Tarasha - Season 4 - Episode 86

Episode 4 years ago

Tarasha - Season 4 - Episode 86

11:53am
Challenge Road, Ilorin .

Garuba Ahmed sat at the backseat alone. The two men who had helped him to take off the bomb were seated at the front, one of then driving and the other working on a mini laptop. Their Jeep stopped behind a public transport bus as the traffic warder at the front ordered vehicles coming from their direction to stop.

‘Are you outside already?’ Garuba said into his phone.
‘Yes, I just got outside the station.’ the receiver replied.
‘Okay, we’re close to the roundabout and driving towards A Division already. We’ll pick you in a minute.’
The vehicles began to move and they crossed the roundabout in few seconds. They located Inspector Kehinde standing with the other pedestrians waiting to get vehicles and they stopped for him to join them. He walked to the car quickly and joined Garuba at the backseat. They drove off.
‘Good morning Inspector Kehinde,’ Garuba Ahmed greeted first, offering the officer a handshake.
‘Good morning sir,’ Inspector Kehinde replied with a bow and took the handshake with two hands respectfully.
‘We have something very important to discuss, and we have to find somewhere perfect we can discuss it well.’ Garuba said.
‘Sir, you should have asked for me to come to your place. From the way your voice sounded when you called, I believe what you want to discuss with me is very urgent.’
‘Yes, it actually is. But I couldn’t call you to come to my place, my wife is around and she would want to listen to our conversation.’
‘Okay, why don’t we just start right away?’
Garuba chuckled and then stared for a second at the men sitting at the front. The Inspector understood with the gesture; the man wasn’t comfortable discussing the matter in the presence of his men.


Garuba suddenly glanced at his wristwatch and looked up. ‘It’s 12pm, can we listen to the news now?’ he said to his men.
The man at the passenger’s side in front turned on the car radio and tuned it to the station airing the news. The newscaster began to read out the headlines just as the guy increased the volume. The first headline read: ‘Eze Okafor confirmed dead this morning’.


The news threw Garuba off guard and he placed his palm on his chest as his eyes widened in shock. He closed his eyes and inhaled and exhaled deeply to suppress the shock as he waited for the details of the news to be read. The reading of the headlines ended and the details of the news began immediately after. The newscaster read in details how Eze Okafor was found lifeless in the hospital bed by seven thirty am while the doctor was going on the morning round. His death was however not announced immediately because it had to be confirmed first and the cause had not been ascertained. Signs of ropes were said to have been seen on the man’s legs and hands and a window of ward he was kept in was found damaged. The State commissioner of Police had reviews the incident himself and concluded that Samantha Osman came back at midnight to finish off the man.
‘But this isn’t true?’ Garuba Ahmed argued aloud with no one in particular.
‘I think it is sir,’ Inspector Kehinde opposed in a calm voice. ‘She tried to kill him yesterday but was intercepted by the police, I’m sure she really returned to the hospital to finish her mission.’
‘No, she didn’t kill him.’ Garuba insisted in a strong tone which made him sound suspicious. Everybody else in the car remained silent and stiff, waiting for him to say something else to back his argument but the man was quiet and moody. Written all over his face was confusion, he had his lips sq££zed in like he had swallowed something bitter.
‘Sir, why do you say so?’ Inspector Kehinde asked.


‘I know,’ Garuba turned to the Inspector still carrying the confused look on his face. ‘Let’s get to Friendz, I’ll book one of their inner rooms where we can sit and talk.’
Fifteen minutes later
Friendz Eatery, Ajase Ipo Road, Ilorin.
Garuba and Inspector Kehinde sat opposite each other at a table, inside the management office. They discussed in the room with no one else present while the normal activities went on at the eating areas of the restaurant.
‘Kehinde… Samantha Osman was in my home last night, I mean around two am this morning.’ Garuba began. The Inspector drew back with a shocked expression on his face, he narrowed his gaze at Garuba’s face doubting if the man knew what he was talking about.


