TEACHER CHUKS; Season 2 (Part 11&12) – Opeyemi Akintunde

Part 11
TEACHER CHUKS; Season 2
Opeyemi Akintunde

Amazingly in the midst of this confusing and demoralizing situation, I felt unusual peace in my heart. I felt like God was with me in this awkward journey to the Police Station. It felt like God was going to show up at the Station. I held onto my nylon bag on the bike. I was told to carry my nylon bag as there could be an evidence against me in there.

I kept crying and pleading with them telling them I was not a thief.

“ Does a thief tell you he is a thief?” The first vigilante asked sarcastically. I could smell the offensive Odour of alcohol on both of them.

Different thoughts pervaded my mind,as I thought of struggling with them and jumping off the bike, but i could not bring myself up to doing it.

I felt like a lamb taken to the slaughter, and right there,it became clear. How Jesus must have felt on the way to the cross. How painful it feels when you are being punished for an offence You didn’t commit.

“Was this how disheartening and heart broken Jesus must have felt? Hmm… and yet the world doesn’t appreciate this sacrifice of pain,Yet the world takes Pleasure in mocking his death by not regarding him.” I wondered silently how Jesus must have felt those years I was slaying the destiny of innocent young girls…

“ Jesus, I am sorry,for not regarding all you went through because of me,I am sorry for making a mess of the emotional pain you must have felt on the way to the cross. I can imagine how it felt when the nail was driven into your skin,oh! Can anyone describe the pain you must have felt, both physically and emotionally…JESUS! how did you feel when you were crucified for not doing anything evil?” I found myself thinking and asking several questions with tears flowing from my eyes…

“ Constable, We have brought another replacement, we are outside” I heard the first vigilante man saying in Hausa language over the phone as we got to the exterior of a police station. They were not aware I understood and spoke Hausa, because of my stay in Kano in my teenage years…

“ Replacement?What did he mean by that” I thought silently

A police officer came out and spoke to the first vigilante in Hausa…

“ The DPO thought you were going to disappoint, the parents of the boy have been calling us night and Day, but hope none of the family members of this one knew when you took him?” The police officer said in Hausa.

“ No, I believe this one is a stray dog,in fact he is homeless, we saw him on the street..” The vigilante said

“Ok good!”

“ Our Balance!” The vigilante asked

“ That will be after this one has been sentenced to death, and the parents of the boy have successfully sent him abroad” the police officer said…

I was about to be a replacement for a criminal who probably was from a wealthy home. I was about to die the death of someone else.

“ Oh my God!” I exclaimed in Hausa as the Police Officer was taking me in after the Vigilantes had left

The Police Officer was Shocked…

“ You are Hausa?” He asked in Hausa

“ No, I am Igbo but I lived in Bukavu Barracks in Kano when I was younger, my father was a soldier” I replied in Hausa language

“ Ha!, I am from Kano too, in fact my place is very close to Bukavu…What were you doing outside by this time?, My brother, you are about to die for another person…” the police officer said in bitterness

He was obviously unhappy at the turn of events…

“ I would have released you to run for your life, but the DPO is waiting for you inside. He is a man who likes money, and unfortunately he has been paid heavily by the family of the boy that killed someone…”

“ Constable!” The DPO shouted from a distance…

“ Sir!”

“ What is keeping you?, where is he?”

“Coming right away Sir!”

“ My brother, don’t speak Hausa to anyone in there, I pray Almighty Allah will help you!”

The police man took me closer to the DPO…

“ So you are the one that killed Chief Jakande’s only daughter?” The DPO Said barking at me…

“ No sir, I was just picked off…” I tried to say

“Shut up, Shut up, if you say anything I thunder you now” He said pointing a gun at me…

The Hausa policeman slapped my face real hard…

“ I said keep quiet, you are the one who killed her….” he said

“ Go lock him up and bring out the innocent boy” The DPO said as he walked towards his car… “I will be back in the morning”

“ Hello ma, good evening ma, Glory to God, the Original culprit has been found, you can come over to the station tomorrow to pick your son. Don’t mention, our job is to fight crime, and make sure justice prevail”I heard the DPO say to someone over the phone…

Everything was beginning to look real to me. It seem like the demons from hell meant serious business. If I kept quiet things might really go bad… I started muttering to myself…

“ Lord, this place is a mountain-like obstacle to the great destiny you have for me, I refuse to be in prison in Jesus name”

“ Musa, make sure he writes his statement correctly” the DPO said as he zoomed off

“ Hey, can you write?” the other police officer at the counter asked

I nodded in the affirmative and looked at the Hausa Police Officer who instantly looked away from me…

“Why are you looking at him? You know him?” The police officer asked

“ Know Who?” The Hausa Officer said denying me and walked away

“ Listen to me, you will write as I say”

I nodded.

“ I ……, insert your name…. Good, continue …. is responsible for the death of the…” He said

I stopped writing…

“ If you don’t write, we will kill you and no one will know, but if you play this game, you get to go to jail for some years and when you are out, you will be handsomely paid…!, so what is your choice?

“ God, Why all these troubles?” I wanted to scream as I didn’t know what answer to give…

.

Part 12
TEACHER CHUKS; Season 2
Opeyemi Akintunde

I got tortured with no mercy. I refused writing the fake and implicating statement. I didn’t agree to do that because it was a lie and secondly, instinct told me that would be writing my death sentence. I was not ready to say yes to the devil.

