I AM PRESIDENT MAMUD (Part 1&2) – OPEYEMI AKINTUNDE

Part 1
I AM PRESIDENT MAMUD
Opeyemi Akintunde Ojerinde

In a very small settlement precisely called the FIFTH STATE, Mamud was innocently born. He felt his parents were two irresponsible entities. His Father was a Farmer who couldn’t farm to save his own life, yet he had 4 wives. His Mother was a food seller who took care of her immediate family from the daily profits of her food business. Mamud’s family never went hungry because there was always food, but they lacked every other basic thing humans needed.

Mamud felt his parents were irresponsible because, despite being eaten up by poverty, they couldn’t control their desires. He was the 12th surviving child of his parents and definitely not the last….

“ Hey ! Football team! Howdy?” Brino called out to Mamud as he walked towards his Father’s farm with Isire.

“Football team” was the name he was called amongst his peers and seriously it annoyed him…

“ Stop it!” Mamud said without looking towards Brino and Fila.

“ Don’t say a word!” Isire said to Mamud as they walked on

“ That’s what you should say to your Papa and Mama… tell them to STOP IT…We hear your mama is pregnant of Baby Number 15, can’t your mama close her thighs! Isire, don’t you think you will also wear out quickly should you marry Mamud, who knows you may give birth every year… Guess your thigh will be permanently opened!” Fila said laughing.

Mamud had taken enough insults on his mother and since they were about to add Isire to the insult list he felt it was time he silenced Brino and Fila…

“ I need to stop everyone from insulting my mother and today, Fila will be the perfect example of what I will do to people if they insult her again” Mamud reasoned quietly as the Lion in him surfaced…

In Anger, Mamud charged towards Fila.

“ Oh no! this is not going to end well” Isire knew in her heart as she tried to pull Mamud’s shirt, but he was gone as swift as a cheetah…

Brino knew that look on Mamud’s face, it was like a bull was charging towards them…

“Fila, run… this will not end well” Brino said as he took to his heels …

Anger got the best of Mamud and he became a mad fellow…

To cut the Long story short…,

Fila did not live to tell his part of the story.

Mamud punched him so hard, he killed him.

“ Get off him! Mamud get off him! You have killed him, Get off him!” Mamud heard the distant call of Isire. Isire was Mamud’s only friend. Almost everyone in the settlement thought they were dating, but they were not. They were just 15 years old. She was the only one who could speak sense into Mamud’s ears.

Mamud stopped punching as he could hear Isire’s distant continuous unrelenting command, but it was too late!

The Anger left him and he stared into Isire’s weeping face. One look at her and Mamud knew he had done something terribly wrong. Isire was always smiling, but seeing her in tears told Mamud , something was wrong.

He dared looked down at what was causing her tears…

Mamud jumped back at the sight below, Fila had been battered by so much punches, he had vomited so much blood….

“ Mamud, you need to run, get away from here… Brino must have gone to call Hidoko , if he meets you here, you will be killed….” Isire said to Mamud amidst tears…

Mamud was shocked and didn’t know what to do, his legs wouldn’t move… Isire stood up and drew his hands. Mamud could tell he was running but where to , he didn’t know… Isire was his pilot…

They must have run for 15 minutes within the electric perimeter fence that guarded the people of FIFTH STATE from predators, when Isire said…

“ We need to jump over the perimeter fence.” Isire said

“ No, we won’t survive 5 minutes out there” Mamud replied

“There is the big chance of surviving outside the fence than in the Fifth State. Once the governor hears about this, you will be dead!” Isire said

“ No, not without a trial?” Mamud replied

“ You killed someone Mamud!” Isire said raising her voice

“ Out Of Anger, Fila was the one who started it, Brino can testify to that!” Mamud said

“ Brino! you think Brino will speak for you in court…“ Isire asked with disbelief in her voice

“ Isire, what about you?” Mamud said knowing Isire always had his back …

“ Mamud, my father is contesting to be the next Governor of the FIFTH STATE, I can’t be involved in any form of scandal. It could be used against my father…” Mamud’s only trusted friend bailed out on him…

“ I am Finished… Even God has bailed out on me… God how could you have done this? I thought Mother said you told her I will be President some day… but now I am a Killer about to become a fugitive ….” Mamud said as he bent down to pick few stones from the rocky ground of Nirato….

“ Bye to Nirato, Bye to my dreams, and Bye to the woman I thought would be my wife…” Mamud said loudly facing Isire. Isire was shocked but now was not the time to explain how much he loved her…

Mamud gave her a final hug and his bracelet.