‘She entered into the house at midnight with my drunk son and came to talk to me in my room. My wife was there with me but didn’t who she was,’ Garuba explained.
‘She came to talk to you? I don’t understand,’ the Inspector questioned.
‘Yes, she came for a document and left after I gave it to her.’


‘Ah!’ the Inspector exclaimed with his mouth agape for a moment. ‘But why didn’t you inform the police about this sir?’
‘She advised me not to involve the police but that’s why I’m informing you because I’m sure it won’t go beyond you and I.’
‘Sir, I don’t still understand this whole thing. Can you make me understand better?’
‘She came peacefully without hurting anyone and she said she wasn’t willing to hurt anyone, all she wanted were the documents.’


‘What documents did she take with her?’
‘The documents are the main thing,’ Garuba said and paused to look around for a moment, to ensure that no one was listening or watching them. ‘These documents were signed more than ten years ago, they’re documents incriminating the Vice President. They’re proofs of the illegal deals his pharmaceutical company carried out when he was the deputy governor of Lagos State.’
‘But how come these documents are with you?’

‘I got them while I was in service, I was the Inspector in charge of the case. I had to keep them with me to avoid having them taken and destroyed. Our judiciary system was in a mess then, you only needed to have money and power then and you’d be free from any charges leveled against you, there’ll always be a way to render the proofs against you useless.’


‘But what did she need these documents for and how did she know they were with you?’
‘She needs them against Vice President Elvis Richards, it’s no secret that she’s been trying to take his life, but now, I’m beginning to believe she’s fighting him for a good cause.’


‘She’s killed several people, you don’t fight a good cause illegally.’ Inspector Kehinde retorted, with so much hatred for Samantha Osman in his voice.
‘Sadly sometimes, sacrifices have to be made. Some people lives have to go for a revolution to occur, some times a lot more have to die, that’s the sad truth.’
‘I don’t get the connection of those she killed with any good revolution, if any revolution is coming out of this, it’s a bad one.’ Inspector Kehinde argued.
‘Kenny, we have to be patient and watch but I believe something good may come out this at the end. I’m an investigator, I lived my life committed to the service, I had to resign when the criminal Rikau was made the Assistant Inspector General, I knew I would have to compromise if I stayed in the force. This morning, I saw those eyes; Samantha’s eyes.’ Garuba paused for a moment and the picture of Tarasha played in his memory again. He could see the colour of her eyes which wasn’t covered by the mask again. ‘I’m sure I would never suspect to be a killer if I met her on the street. I saw her expression when she went through the documents after I gave her. The person she’s really after is Elvis Richards and that is one man that we have to bring down if the country has to move forward, I believe that there are still more people hiding under him but starting with him will be a good one.’
‘In summary, you support Samantha Osman’s actions sir?’

‘No, I do not support her actions. I support what I perceive as the motive behind the action.’
‘Then can you explain her motive for killing Eze Okafor?’
‘She didn’t kill him. Eze Okafor was killed at midnight, Samantha Osman was with me at midnight. She got the information about the documents with me from Eze Okafor that morning when she attacked him, that was all she needed from him, there was no reason to kill him anymore. And besides, she couldn’t have been in Anambra and be in Kwara State at the same time.’


‘Hmm…’ Inspector Kehinde took in a deep breath and stared thoughtfully. He tried to draw out a meaning from all the man had told him but many more questions arose in his hearts. ‘Sir, you talked about the Vice President’s illegal deals…’

A loud crash sound interrupted their discussion and sounds of gunshots followed. The men quickly bent their heads below the table and the Inspector took out his gun. Something hit the entrance door of the room where they sat in, they could see it was a man’s back. And then a gunshot followed, the man’s blood splattered on the transparent glass at the upper part of the door. Another bullet hit the door and pierced through it. Someone moved close to the door and they could hear sounds of the dead body being dragged away. The door was kicked open.
…