Jude was like every other guy. 33, single, lived and ran his business in the city. He had friends he hung out with for drinks and chats.
On a particular day, some years ago, he was restless but couldn’t understand why. He couldn’t stay in his business premises and he couldn’t sit in a place for more than 10 minutes. He decided to look for any of his friends who was free to have a drink that afternoon but none was available. He went to his friend, Omone’s office to sit and chat with him for a while, even there, he couldn’t stay for more than 20 minutes.
He drove round and round the city aimlessly. Finally he became hungry as he didn't have breakfast before he left his house and decided to go to his favorite restaurant to eat. There he ordered okro soup, goat meat and pounded yam, his favourite food. After 2 morsels, he washed his hands, paid and left the restaurant. “I couldn’t eat my favourite food? What is happening?” he thought.
Back to his car in the parking lot of the restaurant, he sat for what seemed to him like 30 minutes without moving or thinking, just staring into space. There was a knock on his window which brought back his attention to earth, he rolled down the glass and an old security man with 3 missing teeth said to him “Oga u sure sey everything dey ok so? U don tey here oo”. Jude looked at his watch, it said 4:20pm, “Jeez” he said. He had been there for over an hour and thirty minutes. “No mind me jare” he said to the security man and handed him N200 note. “Sure sir” the security man saluted and opened the gate for Jude to drive out.
“What just happened?” he asked himself loudly while driving. “How could I have been sitting in my car for almost 2 hours?” He was sure he did not sleep off. He decided not to go back to his office and called his assistant to inform her. He drove straight home, had his bath and sat on an armchair in his living room with a bottle of Heineken from his fridge. He tuned to a non interest movie on Movie Zone, after 10 minutes, he started changing channels until he settled for a cartoon movie, still he was unsettled. 5 minutes later, he switched the television off, grabbed his car keys and drove out of his residence. He embarked on another aimless drive round his estate.
From the clock on his dashboard, it was 7:23pm, he decided to go to a bar for a bottle of beer or two. Driving towards the bar he passed Mr Akande house who owed him money for some supplies he delivered to him few months before. Mr Akande’s red gate was slightly open and he was surprised because the gate is hardly open anytime he passes or goes there. Whenever he visited Mr Akande, he had to knock for almost 15 minutes before someone would hear and come to rescue his knuckles from peeling as there was no door bell. He contemplated paying Mr Akande a visit to enquire about his money since he (Mr Akande) had not picked his calls for over a week. He looked at his wrist watch and it was 7:45pm, he knew Mr Akande would be home then but he decided against going there and drove past. On second thought he decided to go. “Haba, why won’t he pay me my money” he thought out loud.
He reversed and drove to the gate, packed his car outside, walked towards the gate and pushed it further open to let himself in (grateful that he didn't have to knock), he walked in and stopped short. Something hit him on the right side of his head, he couldn’t tell what but he stood still because he couldn’t see, ear or move. He held his head with both hands as blood trickle down the right side of his head. He was confused. "What is happening? What hit me? Who hit me? Why can’t I see?" Before the answers to these questions could come to his addled brain, another blow was directed at his stomach –gbim. He buckled in the knee. There was more gbim, gbim, gbim ..., this time on his back, kidney, chest, everywhere on his body and he fell on the ground. They hit him with their gun butts, then his ears and eyes popped open and he started hearing, “where dey money?”, “where dey money?” “u wan die o?”. At that moment he realized he had walked in on armed robbery attack. Four men, heavily armed.
All he could mutter was "abeg abeg" while he felt his body being dragged on the ground towards Mr Akande's house. One of the robbers pushed the door to the living room open and two of the robbers dragged him in and got him to his knees. Inside the house, Jude saw Mrs Akande sitting on the floor, she looked petrified with her hands and legs bound. The house looked like hurricane Amadioha passed through there, apparently, the robbers had searched the house. "Now tell us where the money dey" one robber said to Jude pointing his gun to his head. Jude realized he had to do or say something because he didn't like the look on the robber's face, he said "Oga my name na Jude, I come see this woman husband. Him dey owe me money so I say make I come see am". The robber behind him slapped him with every intention of causing brain damage or convulsion. Jude screamed and tried to stand to his feet when they all descended on him. He was pushed to the floor, ticked, stamped upon and gun butted. A kick would black him out while the gun butt hit will wake him up. They continued for over 10 minutes while saying "where dey money oga?", "u go die here today oo?" so on and so forth. Mrs Akande put a distance between herself and the group, as far as the room could permit, closed her eyes and shrunk. From the redness of her eyes, it appeared she had been crying. When the robbers felt Jude was "soft" enough from the pounding, they stepped back. By then Jude was bleeding from his head, nose and mouth. One of the robbers Jude assumed was the leader barked "bring him wife", Mrs Akande was quickly pulled by her hair and dragged back to her previous position and her hand tie loosened. The leader pointed his gun at her head and said to Jude who was lying in a pool of blood around his head with swollen eyes, "I go shoot ur wife if u no tell me where the money dey". Jude was only able to whisper "no be me".
The leader said "search him cloth", Jude was searched and a little money, his wrist watch and two phones were taken. When it was obvious he was not cooperating with them, the leader came to Jude where he was lying on the floor and cocked his gun, pointed it at his stomach and said "Oga dis na the last warning wen I dey give u, where the money?" Jude knew for sure the robber was serious, he looked at Mrs Akande from his lying position and said "Madam abeg tell am sey I no be ur husband", the leader looked at her and she looked away. Jude said again with a voice of a man about to take his last breath "Madam please don't let them kill me, tell them I'm not your husband". No sound came from her and the leader pulled the trigger and ordered that they leave immediately.
