Anthills of the Savannah

'Army jeeps?'

'So I went to the window to look and she was right. There were two jeeps standing in the yard and by that time the people were banging on our neighbour's front door. Then after some time we could hear the door open.'

'Did they identify themselves? Did they say who they were?'

'I think they said they were from State Research Council.'

'Yes, that's what they said. And we heard him say that he was coming before he opened the door.'

'Yes?'

'We were not sure that they were soldiers. You know how armed robbers can sometimes say they are soldiers. So we were afraid to go out.'

'That's understandable. When exactly did this happen?'

'They were here exactly one-fifteen or so. And they left at around two-thirty. That was when they came out with our neighbour.'

'How many were they?'

'They plenty-o. Some came inside and some stayed outside. My husband said they must be up to ten but I didn't count.'

'Did you get any vehicle numbers?'

'I tried to but they parked under the umbrella tree, so the security light could not shine there for me to see the number well.'

'Was he rough-handled? Listen, you can speak without fear.'

'Unless inside the house. But outside they did everything quiet.'

'So there was no struggling or pushing or something like that… outside?'

'No. I didn't see anything like that.'

'But our neighbour's hand was inside hand-cuff,' said the wife, 'and his face…'

'We couldn't see very well sir. As I told you it was dark…'

'His face?' asked Chris turning fully to the wife.

'We couldn't see very well whether his face was swell up. It was too dark. So we don't know whether it was because of the dark or that his face was swell up.'

'Thank you very much. You have given us the first solid information. You need not worry. We shall not mention you in any way.'

'Thank you sir, thank you madam. This our country na waa. Na only God go save person.'

When Chris first heard through a friend's telephone call of MM's deportation at six p.m. the day before, he had tried to speak to Ikem but he had apparently gone out with Elewa. So the last time they talked together was the morning of the regicide story. Containing his irritation as much as possible he had wanted to know exactly what Ikem had said at the lecture. He fully expected an explosion from the other end in answer to his query but to his delight Ikem seemed quite upset that whatever he said had been so atrociously distorted and he was then drafting a stiff letter to the editor and even mentioned possible court action.

Standing there now ineffectual, in the ruins of his flat, Chris's mind, locked out as it were on a barren corridor of inactivity, fluttered, panic-stricken, from one closed door to the next.

'I wonder if he did send the letter.'

'What letter?'

'To the Editor of the Gazette. It is important that they print his denial.'

'You think they will. With that odious fellow licking his lips. Anyway phone him and ask him why the letter has not appeared. He used to be a poodle of yours…'

'We must reach Elewa. Who knows there may have been hints of this earlier in the day.'

'How?'

'I don't know really. But she was here till six.'

'The people came at one in the morning. Still I agree that Elewa ought to be told, anyway. Do you happen to know where she lives. No? Nor do I. The houseboy might know.'

'That's an idea.'

The houseboy didn't know where she lived nor where she worked.

'Let's see, I believe she told me she was a sales-girl in an Indian or was it Lebanese shop. Textiles I think. But which particular shop… I suppose we could try all the ones in the Yellow Pages… But Elewa who? We don't know that either, do we? Oh well I am sure she will hear one way or another and come back here.'

They left the flat so that Beatrice could go to work. Chris advised her not to make enquiries on the matter from her office but to leave everything to him.

He spent the entire morning on the telephone. The mental immobility which the devastation in Ikem's flat had induced in him had now lifted completely. His mind got clearer on what he had to do as he went along doing it. Major Ossai was not available to speak to him and nobody else in the Directorate could help with the information he required.

The President's Principal Secretary would not put him through but promised to call him back as soon as the President was free to talk to him. What was the subject of his discussion? Oh, but that is not a matter for the President. You want to speak to the Director of SRC.

Then he called the Attorney-General who said he didn't know about it.

'But aren't you supposed to know?'

'Well, yes and no. If it is purely a matter of state security it could be tricky… I will know ultimately of course, you know…'

Professor Okong hadn't heard; and the Chief Secretary to the Government had just this minute been told by the Attorney-General.

Oh, well! No point continuing to search for the living among the dead! So he changed tack. It was clear that Major Samsonite Ossai and his boss were adopting a quiet line. Therefore he must embark on a massive publicizing of the abduction. He knew he could count on some of the representatives in Bassa of foreign news agencies, their press and radio. On the home front there was no comparable resource to lean on but there was the enormous potential of that great network nicknamed VOR, the Voice of Rumour, the despair of tyrants and shady dealers in high places. Before evening both systems, foreign and local seemed set to start buzzing in the interest of the abducted man.

Then at six o'clock yet another Special Announcement from the Directorate of State Research Council was on the air:

In the discharge of its duty in safeguarding the freedom and security of the State and of every law-abiding citizen of Kangan the State Research Council has uncovered a plot by unpatriotic elements in Kangan working in concert with certain foreign adventurers to destabilize the lawful government of this country.

This dastardly plot was master-minded by Mr. Ikem Osodi until recently Editor of the government-owned National Gazette.

Investigations by top security officers of SRC have revealed Mr. Osodi's involvement in three separate aspects of the plot:

(1) He was the key link between the plotters in Kangan and their foreign collaborators.

(2) He was the lynchpin between the plotters in Bassa and a group of disgruntled and unpatriotic chiefs in the Province of Abazon.

(3) Under the guise of a public lecture at the University of Bassa on 26 September, Mr. Osodi furthered the aim of the plotters by inciting the students of the University to disaffection and rebellion against the government and the life of His Excellency the President and the peace and security of the State.

In the early hours of this morning a team of security officers effected the arrest of Mr. Osodi in his official flat at 202 Kingsway Road in the Government Reservation Area and were taking him in a military vehicle for questioning at the SRC Headquarters when he seized a gun from one of his escorts. In the scuffle that ensued between Mr. Osodi and his guards in the moving vehicle Mr. Osodi was fatally wounded by gunshot.

His Excellency has already appointed a high-level inquiry into the accident to be headed by the Chief of Staff, Major-General Ahmed Lango, with the directive to commence investigations immediately and to report within fourteen days.

Meanwhile investigations are proceeding with a view to uncover all aspects of the plot and to bring to book any other person or persons, no matter how highly placed, involved in this treasonable conspiracy to divert our great and beloved country from its chosen path of orderly progress into renewed bloodshed and anarchy. Long live His Excellency the President! Long live the Republic of Kangan.