Must Read: Kumalo

Episode 6 years ago

Must Read: Kumalo

The only thing that kept him alive was his hope for an opportunity to avenge the death of Jumbo his only sibling. He had persuaded his mother to allow Jumbo to come to Enugu to school so he could protect and fend for him.

He could not keep his promise, Jumbo has been killed and he narrowly escaped instant death himself. He could recognize the voice of Egbe whom he had fought with in the Cafeteria, Egbe had called on a certain Stanley to confirm that they were actually dead. He knew they were about four that came for the hit but he heard the name Stanley being called and he recognized Egbe’s voice. He recollected Stanley saying ‘an eye for two eyes’! Rest in pieces the two of you! Next time you reincarnate, you will revere the Hawks of the sky! Stinking Jew men! Stanley had kicked him severally at the sides of his head before kicking dead jumbo to the floor.How would he and his younger brother just die like that? He pondered in his agony. And what was his offence?

Nothing! As long as he was concerned, it was a case of ‘two fighting’ an every day occurrence in Warri. Does it tantamount to a death sentence? If these Cultists were actually strong boys as they claim to be, why did they not challenge him to a duel? Why should they be killed? Did they kill anybody? His thoughts were running wild. He refused to close his eyes even though he was feeling very drowsy. He knew it was an easy way to die off and he was not ready to meet his maker now. He refused to die. He thought of his mother loosing two children at once. The father was murdered during the last Warri crisis. His corpse was among those conveyed with wheel barrows to the mass burial site at jakpa. He was recognised by his shoe. His father has only one shoe that he got from the white man he served as a cook in Chevron estate. The shoe is multi coloured and his mates used to refer to his father’s shoe as ‘rainbow shoe’ he wore the shoe every day for the last six years he spent before his painful death. The father was buried with the shoe among other corpses but the shoe resurrected after some days and became the property of ‘old soja’ a popular drunken retired soldier in Warri who had no family. No one dared accused old soja of robbing the dead because they were all afraid of the outcome. Old soja knows everything about everybody and was not afraid to say anything anywhere. But old soja does not talk anyhow, even when he is filled with alcohol he only vituperates about his escapades in the army.

Kumalo had taken to hawking and street hustling to support his mother who sells smoked fish at the front of their house at Otiotio Street. He graduated into small scale kidnapping of white men working with the oil companies and making good money from ransoms paid. When there were no more white men to kidnap, they resorted to collecting development fees from the companies resident in Warri and from any prospective builder.

This continued until the state legislature prohibiting the collection of development fee was established. A special task force was set up to arrest youths that cause disturbance as a result of any company’s refusal to pay the ‘deve’ fee.

He then joined the oil pipe line vandals; this was the most profitable adventure he had ventured into but with a high inherent risk. He escaped three major pipe line explosions that claimed thousands of lives all together in the Niger-delta region of Nigeria. It was the last pipe line explosion at Ekpan that made Kumalo decides to leave Warri and go back to school, having been initially rusticated from the federal polytechnic Auchi for cult activities and kidnapping. They had kidnapped the son of a politician and were still waiting for the call for the collection of their ransom when their hide out was busted by the police SARS squad.

They would have all gone for life jail if not that four sons of Edo and Delta state top politicians were members of his cult group, even the son of the Delta state commissioner of police was his closest friend and a fellow kidnapper too.

They all spent six months awaiting trial at Asaba prison before they were all released.

He saw a ray of light and he jolted back to reality, he was angry with himself for actually falling asleep. The light was approaching slowly, it was not a car or a bike as the ray of light was darting about but slowly getting closer to where he crouched by the road. He pulled himself together; he got up and flung himself on the main road screaming with all his might.

As he was falling, he felt all the remaining energy in him completely drained and he felt like a feather in the air. He saw the flash light advancing hurriedly towards him. He fell hitting his head on the coal tarred road. He passed out.