Oga Martins & His Kettle of Fishes 4.0 – Episode 16

Aisha was worried sick after her husband failed to answer his phone at past midnight. That was the umpteenth time she would be calling him and she was really beginning to lose it.

Martins had called her during work hours to inform her that he would be running late. But Aisha never envisaged the lateness Martins talked about will be more than seven hours after the close of work.

It was past midnight when Martins drove into his compound. He had never been home that late since he became a married man, he was a first time offender but the genuine reason for his lateness was totally unacceptable and a sign of irresponsibility. Not even at a time his dear wife was heavily pregnant. Leaving a pregnant wife whose due date was barely a month away all alone to herself all day, even extending to the next day was never going to be an act that would be shoved down the drain. Martins knew it, so he had to cook up a story that would really pacify a worried sick wife who expectedly will be mad at her husband when he returns home safely.

Fortunately for Martins, his wife was fast asleep when he got home. The poor woman had driven herself to sleep after staying up till some minutes past midnight awaiting a husband who for a long moment forgot his primary duties in life.

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“Where were you last night?” Aisha was half awake when she threw the question that had been pending since the previous night at Martins. It was some minutes past eight’o clock on a bright Saturday morning. Martins was standing by the window in their bedroom in his under-wears when his wife woke up from her slumber with the much awaited question on her lips.

“Good Morning my love,” Martins turned to face his wife. She was still stretching in bed in a very relaxed state

“Ditch the pleasantries Martins, that’s not the question I asked you,” She bellowed at him

Martins was going to say something but was interrupted by a loud bang on the living room door….

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Jamiu had been waiting for the moment when he could have his pound of flesh and when he was confronted with the opportunity, he seized it without a second thought. It was bad enough that the crime he committed was a treacherous one, but to subject someone that you’ve been friends with for more than a year now to such harrowing experience was just evil.

To even think that Runo had no single memory of the supposed offence she committed against her neighbour spoke volumes of Jamiu’s tainted background. Like they say, a Fulani man never forgets a grudge. If you offend a Fulani man, he always has a way of paying you back in your own coin, and if fortune smiles on you, you might even get an extra coin. But Jamiu wasn’t even completely Fulani, though his mum hailed from Sokoto, his dad was a Yoruba man from Ondo state; a man he never knew. So for Jamiu, Sokoto had always been his home and he has the heart of a Fulani man, not even when he was born and bred in Sokoto.

“I am a Fulani man Deji, we don’t react well to ridicules especially from an unclean girl. I told her I was going to make her eat her words and I meant it.”  That was his reply to Deji’s when he tried to dissuade him from causing havoc on a girl he calls neighbour. It was like Deji had just returned from outer space when Jamiu for the first time told him he’s Fulani. It had never dawned on him before then. Though he knew the dude was a northerner, he never for once bothered about his tribe because they never talked about his background. Jamiu never spoke Hausa and didn’t have an ascent as is the norm.

There was little Deji could do to stop his friend from unleashing terror on the innocent girl, neither would he say a word about it, not when Jamiu could easily send him six feet under in a flash if he so desired.  He was that ruthless. Deji could not stand the sight of a pretty young lady being brutalized for reasons he felt were abnormal and insane. He left the vicinity in despair, just like the victim, hoping for a miracle to happen.

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The banging continued and even got louder…

“Martins what is going on again?” Aisha was becoming apprehensive

“What do you mean what is going on again?”

“You came home in the dead of night and I wake up this morning to loud banging on our door”

“My dear wife, how does this relate to coming home late last night?”

“I guess you are the only person that can answer that question.”

The banging continued, and this time it was accompanied by loud noise

“I need to get the door,” Martins started to walk out of the bedroom

“Wait! Don’t go,” Aisha pleaded.

“Why?”

“That banging is audacious and frightening. What if they are robbers?” She said with dilated pupils

“Honey you are getting paranoid,” Martins was worried for his wife.

“This is not about being paranoid. Can’t you hear the banging? Does that sound right?” She barked.

“Maybe its our friend,” Martins tried to ease the tension that was brewing as the loud banging continued.

“Which friend?”

“Solonzo…Baby let me get to the door” Martins said with a tone of finality when the banging continued unabated.

“I’m coming with you.” The duo walk out of the bedroom frantically.

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On getting to the living room, the voice they heard alongside the loud banging became clearer and familiar. The men at the door where policemen. Martins and his wife were able to view them via the window in the sitting room.

“Policemen!” Martins voiced out surprisingly. The discovery left his wife in a state of shock.

“What do they want in our home?”  Martins goes to the door to attend to the intruders.

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“Good morning Officers”

“Good morning”

“We are from the Area G police command. Are you Mr. Martins?”

“Yes officers. Any problem?”

“Mr. Martins you are under arrest for the kidnap, torture and rape of Miss Runo Iboje”

“What! How?”

“You have to follow us to the station sir because anything you say here can and will be held against you”

Martins is left dumbstruck. He gazes at his wife who is also lost for words.

 

Oga Martins & His Kettle of Fishes continues next week…