“ Listen, you have no means of escape, it’s either you die or you die, because no one knows you are here and if you refused to do this, the DPO won’t let you go scotfree, but we are assuring you that if you agree to this, the parents of the boy will get you a good lawyer that will get you a good sentence. You will be given few years in jail and when your term is over you will walk out a very rich man, the family is ready to give you 10 million” the police officer said

I laughed in my pain

“ 10 million?” “ What was 10 million compared to what I have in my account that I had forfeited.” I thought to myself as I shook my head in pity…

I got another slap instead..

“ You think this is a joke,now hold that pen and write” with that he gave me a mighty whip on my back. By this time, my back was really sore.

I didn’t write even a dot.

The police officer got angry and stepped out obviously going for something. The Hausa Officer who had been silent through out the torture said in a very low tone…

“ My brother, write this thing and be free from this pain”

“ You want me to sacrifice a good life and great future God has for me for few minutes of relief?” I asked him to which he had no answer…

The Angry police officer walked in with a bowl of water.

“ Let’s see if this will help change your mind!”

He placed the bowl in front of me and forcefully pushed my head into a bowl of hot water. My hand had been handcuffed, so there was nothing I could do to save myself. Not only was the water burning my tender face, but I was choking. I couldn’t breathe…

A lot of things crossed my mind…

The hot water could never be compared to hell, so if this was hurting, then I didn’t know the right vocabulary that would do justice to the heat and pain that I was likely going to face in Hell if I lied.

But

How long could I endure this pain?

He brought out my head from the water and I quickly sucked in air for fear of death…

“ So are you ready to write the statement or not?” He asked

“ I am a Christian and I can not lie… Kill me if you want…” I said

It felt like I threw a bomb at him, because saying I was a Christian felt like I said I was the son of a revered man. The Angry man stepped backwards…

“ What did you say?” the Angry man asked

“ I said I am a Christian and For that reason, I cannot lie…”

“ Even if your life is on the line” he asked

“ Pressure can’t make me lose my eternal rest with God. If only You have seen what I have seen, you will know that there is no enjoyment, no glamour, no ecstasy even the one gotten through S€x, equals the glory, beauty and experience of the Life with God in heaven…” I said with tears flowing down my eyes

“You talk like you have been to heaven?” The Angry Police Officer said sarcastically but you could sense fear and for about 15 minutes I told them of my past escapades and how I was given a second chance…

“ Alhamdulillah!” Exclaimed the Hausa Police man, while the Angry policeman stepped back from me. Both of them left me in the torture room.

I waited for them to return but I didn’t see either of them till I dozed off…

I had a very brief dream of being held hostage in a mansion. I tried different means of escape, but all to no avail, I met someone in the house who asked me to compromise by having s€xual intercourse in order to get out of the house, but I refused. I was faced with so much pressure to have s€xual intercourse in other to get out of the prison, but I refused. In the long run, after so much troubles I got out…

I woke up from the dream and instantly I understood the meaning. I was going to get out of this prison but it wasn’t going to be a child’s play. How long? I didn’t know…

Hmmm

Premarital S€x! What a useless endeavor though appealing but it’s end is imprisonment. Now, even if a naked woman was brought before me here in prison, I know I wouldn’t have an erection.

What if I had understood things better and had this kind of determination years back when I was pressured into sin. What if I had viewed that pressure of S€x like the way I was seeing this pressure of writing a statement that would send me to my grave..

What if I had said no to S€x, I won’t have turned out this way..Maybe the Prophecy about me being a Life saver would have come to pass… My mind drifted back to when I was 12 years old when I had gone to visit my maternal grandmother in Umuahia . A prophetess had stopped by my grandmother’s shop and pointed at me out of about 5 of us playing football…

“ He will be a life saver, he will deliver a lot of lives from the mouth of the Lion, but he must be careful that he doesn’t get swallowed up by the same Lion he is trying to save people from” The prophetess had said

My Grandmother had appreciated the prophetess and out of face value interpretation, she had started calling me a doctor. She interpreted the life saver to me becoming a doctor..

Unfortunately,at that point pathetically I was not even close to becoming a cleaner not talk of becoming a Doctor…I was a prisoner, a prisoner of my sins. My Glory was all gone

“ You are awake?” I heard the voice of the Hausa Police Officer

“ Yes sir!, please how can you help me out of this place…” I asked

“I don’t know….but if Jesus can save you from this tight situation, then all my questions about Him being the son of God will he answered” the Hausa Police Officer said…

“ I know He can save me, but even if He doesn’t save me, it doesn’t change my belief about him…”

“ I have no power to help you because the DPO is involved. Do You know my partner is really heartbroken? He is a Christian like you and he has been weeping ever since he left here. He said he has disappointed God, that he has allowed his work as a police officer make him compromise his stand.. You have touched a life my brother, but we don’t know how to help you!”

“ I will help him!” I heard the Angry Police Officer say from behind

“ At the expense of yourJob and Life?, You better don’t try anything you will live to regret, you know the boss doesn’t play or joke with money?, and in few hours from now, he will be back with the parents of the boy… Do you have another replacement?” The Hausa Police Officer asked in apprehension.

CLICK HERE TO READ “TEACHER CHUKS S2” (PART 13&14) – OPEYEMI AKINTUNDE.