[Story] The Bonny Island Massacre – S01 E15

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 15

Raji’s statement

I, Raji Lawal hereby declare that all I say here is nothing but the truth. On the 2oth of April, one Miss Ngegwu Yvonne, came to me and told me that she wanted to stop one Miss Daisy, from putting foothold in Port-Harcourt. She wanted me to help her to stop her, I told her I would do it, on one condition.

The condition was that she assassinate the AFC presidential and vice-presidential aspirants. I was surprised when she agreed. I told her that it was not a job that could easily be done, and she told me she had a perfect opportunity to assassinate them. I did not know that she was going to kill a lot of people along with them.

The statement, which was reportedly leaked from an NSS agent, indicting Yvonne, broke the internet. Every media house talked about it, and by noon the whole country believed that Yvonne was guilty and had actually poisoned the birthday cake, why else would she have insisted on making the cake herself. Political analysts believed that it was a move by the opposition party to throw the ruling party into confusion as the polls was just months away, and Yvonne had made herself a willing pawn in their game.

As a result of the statement, Raji was fired from his position in the Ministry. When the president appointed Raji Lawal, it was a shock to the whole country, as Raji was of the opposition party. But Raji and the President shared a friendship that went beyond party differences. That night of the appointment, Raji had received a call from the president telling him that he was the only capable man in the whole country that could handle that ministry. So it was a big shock to the country that Raji was the one who had given the contract to Yvonne.

The president felt pained that his friend, whom despite their party affiliations, shared drinks and exchanged ideas, could be involved in the biggest crime since the millennium. He called the NSS headquarters and ordered that Raji be put on the phone, but he was told that Raji was incapacitated. With his knowledge of how the NSS conducted their interrogations, the president was sure that Raji was really incapacitated. He pitied his friend of old, but there was nothing he could do, the interrogation had to go on till all that were involved would come to light. He gave up on his friendship with Raji and declared that Raji be brought to face the law. The president didn’t stop there, he gave an order only known to the NSS, that all means of interrogation be applied on Yvonne till she confessed.

When Yvonne opened her eyes and saw the burly woman peering into her face, she jumped off the lean bed. She had heard stories of what happen behind prison walls, how notorious inmates bullied other inmates. She decided not to show fear.

Yvonne: “What do you want?” she asked, glaring at the bulky apparition before her.

Unknown to her, this was the madam of Kuje prison, she controlled the female inmates and every new inmate paid obeisance to her. She was called ‘Mutu-mutu’, and wherever an inmate heard that name, they trembled because there were rumours that Mutu-mutu was responsible for the death of an inmate who had died from poisoning. But Yvonne did not know all these.

Mutu-mutu: “See this smallie, na me you dey ask that kind queshion?” she asked in slurred Pidgin. She moved closer to Yvonne so much that the latter could smell her body odor, and see the redness of her eyes. She dipped her hands into her pocket and when she brought it out, there was a small knife in her hand.

Yvonne: “Please leave me alone” she said, visibly trembling.

Mutu-mutu: ‘You no know who I be but I wan show you now. Na one eye you go dey use for inside Kuje, so that for your next life, because this your life don finish here, your next life you go dey respect people wey big pass you” she drawled, with a vile smile on her lips.

In one swift move, she pulled Yvonne closer with the collar of her orange jumpsuit. Then she took the knife and pushed it under the left eye. The tip of the knife pierced into Yvonne’s soft skin and it broke. Blood trickled out of the cut, and when Yvonne saw her blood, she became terrified. As the knife pierced deeper and made the cut bigger, almost bruising her eye lid, a prison walked into the cubic cell.

Prison guard: “Mutu-mutu, leave her alone now” he barked, but the burly inmate didn’t bulge, there was a look of ecstasy on her face as she imagined removing Yvonne’s eye. She was an ugly woman and she had always envied beautiful girls like Yvonne.

When the prison guard saw that she didn’t bulge, he hit her on the head with the baton in his hand. The knife fell off her hand and she turned in fury to pounce on the prison guard, but the later was faster and got out his taser, which he used on Mutu-mutu. When Mutu-mutu fell, she glared at Yvonne, obviously blaming her for being tased.

Prison guard: “Now, you, follow me” he said beckoning to Yvonne. Yvonne held the cut under her eye and followed the guard.

If Yvonne thought that her woes were over, she was soon to find out that they had only just begun. The guard took her through different corridors until they got an outbuilding, where he pushed open the door and pushed Yvonne inside, closing the door behind her. He hated going inside that building because whenever he did, the things he saw there, gave him nightmares. For Yvonne however, she was living a nightmare while awake. Her eyes saw first, the blood splattered walls, and she wondered with trembling heart, where she had been brought to. She began to whimper.

Her whimpering became louder when a tall burly man, who looked like the ferocious male version of Mutu-mutu, entered through a side door. He looked to somewhere behind him and beckoned with his hand. Two other men entered the room. They walked straight to Yvonne, and began to strip her naked. She kicked and screamed, but they were undeterred. When she tried to stop them, she was rewarded with a slap or a blow. By the time they had successfully stripped her down to her birthday suit, she had a bruised face.

“You will do well to answer my question or else, this your creamy skin will turn into something even you cannot recognize” she heard the burly man say in a deep, coarse voice.

Yvonne: “Please, I swear to God, I did not poison the cake” she said in a trembling voice. The man laughed a wicked laughter that boomed off the walls of the building.

Man: “Well before we begin, I have something to show you” he said and nodded at one of the men that had stripped Yvonne. The man put his hand in his pocket and brought out a paper, which he gave to Yvonne.

Yvonne peered at it, her eyes dancing from one line to another, she could read the words, but she sure could not understand what she was reading. Hot tears rolled down her bruised cheeks, where tears met with wounds, it burned but Yvonne didn’t feel the pain because, the pain in her heart hurt more. The nightmare was getting harder to wake up from. As much as she pinched herself, she was still stuck in it.

Yvonne: “These are all lies! I didn’t do this. I only met him to stop Daisy and he did not give me any conditions” she yelled. Her terror was mixed with anger and if they had not held her down, she would have pounced on someone.

Man: “Oh you want to beat me up?” the man asked as he came closer to Yvonne. The room was not perfectly lit and the man had been hiding in the shadows. But coming close to Yvonne, she noticed the horse whip (koboko) in his hand, at the same moment that he raised it up and brought it down on Yvonne’s back.

Yvonne yelped as the hooks on the whip tore into her flesh, but that was not all. The horse whip kept going up and coming down on her back, tearing it in different places.

Yvonne: “Please, I did not kill anyone” she begged in a low whisper, spent and weak, unable to cry or defend herself against the invading koboko.

Man: “You are not ready to talk, I like when people are stubborn” he said and took a bucket that Yvonne just noticed. He upended the bucket on her, and Yvonne screamed in agony. The pain was too much, and it was like her spirit was going to flee her body.

She didn’t know what was put in the water but when it touched her back, it was like hot battery acid had been poured on her. It stung in the way only an acid could. At that point, Yvonne just wished God would take away her life. She slumped into unconsciousness.