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Okey Eni Books
Books2Read
Category:
Action/Thriller
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition
Type: Fiction
Pages: 788
Copyright: April 25, 2016
ISBN-13: 9781532899447
Price: $2.99 (eBook)
Dictatorship, Military rule was the order of the day in Africa, not long ago. But Africans fought for democratic rule, many were killed, many were brutally murdered by despotic Military rulers. This is the story of the struggle for constitutional government in Nigeria.
This is a story about a killer group established by a despotic military ruler in Nigeria to eliminate perceived enemies of the government, who were agitating for a return to democratic governance. It began with a covert operation staged by the SS Squad of DMI, to eliminate Chief Femi John, a business mogul and financier of pro-democracy activities. It was led by Captain Sabo Yakubu, who when he shot his way to the target’s bedroom, found him dead. Inspector Fred Ugo of force headquarters was assigned to investigate the murder. Rotimi Jegede a fiery human rights activist and popular lawyer had a meeting with Chief John the next day. He felt threatened and called a world press conference the next day to insinuate that the government murdered Chief John. He organized a nation wide civil unrest the type that has not been seen in Africa before in protest. Meanwhile back at the DMI office Sabo’s boss did not believe his account that he found the target dead, and charged him to unravel who the mysterious killer is. Sabo started tailing one of the operatives of SS Squad Sergent Jide Olokun, who was top on the list of his suspects. All the pointers in Fred’s investigation kept revealing that government was responsible for the murder. Back home Fred was having a running battle with his live-in lover Gini about getting married. At the age of 35, Fred was getting the heat from his parents and relatives to get married. Rotimi was having serious personal battles of his own. At the age of 43, he was still single and lives alone with his steward. He was battling with Indian hemp addiction, alchohol addiction and frolicking with prostitutes. Fred discovered that one of Chief John’s aides helped the killers with information; he wanted to use him to apprehend the killers. However, when the aide contacted DMI demanding Fred’s death, Sabo was sent by his boss to case out the aide’s residence for a possible strike. That night the mysterious killer murdered the aide. When Sabo was sent with his team to Ibadan to eliminate Alhaja Mogaji, another pro-democracy activist, he found her murdered but upon brief examination of the crime scene, he discovered a tiny piece of hair belonging to the mysterious killer. Meanwhile Fred discovered that all the people killed were not killed because of their pro-democracy activities, but because they had in their possession a document from FBI indicting the Head of State for drug trafficking. Sabo matched the hair with that of the SS Squad members and even with that of the Head of State without any result. However, that of the CSO to the Head of State was positive; Sabo reported him to the Head of State and thought that was the end of the matter. Rotimi was murdered, Sabo killed Fred, and the mysterious killer, eventually killed Sabo. Find out who the mysterious killer is?
Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE
It was one of those sultry days in November; the harmattan season had just begun. Its thick haze drifted in the air like a constellation of coagulated hazel mist, making visibility low, as its severity agglutinated all and sundry in a depressed, dispiriting affinity. Captain Sabo Yakubu of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) had a problem concentrating while driving to work in the morning. His mind contoured with solicitude and the harmattan haze and inclement weather condition did not alleviate matters. He licked his chapped lips, as he observed with detached curiosity as a whirlwind descended with pernicious intent and raised a maelstrom of dust, which it lifted high into the sky. It was a wild twister which carried off light objects. He went on driving and observing the flailing flakes of dust and dirt as it descended languidly to the ground. A black cellophane bag landed on his windscreen and became stuck to one of the wipers of his car.
An elliptical knot of old, he mused.
A youthful fellow of twenty-five with an athletic built, of an average height of five feet nine inches. He had a full curly shock of jet black hair and dark in complexion. His blazing deeply intense eyes watched as the swiveling wind picked up the cellophane bag attached to his windscreen and hoisted it up into the sky until it receded from his view. Sabo kept driving as the blustery weather kept lashing wind at his windscreen. He wondered absentmindedly what will transpire if these mild twisters turn into the real ones in Nigeria. Sabo had seen a devastating hurricane once in the United States of America. How will the people grapple with such catastrophe?
