She plans to kill me

The real story

Denny closed his eyes as he sat on a pew in a place they called gossip centre. He felt his lips between his teeth and the clenching cause him a sharp pain. He was unaware of doing that. He was infuriated. How could some urchins maltreat his brother and go scot free? What the hell was this cult all about?

That was one thing people never knew about the twins except close relations like their mother. Danny was known to be the trouble maker, the noisemaker while Denny was known to be reserved and cool.

But in his coolness was a stone heart. He hid most of his thoughts in his heart and had the ability to suppress his emotions but he was more vindictive. When Danny told him what happened, he said nothing much and he realised that Danny had let it go.

Danny bought another phone and did a welcome-back for his SIM card. But Denny never forgot. He began to investigate until he discovered that Small was a fresher, who just came gained admission and joined cult even before his registration process was completed. His real name was Tahir Bala Anka.

He also discovered that the guy with the goatee was called Kenneth Akokokpori but known as Murphy.

Denny marked them but never mentioned this to anyone. Not even his brother. He started stalking them while he nursed a way of getting back at them.

As he sat on the pew after watching Murphy for a while, he began to think of a way to settle the matter. He felt such guys were nothing but a nuisance to the society and were not worthy of been there. They killed, robbed, raped, blackmail and intimidation.

It was then a young girl, about his age came and sat near him. She was tall, slim and slightly light in complexion. She wore brown knee length pants, and black sleeveless vest, hanging her backpack and holding a bottle of coke and cupcake.

" Hi." She said with a smile.

" Hi." He said back.

" I hope you don't mind me sitting over here."

" The last time I checked, my surname is not UJ. I don't own a damn thing here."

She smiled.

" I am famished and damn me..." she opened her backpack and removed another plastic bottle of coke and offered it to him.

" No thanks."

" I won't accept that for an answer. You can open it yourself. It's not poisoned."

Denny grinned and he was surprised he did because he was not a ladies man. He accepted it and before he knew it, she was offering him a cake.

They now sat side by side eating and somehow ,he was glad she did because it just downed on him that he was famished.

" Tessy Ray,"she said, " Mass Com.Three hundred level."

" Denny Adam, Mechanical, two hundred level."

She offered her hand. He hesitated. He had never shook the hand of a lady but....he extended his hand to feel her soft palms.

" Do you know I was kind of scared at first when I saw you here?" She said.

" Why?"

" You can't tell. The boys."

"What boys?"

" Underworld. The cult boys."

" And what makes you so sure I am not one." He said and wore a stoned face.

She giggled.

" Because I see a nice guy behind that sapphire eyes. Yes, I love your eyes. Kind of strange for a blackman but you look Arabian."

" I am a blackboy."

" A mallam right?"

" I am not a mallam."

"You are. From your name, I can tell. You are an aboki, right?"

Denny was forced to laugh.

" You guys feel every Monotheist is a mallam. Mallam means one who has knowledge and pedagogic. He is a teacher. Mu'alim. Ilmi means knowledge. And you also call every Hausa man aboki. Aboki means friend."

" That's news ! I never knew."

" And for the record. I am not a nice guy."

" Then you have to prove me wrong."

Two days later, they met in the library. This time, she wore a skinny palazzo, and crop top which accentuated her broad hips. And her backpack was hung as usual. Her hair was made in braids and he wondered how long it her to sit down and get it done for her.

" Denny, right?" she said with a broad smile.

" Yep. Tessy and I am sure it is."

" Shame on me then."

They sat close to each other while they read. After about two hours, he said he was leaving. She said she was also leaving because her brain was saturated. They left together and he offered her lunch. She hesitated before she obliged. They went to a restaurant and had lunch.

This was the beginning of the relationship between Denny and Tessy. They became closer but he chose to hide it from Danny. He felt Danny would not buy the idea and somehow, he was attracted to her.

Everything seemed normal between them until it popped up one night. That night................

