never and I am saying never insha God.”

People began to felicitate with Dammy, congratulating him and he wore a constant fake smile.

Meanwhile, Liah could not wait to be in seclusion with Leena. They went outside the main house and stood by a car in the parking space.

“Leena, what is going on between you and Dammy? He has being acting strange and saying strange things that do not make sense to me…..” she briefed her on what she and Dammy had been discussing.

“I am sorry I never told you this. I did not because it was so crazy not even my best friend would understand me. In fact, I could not understand myself either but it not what Dammy thinks.”

“What is it?”

“So you girls are here.” Dammy said with both hands in his pockets. They did not see him coming.

“Leena, I am happy you are back. I just want to know if you are in love with someone else.”