It was his first undercover operation since his transfer to the SS Squad of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI). An ingenious and ebullient military officer, Captain Yakubu graduated with honours on top of his class from the Nigerian Defence Academy Kaduna. All his other military training both within and outside the country had been accomplished with gob smacking accolades. He was part of the new-breed and dexterous officers of the Nigerian Army that the older and ethereal officers sought to have around them. The President and the Commander-in-Chief (CIC) of the Armed Forces himself specifically requested to have Captain Sabo Yakubu among his elite SS Squad of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI).
The SS Squad of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) is dreaded by all and sundry. A surreptitious and deleterious assemblage, which was conceptualized as the hatchet arm of an ostracized despot, clinging desperately to authority. Officers of higher rank regard highly ancillary officers of the SS Squad and whenever any of them is accosted by an officer of the SS Squad, such officer always quakes visibly with trepidation. The SS Squad as all knew held the power of life and death over anybody that live within the geographical entity called Nigeria. Even the Head of State’s Second In Command (2IC) was not immune to the powers of the SS Squad. They are only answerable to the Head of State alone and to no one else.
Sabo is jolted from his deep thoughts when his car entered a bad part of the road. It threw him so high that his head almost brushed the roof of his car; he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt.
‘Innocuous hell’, he swore.
Sabo had just entered Bode Thomas Street Surulere when he inadvertently entered the pothole. He wondered when someone could be able to drive in Nigeria, without your eyes scanning the road for bad portions. He slammed on the brake and shifted the gear to one, then veered to his left to evade another pothole. Sabo nearly rammed his car into an oncoming vehicle, whose driver halted and was raining all invectives he could muster on Sabo. He ignored him and kept on driving. He came to the roundabout where he met a traffic jam and crawled all the way to the National Stadium. There was a traffic officer at the intersection having a handful and a nightmare controlling the traffic. It was a gridlock as motorists chose not to obey the traffic warden. Sabo was no exception; he swerved and manoeuvred his Peugeot 505 salon car, out of the bottleneck at the junction amidst shouts and diatribes from other road users. Sabo could not afford to be late for work today of all days. He drove through the road that connected to the overhead bridge. When he got to Western Avenue he relaxed a bit and switched on the car radio. He went through the stations, searching for any music that could suit his nerves. He couldn’t find any, he slotted in a tape, and the sonorous, silvery and titillating voice of Celine Dion filled his car. A suiting balm for early morning traffic hassles. He wanted to close his eyes but quickly remembered that he was driving, as Celine Dion kept belting out,
“BECAUSE HE LOVED ME,"
From the four speakers in his car. Lost in the serenading embrace of Celine Dion’s velvety voice, he had virtually forgotten the order of the day, his first covert assignment, but his mind quickly jerked back to it. By which time he became entangled once more in a traffic jam at Marina Lagos. It was at a creeping pace, and there was no room to manoeuvre as all the four lanes are crammed full of cars. Sabo crawled along until he got to his office.
Sabo arrived office in high spirits that morning, he went straight to his commanding officer’s office but his secretary informed that he had not arrived. The Commanding Officer (CO) of the SS Squad was also the director of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI). Colonel Tanko Aminu. Sabo went to his office to rehearse his own part in their clandestine operation for the day.
Colonel Tanko Aminu, the director of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) strode into the Defence Headquarters (DHQ), a building which housed the directorate, at exactly eight thirty a.m. It was a twenty-five storey edifice and Colonel Aminu was the second most influential officer after the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) in the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) building. He was merely a colonel and there were other higher-ranking officers in the building, but they were not as powerful as he was. He strode in as usual with his retinue of aides flanking about him.