2005

It was one of those cold nights in Jos when everyone became a smoker, puffing out smoke. It was called breath vapour. Denny and Tessy were walking down a street beside the campus, having been in the library for a while.

It was evening and the cold had intensified. Her teeth chattered, and her voice shook. It was her third year in Jos but she had not gotten used to the severe cold. Denny had offered his thick shirt but she declined, saying she would soon be home.

Then one slim tall guy appeared from a dark corner. He wore dreadlocks, and earring, baggy jeans and big winter jacket,

“ Tessy!” He called with a harsh voice.

“ Who is that?” she asked.

The tall guy came out of the darkness and stood before them.

“ Who the hell is this guy that you have been hanging with?”

“ Teks what’s up?” she said when she recognized him.

“ You have not answered me, babe.”

“He is my friend.”

“ But you know I  hate seeing you with guys ,right?”

She smirked.

“ Teks we broke up and I am done with you. I have the right to be with whoever I want.”

“ You get that wrong. I want us back!”

“ I am done with you.”

Teks looked at Denny and clenched his fist.“ My guy, you dey find kasala o!” He warned, “ You go wound o!”

“ Are you threatening me?” Denny asked, pointing to his chest.

“ Me just dey yan you my church mind. I no good. Leave my punany alone. This babe na my chick, no be today. Na small gbege just shele between us…wait first, why I even dey try explain to you? Now, get the hell out of my sight.

And you Tessy, we are going to my crib like right now.I hope you can feel the weather.”

Denny looked at her.

“ Do you want to go with him?”

She shook her head. “ No.”

“ I hope you heard her and is it not mawkish to fight over a girl? I am a big boy and if she says she wants to be with you, then it’s a free world. Now she says she does not want to so, I think it is settled.”

“ Chai! Babane, you go wound o!”

“ Then let’s go.” Denny said and held her hand. As they began to walk away, Teks held Denny by his shirt. This was a goof. Denny turned and sent a straight punch to his face.Teks must have been expecting it so he swayed but released Denny.

“ Enyi guys ! Arrange into Luciano setting.” Teks said two more guys came out of the darkness.

“ Please stop Teks.” Tessy pleaded.

One of the two guys was chubby. He was had a cigarette between his lips, a red bandana tied on his head then wore a black baseball cap which was sideways. He held a baseball club.

The second guy was short and thickset. He also held a baseball club.

“ Tessy, come with me or we would break every bone, every joint in his skeletal system.”

“ For real, Teks.” Said the chubby one.

“ You guys can only take her over my dead body!” Denny said sternly.

The guys now cornered him and launched an attack. Denny was pugnacious, frenzied and dogged. He was been hit but he attacked like a grim lion. And when he hit the chubby guy in the face, his club fell off and Denny pick it up.

“ I swear heads will roll dan uwarku!”

  Tessy was now crying, begging them to stop because she knew if this continued for another ten minutes, Denny was going down. There was no way he could face them.

Then four hefty men appeared from nowhere. They immediately attacked Teks and his boys and it took only five minutes to get them scampering. Denny was saved.

He was still holding on to the baseball club, panting and gasping.

“ I hope you are okay.” One of the men who saved him asked.

“ I am thank you.”

“ It’s nothing. Those are Ake boys. They will mark you.” He said and dragged Denny to a side.

“ I am Jib. We shall meet again. You need to sit on the fence and not by the fence. Now go home.”

Twenty minutes later, he and Tessy were entering their room. It was a few minutes to 11:00PM.

“ Are you sure you are okay?” She asked with a concerned expression.

“ I am. No fractured bone.”

“ I regret ever been with him.”

“ It’s one of those things.”

“ Where is your brother?”

“ He travelled to KD.” He replied. Danny was trying to set up a pharmacy so he was trying to put things in place. “ I think it would be wise if I see you off. It’s getting late.”

“ Now?”

“ It is almost eleven.”

“ I am scared. I don’t want to go tonight.”

What!

