1 Part One

DEDICATION

For humanity

Indeed, whoever (intentionally) kills himself, then certainly he will be punished in the fire of hell, wherein he shall dwell forever. —{(Bukhaaree (5778) and Muslim (109-110)} The Hadiths.

PART ONE

THE BEGINNING AND THE TRANSFORMATIONS

CHAPTER ONE

KANO, 1965

Ayisha was nine years old when she resumed duties as a house help in Alhaji Musa Idris’ household two years earlier. She was tall, very fair in complexion and had curly, long hair. Her father travelled from Katsina, where they come from, to live in Kano to help take care of cows belonging to some rich Alhajis. Her pointed nose made it easy to tell she was Fulani by tribe. Her responsibilities included helping in domestic chores like doing the laundry twice a week, washing dishes after every meal and helping to get water and firewood for daily use. It was also her duty to serve Alhaji Idris his meals and stand by while he ate after which she immediately cleared the dishes.This is because Alhaji Idris was a rich man. His huge dark frame and the way he carried himself said it all. He had over three hundred cows, four wives and 20 children. Apart from Ayisha, he had three male servants—all eunuchs, who ran errands for him, took turns to guard his very large compound and, above all, took turns to accompany his wives to the market whenever it was anyone’s turn to go there and shop for soup ingredients and other household items for the family’s consumption. This was to prevent any man expressing more than a casual interest in them and vice versa.

His very large compound comprised of eleven huts. He occupied the largest one, his wives occupied one each, his children occupied four with the children from each wife occupying one, the three male servants occupied one and Ayisha occupied one— the smallest. The huts were made of mud with thatch coverings. Beautiful patterns were also drawn on them as well as on the walls surrounding them. The wall was made of wattle daubed with mud. Alhaji’s eldest children took turns to take care of the cows. Indeed, not a few people envied him.

One evening, Ayisha brought in his dinner and, as usual, positioned herself in one corner of the hut waiting for Alhaji to finish eating so she could tidy up. She had noticed his eyes roving lustfully over her body for some days now but thought nothing of it. After all, she was just a maid, she reasoned, and Alhaji had four wives. The last one— Halima—was so beautiful men ogled at her whenever she appeared without her hijab. These occasions were so few, one could count them on the fingers of both hands in a whole year.

“Come and take away the plates,” Alhaji called out bringing Ayisha out of her reverie. She rushed to, immediately bending to pick the dishes. Her wrapper, which is tied around her chest, momentarily slipped off exposing two tiny breasts. Ayisha immediately dropped the dishes, tied the wrapper firmer over her chest and returned to her task of clearing the dishes—a mistake by all indications.

It was all Alhaji could do to contain his excitement. He kept swallowing the saliva threatening to trickle down the sides of his mouth unable to say anything.

* * * *

As soon as it was midnight, Alhaji Idris, holding a lamp, sneaked into Ayisha’s hut. She had always left the door shut but unlatched since the gate to the compound was always manned by one of Alhaji’s servants round the clock and incidents of robbery and such vices were rare in Kano at this time. For a moment, he just feasted his eyes on the body lying naked before him on a mat illuminated by the lamp in his left hand. Saliva started dripping from his mouth. Two minutes later, he moved his right hand to one of her breasts rousing Ayisha from her sleep. She was going to scream before Alhaji warned firmly and desperately: “It’s me. Keep quiet!”

Ayisha became instantly confused.

“What…what… what do you want from me rankadede?” she stammered fearfully. “Keep quiet and do what I say!” Alhaji commanded huskily moving his hand lower.

Ten minutes later, with sweat pouring off him, Alhaji sneaked out of the hut. His lust had been satisfied. Ayisha lay in a heap with blood flowing from in between her legs. She had tears in her eyes from the pain. Shock and fear had made her obey Alhaji and open her legs to receive him. She even thought, at a stage, that it was a dream she would soon wake up from but it was not.

Ayisha ensured Alhaji Idris never visited again as she made sure her door was firmly bolted from inside before going to bed. She was too scared to tell anyone about the incident after Alhaji’s stern warning to deal with her if she did. She even felt no one would believe her so she made up her mind to keep the incident to herself.

SAMBISA FOREST, 2001

None of the over one thousand soldiers of the Boko Haram sect listening to their new leader— Abdul Shekau, is surprised he had emerged their leader after the death of their former leader—Malam Yusuf Zakzaky, extra judicially in the hands of the Nigerian Police.

The Police had arrested him in a surprise attack alongside forty of his loyalists and had gone ahead to shoot them all to death without trial. ASP Lawal Muda had felt it was unnecessary taking them through normal legal procedures and had ordered his men to kill them all and explain to their superiors they were killed in a fierce battle while resisting arrest.

“There is no more time to waste on dialogue,” Shekau stated biting off every word in the Hausa language while gesticulating with his A.K 47 and speaking distinctly into the megaphone in his left hand. He had a menacing look in his eyes.

“From now on, we will go on a killing spree. All those picked for martyrdom must do so with immediate effect. Remember Al Janna awaits such persons. All the infidels must die!” Shouts of “Allah Akbar!” rented the air from all sides. Shekau waited for this to subside before continuing. He did not want any bit of information to be wasted.

“The United Nations Organization, the United States of America and her democratic allies, the Christians and every alkafry anywhere should be made to feel our wrath. Before they came to Africa, we were the ones exporting food to the west but, with their influence, we now import food. Agriculture is now barely touched. All our youths now long to go overseas because of their influence. All these must stop. We must go back to our roots . Imagine people who sleep with animals from where they brought the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and H.I.V to the world, turning around to accuse Africa of being the origin of the disease and calling us the Dark Continent. Now, they allow men to sleep with men and women with women. The Sharia system that we shall establish—first in northern Nigeria, and then in the entire country, insha Allah, will address these. The West has done too much harm to us. America and her allies keep the best for themselves and their children and leave the rest of us scrambling for remnants. This is the dawn of a new era!”

The shouts of “Allah Akbar!” that followed was deafening accompanied by gun shots into the air. Shekau smiled mirthlessly.

Two hours later, the three suicide bombers that would go on the next mission were carefully selected and handed over to the protocol officer—Musa Qaqa, for further briefing and preparation. Arrangements were also made for their wives and children to be given to other sect members. The widows will be married off to those who were either single or those who had not completed the maximum number of wives per adherent suggested by Islam while the children will be sent to some of the Koranic schools around to become al majiris. They would beg for alms to earn a living and learn to recite the Koran by heart. The lucky ones among them would grow to join the sect.