A tall lanky man in his mid-forties, he had a swagger in his lengthy strides that took in considerable space with each jaunty stride. He was a typical specimen of the innate good looks of the Fulani ethnic tribe who inhabited the Northern part of Nigeria. He had a curly brown hair on an oval face and was also fair in complexion. His well starched military regalia and polished black shoes fitted his physique. He went straight to his office and called up Sabo to come to his office. Colonel Aminu is well known for his choleric tantrums and his perpendicular jowl lent credence to his indomitable aura. so, all his aides and colleagues at the directorate always cringed whenever they were around him. Sabo came into the exterior office and asked Colonel Aminu’s secretary of the frame of mind of her boss.
“Well he didn’t acknowledge me when I saluted him so I presume he is in a bad mood today”, the diffident secretary responded, while adjusting the opaque lens she was wearing as eyeglass.
Although Sabo had a close and personal rapport with the Commander-in-Chief (CIC), yet he is scared stiff of his immediate cantankerous boss. Everybody was edgy, fidgety and self-effacing around Colonel Tanko Aminu; he had that effect on people in spite of his office. Even the Head of State had confessed to close confidants about his trepidation of Colonel Aminu but had always joked that he had the leash to control him.
Sabo knocked and entered Colonel Aminu’s office.
“Good morning Sir”, He said and saluted.
Colonel Aminu grumpily grunted an acknowledgment.
“Gather your boys and assemble at the briefing room at once, I want us to go over the details of today’s operation there must be no ineptitude this time,". He launched into at once.
“Yes Sir”, Sabo replied saluted and left the office.
At precisely 9.00 a.m., Colonel Aminu sauntered into the instruction room of the SS Squad in languid rakish steps and the men of SS Squad stood up and saluted him. He gestured to them to sit down and at once went on with the briefing.
There were seven men in the room excluding Colonel Aminu; they made up the bulk of the SS Squad of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI). In fact, the whole bulk of SS Squad comprised fifteen hand-picked men with Colonel Aminu as their Commander. They comprised seven commissioned officers and eight other soldiers.
Colonel Aminu drew down the map of the streets of Ikeja the capital of Lagos State where their operation would take place at exactly 12.00 noon on that day and explained to them the nitty-gritty of the operation.
“You men are conscious of the importance of this operation, he started tentatively. The Head of State is counting on all of you to make this operation a success. Now, this operation begins at 10.00 a.m. on the dot. At which point we dispatch our surveillance unit to the target’s residence and the target’s office. The first surveillance team will consist solely of Sergeant Jide. You are to observe the target’s house and report all the ensuing development within the vicinity, including the target’s arrival. While the second surveillance team will comprise Sergeant Ekong, you are to watch the target’s office and report all the development within the vicinity of his office including his departure from his office. I require both of you to be on the spot at precisely 10.00 a.m. And at exactly 10.00 a.m. I want Major Obi to contact our men in the targets’ office to establish whether our target has altered his schedule and to admonish him to contact us immediately our target leaves the office for home. Meanwhile, the strike team proper shall comprise four people, headed by Captain Yakubu, the others include Captain Imosile, Sergeant Barnabas and Sergeant Danladi, the four of you shall be at our location in the vicinity of the operation at precisely 11.30 a.m. to go ahead on receiving a signal from the headquarter. Major Obi will man the control room and I will be here with him to make sure everything goes on smoothly. I need not remind you all that the last operation you embarked on was an absolute failure, the Head of State was so incensed at your ineptness he threatened reprisal for all of us whenever such a letdown occurs again,".
He completed the instruction and went over other little details with them including answering questions before he departed to his office.
Within the limited time left, the other four men went into their changing rooms to dress for the operation. They discarded the army uniform they wore to the office and changed into the operation gear, which was a black armoured outfit that protected them from head to toe, a Kevlar. They checked their firearms and assembled at their briefing room.
The two-man surveillance units were the first to leave dressed in the unfussy and demotic garb of the ordinary people on the streets. The four men strike team followed shortly after them. Major Obi and Colonel Aminu went into the command room to supervise the operation.
