I AM PRESIDENT MAMUD (Part 21&22) – OPEYEMI AKINTUNDE

Part 21
I AM PRESIDENT MAMUD
Opeyemi Akintunde Ojerinde

Hidoko didn’t come till morning and Isire sat at the reception waiting for him. She was determined to leave that place…

“ Hidoko, What is the meaning of this trash?” Isire voiced out the moment she saw Hidoko walking in…

“ Calm down Isire, can we discuss this privately?” Hidoko said implying they were surrounded by people…

“ I don’t care if they are listening on this conversation, because there is nothing secret about what is going on here… I was having issues with my husband the president and I came to you as a family friend for a little shelter from the public eye. Now I feel like I am better and stronger enough to return home, but you want to keep me hostage … Why?” Isire ranted…

“ No, I am not just a family friend, I am more than that and I intend protecting you…” Hidoko wanted to say more, so he told everyone to give them some privacy. He instructed them to take Minaya with them.

The moment the reception was empty , he held Isire and continued…

“ Isire, I have loved you since you were probably 10 years old,and I can’t watch something terrible happen to you…”

“ Stop it Hidoko, I am sorry if I have misled you into thinking I feel something for you!”

“ But the nights we shared together says a lot!”

“ No…. the truth is I was just s€x- starved and you came in handy. The truth is the three times we have made love , I wasn’t seeing you, I was seeing Mamud… No one can ever replace Mamud in my life…” Isire said to a pained Hidoko…

Hidoko felt like he had been hit with a Sledgehammer…. He looked straight into her eyes and didn’t mince words…

“ I am not letting you go… You make a choice, you stay with me and Mamud stays alive, or you go back to him and I will first make a ridicule of him before killing him. We are no longer under the Iskelon government, so I can bring out his buried secret of him being a one time murderer…” Hidoko said meaning his words…

“ He also has something on you!” Isire reminded him

“ Yes, that’s so true but I have nothing to lose… The consequences for me will be to return the money I stole , which is probably a quarter of what I am presently worth, but Mamud has his whole life and reputation to lose… How shameful and demoralizing it will be if the citizens get to know that the first Nirato President is actually a murderer. It will be imprinted forever in the history textbooks of Nirato. “

Hidoko took his coat…

“ You can either stay or leave after you weighing the options” Hidoko left the reception back to his car leaving Isire hanging….

Isire realized a big truth, Hidoko’s love for her was toxic and he only cared about his happiness….

**************
Mamud had returned to his quarters around 5:30am. He saw several missed calls from a strange number. He ignored it and for the first time in months, he slept peacefully like a Baby but his new found peace was shortlived as Professor Ashkian barged in on him around 7:30am….His bedside phone rang so loudly…

“ Good Morning Mr. President, I am presently waiting for you downstairs. We have serious issues to discuss…!” Ashkian said.

Bereto looked at his father and knew his father was on top of this game….

***************
Minatu had packed her travel bag to leave the FiFTH state. She knew she needed to be with Mamud. She was about informing the driver about taking her to the Nirato Capital when her Husband rushed out…

“ Minatu, where are you going?”

“ I am sorry, I should have told you, but I called Mamud last night and he needs to see me…”

“ Is Mamud a child, He is the President of our nation!”

“ But he is first my son, my child!”

“ GO BACK INSIDE, PRAY FOR HIM!” Minatu wasn’t sure if she heard the inner voice correctly.

Was God telling her to Obey her Husband at the expense of being with her son?

She heard it again…

“ GO BACK INSIDE AND PRAY FOR MAMUD!”

Minatu stood transfixed not knowing what to do….

.

Part 22
I AM PRESIDENT MAMUD
Opeyemi Akintunde Ojerinde

Mamud was staring at Professor Ashkian like he had seen a ghost… This was a new Ashkian he was seeing… His son Bereto was seated with him.

“ So I have rubbed your back, you need to rub my back… I have buried your secret, you owe me one too!” Ashkian said laughing hypocritically…

Ashkian had brought a list of contracts he wanted Him to approve… Some of which had nothing to do with Ashkian’s office…

“ So, you will approve the road construction for Chief Elder Nomiso, Water Purification Contract For Chief Mrs Inglades, Waste Management Contract for Primate Gothica….and lastly for myself I need you to approve 200 international scholarships for 200 less-privileged students “

“ And will they truly get the scholarship or is this a way to get out money?” Mamud asked

“ Well, It will be a win win, we will give 100 students scholarships, while…” Ashkian was saying before Mamud cut in

“ Will the road be constructed?”

“ Well, we do the ones we can do!” Ashkian answered nonchalantly

“ Will the water be purified?”

“ Sure, I mean not totally but to a certain level…”

“ So what happens to the money from the remaining money for the 100 students you don’t give the scholarship to?”

