Chapter 8

She and the old man walked leisurely to the car without any sense of urgency. 'Good afternoon all of you' the old man greeted. Anger debarred us from answering him. It was only the driver who answered. This lady you are seeing,' said the old man proudly as he began to pat the female passenger on the shoulders' is the daughter of

he daughter of Sarkin Muktar Omar, the first Sarkin to be appointed by Othman Dan Fodio himself in the whole of Mokwa-land. Sarkin Mukta Omar himself is the grandfather of Alkali Ibn Yusuf, the man who gave birth to Abu Haroun, the learned father of Idris Muhammed who himself was versed in prosody and Islamic jurisprudence. And it should not surprise you to hear that Idris Muhammed gave birth to Laraba, my own mother. So this woman you are seeing is my real sister. At the end of his introduction, he burst into a laughter of triumph.

'Excuse me sir,' I said to the old man intending to be sarcastic "It is my belief that Sarkin Muktar Omar wouldn't support this idea of your sister causing us a big delay. My sarcasm didn't work

the way I wanted, for the old man shook hands with me in appreciation and said you are very correct. You speak as if you know Sarkin Omar. Sarkin Omar wouldn't do anything that would hurt anybody. You know exactly the ways of Sarkin

Omar.' I wasn't satisfied for not creating the impact I wanted so I said..

'since you are descendants of Sarkin Omar you should act like him.' Then the old man smiled. Putting his hands in his Agbada, he brought out nine big kolanuts and gave them to the driver. This is for you and your passengers. If it weren't

because you are in hurry I should have invited all of you to my house so that my wives could cook for you. The passengers simultaneously thanked him and told him not to worry about inviting us to his house since we were quite satisfied with the

kolanuts he gave us.

The female passenger entered and the driver took off; using left hand to give the kolanuts to us behind him. We broke it among ourselves, talking in excitement over the kolanuts like people in a feast. Everything about the delay caused by the

female passenger was forgotten on the spot.

This is what surprises me about our people. They could plan fire and brimstone against you, but when you emerge and give them something, they would withdraw the plan immediately. Anyway, we continued on our journey. One of the male

passengers who had complained bitterly that our driver was speeding too much seemed to have forgotten that he had ever made such a complaint, for he turned round again to complain

that the driver was too slow. I remembered that at the time he complained of the driver's excessive speed, the driver was travelling at 120 kilometres per hour. And at this time that he was now complaining about the driver's slowness, the driver was making 110 kilometres per hour. This meant that the driver reduced the speed by 10 kilometres because of his initial complaint. So I decided to ask him how many kilometres he

would have preferred the driver to run. 'He should run 120 kilometres per hour! That's the best speed for a peugeot car!'the man shouted.

I reminded him that this was the exact speed the driver was running, and that it was he who complained against it. You are a crazy man!" shouted the passenger I didn't make -such a complaint! I was shocked at this denial. However, much to my relief, indignant passengers told him that he was a liar because it was true that he complained.

'All of you in this car including the driver are crazy people!' shouted the man. The nearest passenger to him rebuked him for this. I say everybody here is mad! I will break the windscreen of this car if everybody is not careful!' he yelled. A passenger reminded him that if he carried out his threat the owner of the car wouldn't allow him go scot-free. If you talk too much you will not reach Kano today! I will lock you up in Kakuri prisons when we reach Kaduna!' he screamed.

The female passenger who caused us the delay in Mokwa told him that nobody has the right

to lock up another without cause. You can be the daughter of Sarkin Muktar nonsense but I will lock you up if you talk too much!' the man yelled with the frenzy of a mad man. 'You are cracking a joke the female passenger told him defiantly. The other passengers laughed in derison. This annoyed the man greatly, for he yelled more than ever 'I am locking all of you up in Kakuri prisons today! For assault! You assaulted me! I am

police Inspector Salihu!', and he proved this by bringing out an identity card from the front pocket of his shirt.

Everybody froze. Fear fell on all the passengers, but certainly not on the woman who caused us the delay, for she said 'No law permits you to lock up people by framing lies, and no court will convict somebody for an offence he did not commit.' The other passengers stiffened involuntarily in fear of the worst. The woman's defiant words seemed to them to be like that of a mere subject challenging the powers of Nero. The woman had told the Inspector that no court can convict somebody for an offence not committed. This wasn't perfectly true. A court can convict somebody for an offence he did not commit. I was sentenced to prison for seven years for an offense i did not commit.

'Drive on!' the Inspector ordered. The driver continued to drive on. Nobody said anything again. Nobody even coughed. We were there like victims of a kidnap. When we were about fifty

kilometres to Kaduna where the Inspector promised jail for all of us, one man requested the driver to stop so that he could go into the bush and urinate. The driver was about to pack the car

when the Inspector ordered him to continue driving on. But I must urinate the man said feebly. 'You are an idiot! a goat!' the Inspector yelled 'keep moving driver! We were like people under siege. I wanted to speak to the Inspector but I saw that he was going to insult me as he had been doing to others. This wouldn't do him or me any good because I would be tempted to beat him up as my temperament is not the best thing about me. And I was not ready to beat up a policeman after coming out of jail since my criminal record wouldn't aid me in the event of any court action against me.