[Story] The Bonny Island Massacre – S01 E14

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 14

Femi carried Annabel in his arms, with her hands flaying about, and her head at an unusual angle, into his car. He didn’t mind that her blood would stain his car upholstery, all he cared about, was saving her for Yvonne’s sake.

Femi: “Please ma’am, stay with us, do not die, for Yvonne’s sake” he said as he sped the rain washed asphalt roads of Bonny Island.

He got to the nearest hospital and rushed into the lobby shouting for help. The emergency attendants rushed out to the parking lot with a gurney. But when they saw Annabel at the back seat of the car, they were taken aback by the condition she was in. Nevertheless, they carried her on to the gurney and rushed into the hospital, and into the Intensive Care Unit.

They propped her head and tried to give CPR, but no matter the voltage that was used, Annabel’s heart rate did not come up, in truth, there was no heart rate. Femi watched as the doctors slammed her chest with the resuscitator pads. But no matter how much voltage it was charged with, there was no response. The heart monitoring machine still showed a flat line. The doctor, determined to save her life threw away the resuscitator and began to press down on her chest, with his hands. But nothing changed.

Doctor: “Dead on arrival” he said sadly, and flung his gloves away.

Femi: “No!” he shouted and burst into the room, as the nurses pulled a white cloth over Annabel. He could see the plea in Yvonne’s eyes when she asked him to save her mother. How could he tell her that her mother was dead?

Security men came and took Femi away, as he refused to leave. When he was calm, they left him, and he called Yvonne’s father.

Femi: “She is dead” he said and began to sob.

Prince Ngegwu had just deplaned at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport when Femi called him. He sat down slowly in a chair in the coolvalstories lobby even as his aides and body guards watched him in confusion. He held his face in his hand, and for the second time in his life, he cried. He had not cried when he found that Daisy was among the people who died at Yvonne’s birthday party, but hearing that his wife Annabel was dead, he cried. He thought that he had stopped loving Annabel, but it took death to make him realize that he loved her still. He kept away from home because he felt betrayed by her, but finding out that she had never cheated on him, but gotten another child to replace their dead child, in order to hold on to their love, he felt like the villain.

He regretted keeping the truth he learned from everyone, if only he had talked sooner. He had made his children with Daisy refrain from telling anyone that he was their father, the reason for doing that, seemed meaningless now that Annabel was dead.

Prince Ngegwu: “I killed my wife, I killed Annie” he said as the tears did a free fall down his cheeks. Passersby looked at him quizzically; they wondered why a grown man was crying so unabashedly.

Then the reporters swarmed on him, they had heard that the NSS was involved in the Bonny Island massacre, and the plane that transported Yvonne from Port-Harcourt would touch down at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport. But now they had something juicer, it was the mighty oil magnate, Prince Ngegwu crying in public. They believed he was crying because of what had befallen his daughter.

Yvonne’s known father, Prince Ngegwu was still at the airport when he heard a disturbance. He raised his head and saw his daughter, Yvonne dressed in prison garb, and shackled hands and feet. She was held on both sides by NSS agents. It was obvious that she could not walk properly, as she dragged her shackled feet.

Prince Ngegwu: “You don’t have to do this! She is not dangerous” he exploded, rushing at them.

Yvonne: “Father, father, how is mother?” she asked. She had grown up calling him ‘dad’ and she couldn’t stop herself now. Her father could not reply, he stared at her with red rimmed eyes, and the answer was written on his face.

Yvonne: “No, no, no. I want my mother” she cried and began to shake violently. The NSS agents pushed her forward out of the lobby to the waiting Black Maria, while the reporters flashed their cameras, taking all the pictures they could.

Mathias, since coming into the country had been a name to reckon with. His law firm was known to take cases that no other law firm would touch, and they rarely lost. Prosecutors were afraid of them because, it would take a really airtight case to win them in court. However, despite catering to the rich, there were times that he would do pro bono cases, and defend a person in court, even if the person was unable to pay him. People always wondered why he did that, little did they know that, he was trying to atone for his sins. He felt that if he did good, he would blot away the sins of the past.

Mathias had just come from the States where he attended a conference, and he was greeted by a boiling country. This time it was worse than before. The AFC and the NPC were at each other throats, and the woman in the center of it was Yvonne Ngegwu. He was watching online, the video of the oil magnate, Prince Ngegwu crying, while his daughter was led away by the NSS agents, shackled like an International criminal. Mathias went ahead and did a quick research and he found out all about the Bonny Island massacre. It looked like a challenge to him, a case he should handle, but he also heard that his rival law firm, Berkeley and Berkett were already on the case, so he backed off, but decided to keep up with updates on the case.

Raji Lawal, the NPC member that met with Yvonne before everything went to hell, was in his Abuja office when the NSS agents burst into the office.

NSS agent: “You are under arrest, for conspiracy against the nation’s security”

Raji Lawal: “What sort of bogus charge is that, under whose orders?” he asked vehemently.

NSS agent: “Under the orders of the president” he replied, with matching fervor.

Raji was stunned; he was convinced that the ruling party had seized on this occasion to do more damage to the image of the opposition. He only pitied Yvonne. Although he was confused as to what really happened, but one thing he was sure of was that, there was no political motive behind the Bonny Island massacre.

At the NSS headquarters, the agents questioned Raji Lawal, all day and into the night. By morning, a statement was released to the media, it was a statement supposedly written by Raji Lawal. Yvonne did not understand why she had been arrested and brought to Kuje prison, why couldn’t they try her in Port-Harcourt. Most people who came to Kuje prison never left, and she was sure that now the NSS had taken over the case, it would be a long time before they even took her to court. Her mother was dead, the news had confirmed her demise, she was her only hope for finding her true parents, but now she would never know. Everywhere Yvonne looked, she saw despondency.

Yvonne: “Just a few days ago, I was planning my life with Femi, but now I don’t know if I will ever leave the walls of this prison. Oh God, who did I offend, who made my life this useless?” she questioned, but only the silence prevailed. She looked around the small walls of the prison cell, they were black with dirt. The cell had just a small window that was barred. However, she could not tell the time of the day because the window faced a tall wall. She laid on the long lean cot and looked up, as the tears filled her eyes and overflowed. Slowly she drifted into a deep sleep and there, she saw her mother.

Yvonne: “Mother, you look very beautiful and happy, why is that?” she asked puzzled.

Annabel: “I look this way because I have left the world of strife, where I am is peaceful, but I know my daughter that, you are going through a lot right now. You need your father”

Yvonne: “My father, he is helpless, all his wealth cannot save me now”

Annabel: “I mean your real father”

Yvonne: “My real father, where will I see him?”, she asked, then she did as if she suddenly remembered something, “He gave me out when I was baby, why should I care about him, and why should he want to help me?” she asked.

Annabel: “He will come to you and when he does, receive him” she said.

Yvonne’s eyes shot open from the disturbing dream, and her eyes peered into the eyes of a burly woman in prison clothes. She looked menacing and her eyes shone with evil pleasure.

Question: What is the intent of the woman in Yvonne’s room? Also, who is Yvonne’s real father and how would he come to her?