When the armed robbers left, the room was as silent as the grave.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ... 23, 24 ... Jude was counting in his hurting head. He laid there motionless, counted up to 77 and opened his eyes. He sat up slowly wincing from pain and saw Mrs Akande still in the position the robbers left her but she was trepidatiously struggling with the leg tie, she was crying and didn't see Jude move. When he said "madam please help me", she was startled, she thought he was dead. She said nothing. "Madam please call someone to take me to the hospital so I don't die here", she didn't answer him. By then she had untied her legs but was still sitting on the floor hugging her legs, she sat there staring at him and crying.
Jude got up and staggered out of the house and onto the street, he heard the gate being bolted behind him. Mrs Akande finally found her hand and legs and put them into use.
Jude walked arduously to his car, leaned on its trunk and started flagging down passing vehicles with his wobbly hand. Few cars passed without stopping. Eventually a taxi stopped and he slowly walked towards it and gave a very short version of what happened to him and asked the taxi driver if he could take him to the nearest hospital, the taxi driver, seeing his blooding cloth and swollen head, asked him to enter the car. Jude asked if he could use his phone, when the taxi man brought out his phone Jude called the only number he knew off heart which was Onome's number. The taxi driver explained the situation to Onome while driving, then he passed the phone to Jude who took it with bloody hand and said "Onome its Jude" and passed out.
The taxi driver communicated further with Onome giving him their location and destination. He added "abeg make u come quick oo, e be like sey him don die oo. I no wan wahala oo" in Yoruba accent. He drove Jude to a nearby hospital but did not move him until Onome arrived 7 minutes later. Fortunately, Onome lived in the same estate. When Onome arrived he almost slapped the taxi driver for not calling for help from the hospital. He rushed into the hospital but was told no doctor was available, he rushed back and Jude was transferred into his own vehicle. Onome thanked the taxi driver and drove off in search of another hospital. After the fourth rejection, General Hospital accepted him, moved him into the theatre and started preparing him for X-ray and surgery. In the theater, Jude opened his eyes and from the slightly opened door and his slightly opened eyes, he saw Onome with a small group of men and women praying. He called Onome with a clear voice which surprised the praying group. When Onome came close Jude asked "Pally how bad is it?" Omone looked away and lied "everything is ok, you will be fine". "Pally please look me in the eyes and tell me the truth", Onome looked at him and the truth came out "Pally truly the doctors said the bullets spread and got you pretty bad but they are sure the operation can be done, you don't need to worry". "The four doctors I met said they are calling two more so they can carry out the surgery". "Thank you Pally" was all Jude said.
Onome couldn't stay in the theater so he joined the praying group outside.
3 hours into the surgery, a covered dead body was wheeled out of the theater. Nobody dared ask the dreaded question. There was hope as the doctors were still inside.
After 8 more hours, a doctor came out and called Onome, Onome didn't want to go for fear of what the doctor could tell him but he got up, dragged his feet and followed the doctor to a balcony of the hospital. The doctor explained that there were 5 bullets found in Jude's body, one in his kidney, one lodged inside his stomach, two tore his small intestine and one nearly missed his heart. He had internal bleeding and needed more blood as the blood that was bought before the surgery was not enough. Onome and the praying group all donated blood and more pints were bought.
6 hours after the surgery, Jude woke up and said he was hungry. Onome and his wife were happy to hear the sound of Jude’s weak voice. Onome rushed to call a doctor while his wife stood close to Jude.
Jude made progress with his recovery and after a couple months, it was time to discharge him but the bill was too much for Onome and Jude's other friends to pay. Jude told Onome to go to the then Deputy Senate President who was Jude's customer and friend. The Deputy Senate President was shocked as he was not aware of Jude's predicament. He visited the hospital and paid Jude's medical bill, he didn't stop there, he also paid the bills of every patient in Jude's ward.
Jude was discharged exactly 4 months and 3 days after the incident. Jude was seen as the Messiah in the ward and received hugs and handshakes from patients and care givers in his ward. He stayed at home for another 2 month recuperating.
While he was at home Mr Akande who didn't visit him for once in the hospital came and told Jude that the Police needed him to come to the Police Station to identify the armed robbers as they were allegedly caught 4 days before. "You are a madman" was the only thing Jude told him and asked his girlfriend to walk Mr Akande out of his house.
After recovering considerably, he was up and about his business. He was in a Supermarket when he saw Mrs Akande, she saw him and ducked behind a shelf to hide herself. That was the third time that was happening. On the fourth occasion, this time in a pharmacy, he walked up to her while she was paying for her purchase and startled the hell out of her when she saw him really close up. She knocked down several items on the counter, carton of condoms, candy containers, tissue box etc. After she had slowly picked all the items she knocked down while wishing either of them could disappear, she straightened up and Jude asked her "Why do you run or hide anytime you see me?" She looked down and said "I'm sorry". Jude stared at her for a few seconds and said "there is nothing to be sorry for. My life was never in your hands" and walked away.
Mr Akande never paid Jude his money and Jude never asked.
Till today, Jude still suffers from the effect of the gun shot. His small intestine is now not only small but short.
He is 42 now, married with 3 kids.
Ogechukwu Ikwueme
(Nwanne unu Nwanyi)
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