“ But where would you sleep? There is only one room here and one bed…mattress,sorry.”

She got up and before he knew it, she was in his arms.

“ I am scared. I just want to be with you tonight. “

No. He had never been with a woman like this. And what was this hold all about? And the warmth, the softness of her body all made him felt uncomfortable. Okay, she would sleep but nothing will happen. Nothing.

He never knew it was the beginning of a journey he never bargained for. This was how Denny was plunged into something he never dreamt of…..and he was going to see more of Jib. Whoever he waS

2008

Many eyes turned at Denny who was sitting next to their mother, and he felt a bang in his heart. What has she done? This was something that has been bugging him, and had wanted to confess but Danny stopped him.

Why was she doing this now? Was she there to exonerate them or exacerbate? Damn!

“ Danny was nowhere close to Shere Hills that day. Record shows that he has an alibi. He was in Kano to purchase drugs for his pharmacy. There are receipts, travel tickets and witnesses to substantiate this fact.

My Lord, Denny did not commit the murder either. He was there on that day and actually climbed the cliff as shown in the photograph and attested by witnesses. But none of the evidence prove that he killed them.

It was claimed that he rolled down heavy rocks that killed them. The first question that came on my mind was……was the stone a boomerang?”

A short laughter, and her mother laughed too, and very proud of her daughter. If it was more than one rock he pushed, were the seven of them stuck? Why didn’t they run after the first person or the second is killed? Were they in a straight line and the stone just rolled on them all?

 It does not add up. And when I saw the size of the rock and the position it was said to be on the cliff, I was forced to travel down to Jos and got a more detailed data. It was claimed that he was the only person there.

Law is my discipline and I am not science oriented.Fortunately, a lawyer is not confined to a single discipline. Versatility is a requisite factor in law so I was compelled to peep into an aspect of science to confirm my hypothesis.

The rock is said to have a mass of 1540 kilograms. When this is multiplied by acceleration due to gravity which is estimated to be 10 meters per second square, we have a weight of 15,400 Newton. That is about almost the weight of thirty-one bags of cement which weighs 500 Newton.

My learned senior colleague, it may be pertinent I state it here that there is a difference between mass and weight. When I mentioned that a bag of cement weighs 500 Newton, I saw someone shake his head because what we usually see written is 50 kilogram.

For those of us who are not science oriented, kilogram is the SI unit of mass and mass is a scalar quantity. It is constant. But weight is a vector quantity and it is gotten by multiplying the mass by acceleration due to gravity.

I also found out that the rock was at a distance of 1.4 meter before the edge of the cliff. How did he push it down? The force required to push the object parallel to the ground is anything greater than  the resistive force of friction  which is the normal  force m time g times the friction coefficient K. To push this rock, the force produced by Denny must exceed mgk.

How can a mortal, a single man do this? And even if Denny is Superman, how could they all wait to get killed by a rolling stone? And there is no evidence to prove that he killed them except the photograph that he was there and two of the victims were his foes.

If this is this is the reason for saying my client was a cult member, I think it is now clear that it was all a misconception. Thank you my lord.”

“ I think there would be no point dwelling on this issue.” Said the judge. “ If there is no evidence that show that Denny or Danny killed those young men in Jos, then we should concentrate on the allegations which led to the conviction of Mr Danny Adam.

If by any chance, the council for prosecution find substantial evidence, he has the liberty to make a motion for post-trial.”

Danny felt as if Zuma rock had just been lifted off his neck. He found out that Denny was there but he admitted to being the one because he did not want both of them to go down. Someone had to take care of their mum. He could bear that for his brother.

He had been scared when She brought that out. How did she find out? No wonder lawyers called themselves learned. Imagine how she was talking science like she was his classmate. And now, that part was obliterated. Denny was free.

Denny heaved a sigh. He had been exonerated and  hoped his brother would be out of here. He remembered the incidents that lead to that event. He was there, he saw them, but it seemed no one knew what actually happened. This is the real story. On that day…………….