“ Isire, You can’t go with me, It’s my mistake and I must pay for it” Mamud jumped over the fence into danger, and like Isire had expected, the soldiers of the FIFTH STATE headed by Hidoko came charging towards them with Brino.

“ Run!” Isire whispered and Mamud did….

.

Part 2
I AM PRESIDENT MAMUD
Opeyemi Akintunde Ojerinde

Hidoko saw Mamud running far away from Isire. Exactly what he wanted all along. He had wanted him far from Isire but Isire never left his side…

Hidoko was the candy eye of all the single ladies in the Fifth State of Nirato Colony, Hidoko was only 21 years of age but he was the head of the Nirato military force in the FIFTH state. He was in love with Isire but Mamud was a big obstruction.

Brino had run to his house to inform him about Mamud attacking Fila, his cousin. Hidoko had seen it as an opportunity to make Mamud feel less of a man, with the intention of giving him 200 whips but he was shocked to meet Fila’s dead body…

His eyes had shone so fiercely, yet he gave a smile of satisfaction…

“Mamud thank you for giving me Isire on a platter of gold. You will be dead before nightfall and Isire will be all mine.” Hidoko had said to himself.

He saw the footpath Isire and Mamud obviously took.

“I think they went this way” Salmuno had thought silently to himself. Salmuno was Hidoko’s assistant. He was much older than Hidoko but by virtue of work, he had to obey Hidoko’s instruction whether wrong or right… Mamud was the son of Minatu, the woman he ought to have married. He wondered why the young boy had gotten himself in this big trouble.

“ Salmuno! Are you here!” Hidoko had screamed at Salmuno the moment he noticed he was lost in thought..

“ Very Much Hidoko”

“ Then Let’s find that Mamud of a demon!” Hidoko had replied arrogantly…

*********************

Minatu, Mamud’s young mother, the best food seller in the Fifth state of Nirato was on the floor saying her prayers in the quiet of her room. The little one in her belly moved. Minatu was only 12 years old when Komina had married her. She had been used to settle a debt. Her father owed Komina’s father a large sum of money.

At just 35 years of age, she was the first wife to an unproductive farmer who had 3 other wives apart from her. She had given birth to 14 children for him, she was pregnant of the 15th. She had her first daughter, Nimea at the age of 14. It had been a painful and depressing time for her.
She had always wanted to be educated but her parents cut short her dream by marrying her off…

On the floor where she sat praying on her special praying mat, her mind went back to the happiest day of her life….

***********
16 YEARS EARLIER….

Minatu had laid on the floor in her room groaning and pushing without luck. The midwives were trying their best. Minatu was almost drifting off to sleep when she heard the neighing of a horse galloping towards them… Only one person had a horse back then in Fifth State, and that was her stranger friend Sarah. Sarah had come into Fifth State over 2 years to practice what she called Medicine, but people avoided her treatment, except Minatu and a few women…

Sarah rushed towards her Friend Minatu, She asked the traditional midwives to give her some space…

She had inserted her hands into Minatu and realized Minatu’s cervix was closed…

“ Minatu, has your water broken?” Sarah asked

“ Yes, since the early hours of this morning”

Sarah checked the heartbeat of the baby manually and it was really low…

“ Minatu, I have to cut you open… I know you have never heard about it, but it is called a Caesarian Operation… It is an advanced form of delivery.” Sarah had said

Three hours later, Mamud was laying beside Minatu.

“ Minatu, God told me during your delivery that this particular child of yours is special, I want to believe He could be the Child that was prophesied about… The child that will bring the change we all are praying for in Nirato… Who knows he might be the President of Nirato in his time, who will open the door of technology and civilization to the citizens of NIRATO…” Sarah had said before she left.

Much Later, Minatu had dozed off out of weakness. During her short nap, she had a dream that confirmed what Sarah had said. She saw her 11 other children and other children sitting at the foot of a crowned King. On looking closer, she realized the boy was the little boy she had just given birth to ; Mamud.

When she woke up from her short nap , she smiled knowing God had decided to be good to her. Her son will someday become the President of Nirato.

**********
PRESENT DAY

She snapped out of her thoughts and stood up from her praying mat… Sudden Fear gripped her heart.

Why? She couldn’t tell…

“Mother! Mother!” She heard the voice of Ismeah her 13th child calling her in panic

“ What is it?”

“ Mamud killed Fila during a fight and is presently on the run. I heard Hidoko and his troop are pursuing him hotly!” Ismeah said

Minatu’s Holy Book fell from her hand in shock…

“ Mamud killed someone?” Minatu asked in a whisper because in all Ismeah said that was all she picked.

Her ears picked those words because if that was true, then it meant her son could never be president again….

Ismeah nodded in the affirmative…