“ We share it?”

“ We?”

“ Yes, yourself, me and other political elders in Nirato. This is how it works!” Ashkian said

“ Ashkian , are you mad?” The Lion in Mamud rose up “You dare bring corruption to me in my office as the President of the federal Republic of Nirato…?”

“ Corruption? Corruption… Sir You make Corruption sound like murder, Murder is a worse evil.” Ashkian said and Mamud knew he was trapped already….

“ Ashkian please, don’t blackmail me into doing what is not right for this country.” Mamud reduced his voice and pleaded with Ashkian…Bereto knew his father had gotten Mamud where he wanted…

“ Mr President, I have your best interest at heart. In fact I want you to meet some of these political elders….They can make you the best president Nirato will ever boast of…” Ashkian said unperturbed. He was determined to make use of this blackmail opportunity for his good…

“Ashkian … Get out of my office…” Mamud roared

Ashkian didn’t move a bit…

“ Ashkian, Don’t force me to…” Mamud was saying before Ashkian cut in

“ Kill me like you killed Sowak… Well, Speaking of the late girl, the family will be asking about her soon, so you had better get your story right… Your aide knows about it as well plus people may begin to think you had a hand in the disappearance of your daughter, plus everyone is watching what will happen to the 18 kidnapped girls…. Mr President, don’t make things go worse, Let me be of help…” Ashkian said…

“ I do not need your help, and About Sowak, This is not my first time of dealing with issues like this” Mamud said carelessly out of Anger and it didn’t escape Bereto and Ashkian…

They both exchanged looks…

“ Ashkian… Listen, I didn’t become a President to make life worse for the citizens, my mistakes are my mistakes , but using blackmail against me won’t work! Do your worse…”

Ashkian and Bereto stepped out … Bereto was a bit pleased and puzzled at who Mamud was… He hoped he wouldn’t bend for his father…

“ He will bend, I know exactly who and what will bend him…!” Ashkian said followed by a snorting sound from him!

************
Yenewa had not yet recovered from her experience with the stranger. It felt like she had been sapped…

“ God, What is wrong?”

“ He needs you!”

“ How?”

“ He needs to learn how to control the power in him, the power could turn out a destroying force or a winning force”

“ Power? What power?”

“ When you meet him, you will know his power!”

Yenewa had never heard God so clearly in her life. For few minutes, she thought she was talking to Oriel, but the moment the conversation ended, she snapped out of it…

“ Who is this stranger?”

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

Isire was back in the h0tel room.

She needed to do what was best for Mamud…He just became President … His past coming to haunt him would be disastrous.

Sebrena was nowhere in sight…

Hidoko! Yes Hidoko must have kidnapped Sebrena… Isire quickly added up the maths in her head…

She felt, Hidoko Kidnapped Sebrena to get her marriage to crash knowing through that he would get her. How come he was the one who reached out to her first that day as soon as she stepped out of the Presidential quarters…

She was planning to go stay with her her Grand-Aunty who lived in Iskelon as a way of threatening Mamud to get Sebrena, but her phone had rung unexpectedly. It was an unfamiliar number. She had picked up hoping it was news from someone who had Sebrena…

“ Hello First Lady! This is Hidoko speaking!”

“ Hidoko…Good day, how are you? I am sorry is there something important you will like to discuss with me, because this is really a bad time to call!”

“ Bad time? I hope all is Okay?”

“ No, All is not Okay, Mamud went out with my first daughter and didn’t return with her. He just told me casually she had been kidnapped…”

“ What? Isire where are you? There is more to what meets the eye!”

“ I am on my way to Iskelon, I can’t stay with Mamud in the House right now!”

“ No, you can’t go to Iskelon now, we need to find out what really happened to your daughter. I have this private h0tel you can stay in the outskirts…”

“ Ok… can I have the address?”

“ I will text it right away!”

Isire went through that conversation in her head….

“ Hidoko is the culprit…” Isire concluded. She felt her life was in danger and needed to get out of that place with Minaya alive…

****************
Mamud needed someone to desperately talk to, he was losing it… Ashkian had gotten him angry. His anger was burning … He was all sweaty. He needed Isire to calm him down or his mother….

“ MAAME , please can you come over ?” Mamud had said over the phone…

“ I can’t Son, Though I want to come, but your Father and God would not allow me! Mamud, and I think they are right, it’s time I let you go and you be man enough!”

Minatu had dropped the call in pain… She wanted to be there by her son, but she knew that was the time she needed to pray afar off….

Mamud felt his heart was going to burst out of his body if he wouldn’t calm down…

“ The blind girl with the peaceful hand!” He suddenly remembered her….

“ I need to find her” Mamud said.