While sequestered at the building near the target’s residence, which the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) had leased to maintain a tight surveillance on the target for the past six months. Sabo sat with the other three members of the strike unit, each with a load of thoughts rumbling through their minds. This was Sabo’s first undercover operation, but the others who joined the SS Squad before him had seen more action than he had. Nevertheless, Sabo revealed none of the portentous angst going through his mind. As a leader, he was taught at military training never to exhibit any anxiety, fear or emotion whatsoever whenever he was on duty. The SS Squad had maladroitly bungled two earlier operations given to them by the Head of State, which had necessitated his being drafted into the squad. Sabo had always been a brilliant Military officer but Colonel Aminu himself harboured qualms about transferring him into the SS Squad because he is perceived to be a conscientious fellow, with patina virtues gleaming so effulgently that, it could be perceived from afar. The Head of State, who picked up a special interest in him after reading a report on him, had deliberated the matter severally with Colonel Aminu, who had repeatedly shown reservation about Sabo. That was until the Head of State brought him in as one of his special security operatives and established a special rapport with him. He remembered the day he discussed the matter with the Head of State, and how he had appealed fervently to him to join the SS Squad and try to stop the bungling that had characterized their last two operations.
Once more, he went over the details of their operation in his mind. Their target Chief Femi John was a well-established business mogul in the country, but Chief John had a leaning towards the pro-democracy groups now agitating for the restoration of the country to constitutional government. Nigeria has been governed for the preceding fifteen years since the military took over in a bloody coup d’état from an elected government, by successive military administrations. The agitation for the return to civil rule has never been like this. The activities of these pro-democracy groups have been a source of concern to the Head of State so; he has vowed to cut them down to size before they deracinate his government. Intelligence report gathered had indicated that Chief John was financing quite a number of them; therefore, he became marked out for elimination. Cut the source of the funding the Head of State has reasoned with Colonel Aminu and they will fall like a pack of cards.
Chief John usually had a swirling vortex of security around him; so scheduling such operation at night would have amounted to war with his whirlpool of security personnel. Consequently, the operation was fixed at 12 noon. Security report discovered that security around his residence is often lax at daytime, there are fewer guards and the dogs were locked in the cages. Chief John owns a pack of dogs numbering over twenty; the SS Squad cannot afford the commotion that such dogs could course. They had contemplated striking at his office but the place was crawling with people and they do not want to leave witnesses around after the operation.
At 12.10 p.m. they received instruction from the command room at their headquarter to move in for the operation. When they arrived at Chief John’s residence, each man took up his position and at 12.15 p.m., synchronized time the operation started in earnest. It was Sabo’s task to whack off the old man while the other three engage the security men in a shootout. One person was posted to the back of the building where the dogs are kept to prevent any of the guards from releasing the dogs from their pens while the operation lasted while the remaining two were to engage and draw out as many security men as possible. The operation is timed to last for 10 minutes. They gained entrance into Chief John’s residence by blowing a hole in the exterior embankment. Although the sound of the explosion is muffled, yet they must have known that the security camera would instantly pick up their entrance.
Sabo, once they gained entrance headed for the rear door to the house which is used, by the house helps to enter the main building which is usually unlocked. Armed with a Russian-made AK-47 assault rifle and a Beretta 9mm pistol, Italian made and not the standard army issue, with his dagger tucked safely within reach, while the others who engaged the security men had Israeli-made Uzi sub-machine guns, some hand grenades and a bazooka. They are also armed with pistols and daggers.
Sabo raced towards the building firing on impulse, not waiting to aim before he fired but all the same, his shots were sure hits as he was a crack shot. He had his pistol out, it was more adept to close range mobile shooting than the rifle which was slung over his shoulder, and the 9mm bullet of the Beretta could accomplish as much damage as the 30mm of the rifle at close range. Sabo ran along to the back entrance with the rifle slung at his front. He noticed a shadow advancing in front of him and fired at once before he had time to think and a groan of pain told him he made contact. As he was rounding off the edge of the building at top speed he discovered two guards running towards him, he fell sideways and fired almost instantly and he glimpsed the two men buckled and plunged down while he got up and continued to race. He made it to the back entrance and went in through the kitchen, he met the cook and the steward and at once dispatched them with his dagger, no time to loose he scrambled up the stairs, towards Chief John’s bedroom. but, unknown to him, Chief John’s personal bodyguard and a hunk of a man had hidden behind the passage door leading to Chief John’s room to take him by surprise. But years of training and drilling under the martial arts has taught Sabo how to fight with the body and the mind together. He has consistently heard his martial arts instructor hammering it into his ears that the body and the mind makes a formidable team, accordingly, he should always fight with both of them. Immediately he raced into the passage, well-horned instinct told him that a peril was lurking behind the door and at once he tried to evade such danger by rolling down to the floor. so, the bodyguards blow only caught him falling down and propelled him more violently downward with no harm incurred. But, he lost both his rifle and his pistol. He rolled to his feet and sprung up. Now he has to combat this hunk of a guy with merely his dagger and he didn’t have considerable time on his hand to accomplish it and still meet their time schedule. The bodyguard grinned when he noticed that Sabo who was lithe would fight him without his gun and pistol. But the grin faded when Sabo pulled out his dagger. It changed into a snarl, but what the bodyguard did not realize was that even without the dagger Sabo could still easily kill him. He growled and charged towards Sabo aiming to pin him on the wall, but the snarl died in his esophagus as Sabo expertly drove the dagger into his throat slitting open his windpipe. The bodyguard gargled and tumbled to the ground in the merging of his own blood.
Sabo stepped over him picked up his rifle and pistol and tried the door to Chief John’s room only to discover it locked. Outside he could still hear the rapid burst of Uzi sub-machine gun’s 60mm bullets drowning that of the guns held by the guards and spewing destruction in the wake of its passage. He brought out his mini C4 explosive pack and planted it at the door which blew it open.
Sabo entered the room and met disorderliness. It was like a scene right out of one of Stephen King’s horror classics. But this was not a coruscating brilliant inspiration of a gifted author. The room had been ripped apart. He couldn’t unravel what the person was searching for, but what captured his attention was the contorted body of Chief John which rested on the floor in the pool of his own blood. And Sabo shuddered with revulsion. He has never seen a dismembered and decapitated body like that of Chief John all his life. He took a second look at the disarray around the room and left.
Outside the main building, the fight was still raging on between the strike force of SS Squad and the security force of Chief John. Now some of the security guys had had a rethink, and they now found it expedient to send some of their members to come and protect Chief John, as none of them is stationed near his private quarters. so, Sabo’s trained ears picked up the sound of onrushing feet ascending the steps and he retreated to the landing where he hid and cocked his pistol. And he shot both of them precisely on the head as they became visible within the landing. Sabo got up and ran down, out of the building. His men are still engaged in a shootout with Chief John’s security guys. He rejoined them and gave the signal for them to retreat and escape.
So you want to tell me you didn’t kill Chief John yourself? Colonel Aminu tetchily billowed at Sabo, some hours later when they have returned to the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) office and Sabo was reporting to his boss the details of their operation.
Yes, Sir, Sabo replied.
Colonel Tanko Aminu frowned, got up and started pacing the room in copious cogitation.
And you said the body was badly mutilated, and the room turned upside- down? He demanded.
Yes, Sir, it was evident that whoever killed him was searching for something. Sabo replied.
And what could the person be looking for?
It beats my imagination sir.
This is strange, absolutely strange.
Yes, sir.
You said that the door was locked?
Yes, sir, I had to blow it open with my mini C4.
Then how did the assailant enter and exit the room?
It beats my imagination, sir.
This is so bizarre.
Did you look around?
I had no time to because I was conscious of time.
But the Head of State never informed me he was sending in another team. This is extremely ludicrous; I must contact the Head of State at once to notify him of what is happening. Meanwhile, congratulations Captain Yakubu on a successful assignment even though you insisted you didn’t accomplish the job yourself, but, all the same, it was properly executed and I compliment you and your unit for it.
Thank you, Sir, Sabo replied he saluted his Boss and left.
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