Authors: Njedeh Anthony
As he climbed the platform, he looked around to see the people who were there to
celebrate his execution—an angry mob that despised rapists more than their enemies.
As they placed his head in the wooden framework, he spat the leaves. Before he could say a word, from the crowd he heard those words that haunted him throughout the days of his life: AGAM OBODO OZO.
There was an explosion on the platform. The three Omees on the platform ran down. Everybody started chattering, with only the Tikpapa walking cautiously toward the scene.
Pokzee looked
around, unable to run with his neck locked. The noise from the crowd started to fade, and there was clearer visual on what was behind the smoke: It was his wife.
“People of Ogwashi, you have the wrong suspect. The person you should be punishing is me. I am a witch
,’’ she declared.
“She is lying. She acts from an untamed love
,” Pokzee screamed.
Nkiru
cut in asking, “Am I so stupid that I don't know the difference between a man and a woman?”
“I changed into a man and grabbed you from the stream,” Pokzee’s wife replied.
“She lies. It was I that raped her and took all her innocence away. Do not listen to a word my wife says!”
“If I tell tales
, how do you explain the scar I put on her face.”
“You did not do anything to her face. She did it by herself. If you attacked her, how did you know I had asked her to come?”
Pokzee said, still screaming.
“I did not know she was coming.”
“But I was at the feast and I saw the way he was looking at her when she danced. That’s why I attacked her at the stream.”
“She speaks falsely. She is a liar. She is trying to protect her husband
,” Nkiru said.
“What makes you so sure she was not the one?” the Tikpapa asked
, his eyes fixed on hers.
“Well
, I should know. I slept with him…I mean he raped me.”
“I know my wife. She is no witch. She is trying to take my burden.”
“Or it is you trying to carry hers?” one of the elders asked.
“I tell you on the lives I have fought and died for, my wife is not a witch.”
“Then how do you explain her entrance to this platform? Whatever she did
, it’s magic,” another elder said.
“It was the Ifa priest who cast that spell, not her.”
“You lie. Nobody witnessed the Ifa priest arriving,” the envoy said, hoping he was right.
“He lies to protect his bride. That was why he refused to defend himself properly during his trial
,” another elder said.
“I said nothing because I knew I was guilty of the crime commit
ted.”
“My husband is a fool to die for a crime that I commit
ted. Today it is Nkiru, tomorrow it could be your wife, your brother, or your only son I will possess.”
“Please do not listen to her, she is lying
,” Pokzee said with tears in his eyes.
“Watch my husband cry like a woman. Does he not know that men do not cry?”
The oldest elder stood up and said, “I am not worthy of being an elder in this province. How could I have been a party to the execution of a man who brought pride to our land?” He dropped his staff and walked away.
“No, no, that’s what she wants,” Pokzee screamed from his enclosed wooden framework.
Chief Akuna rose with indifference on his face and spoke with an air of command
. “Release the great Omee and prepare the witch for an immediate execution.”
Two
Omees walked toward them—the first went to tie his wife up and the other released Pokzee.
As soon as he was free, he grabbed the Omee by his testicles and neck and threw him over the platform. The other Omee used his clenched fist and hit his back. Pokzee staggered, but not before using his elbow to bang the Omee’s jaw. A taller Omee climbed the platform and threw a punch. Unfortunately, he missed and received half a dozen across his ribs before he was thrown over. Another charged at Pokzee like a deer. He fitted the man’s neck into a jab from his elbow. The next Omee was bigger than he was and immediately squeezed him in a bear hug. Pokzee head butted the man, but the Omee refused to ease the grasp, so he used his knee to continuously pound on his testicles until the man fainted.
During this time, his wife was tied by her hands and feet. All that crossed her mind was that if there was a greater man to die for, she would never see him and if that person existed, she did not want to live to see such a person because she was proud of her man—her only man.
Pokzee looked at the crowd and saw
more than three thousand Omees waiting in line to hold him down. He rushed, untied his wife, put her up on his shoulder, using his elbow to hit the next Omee who entered the platform and then he ran and jumped into the crowd of spectators. They didn’t call him the bull for nothing. As they landed, there was chaos amongst the crowd.
The
Tikpapa shouted, “NODI YADI BA FO YEH JEKE EBE OBONE.”
The crowd parted in the middle, where
Pokzee was frozen in a spot with his wife on his shoulder. The Tikpapa waved his hand and both man and wife collapsed on the ground, unconscious.
Pokzee opened his eyes to find himself in his hut along with the Ifa priest, who was drinking palm wine from a calabash.
“Where is my wife?”
“They have executed her by burning her on a stake. I could have sworn she was laughing during the execution.”
“You could have saved her.”
“Yes, but she chose her destiny. A sacrifice was required. This palm wine is still sweet after two days.”
“Why did you not take me instead?”
“You are important to the kingdom.”
“I cannot help you…you could have saved both of us. Now I will wake up never to hear her tell me I worry too much.”
“You can find people to replace her. It’s no secret that you change your women as fast as the days change to night.”
“I can never find a replacement.”
“She had to die to appease the oracle. She was a good woman and she even begged to sacrifice her life so you could live…probably she wanted you to recognize she existed.”
“Then why did you end up telling me to do things that were unnecessary?”
“At that point it was necessary, but I changed my mind.”
“Do you think I really care for
these people anymore?”
“You might not care about these people, but you care about your descendants and most especially revenge.”
“I have to clear her spirit by proving to the people that she was no witch.”
“You can do that when you are
chief.”
“Then they will say I used the power bestowed on me to clear her name.”
“You have till the fifth day after that. I will not wait any longer. Take these leaves with you, they might come in handy.”
Pokzee walked out into the main town to see the burnt corpse of his dead wife on a stake. Nobody had touched it, not wanting to be infected by her evil spirit. He picked her up in his arms and took her to his home, where he buried her in his compound. He then climbed on his stallion and rode as fast as the wind without resting at any spot until he got to the Alloida boundary.
He immediately went to the
Haku of Chief Vacoura. One of the two Omees at the gates answered with sarcasm.
“And who might you be?”
“Tell him Pokzee, son of Wadunko, General from Ogwashi.”
There was a flicker of respect
from the two Omees when he introduced himself. One of the Omees went to inform the chief.
As he waited he observed that Vacoura's quarters were nothing compared to Akuna’s and he did not even see a single white man as he arrived, not even Arabians. The horses in the province were not as strong as their horses in Ogwashi.
Women carried baskets on their heads to go to the market with their children on their backs.
Mother and child
, he thought,
my children will have no mother. Somebody is going to pay with blood.
The
Omee returned. “The chief will see you tonight, but till then, I will lead you to where you will eat and rest.”
Pokzee wanted to insist on seeing him immediately, but he knew there was a level you cannot cross with a man of higher respect.
As they walked away, Vacoura watched them from his quarters and told the Omee next to him to bring the envoy to him.
The envoy walked into the chief’s conference room knowing something was wrong.
“My
Envoy, how was your journey to Ogwashi?”
“My Chief…The Patient One.” He bowed very low to show extended respect.
“The feast was grand. With all the Ikas present, it could be the best I have ever participated in since I became envoy.”
“You are wasting my time
.”
“A girl was raped, sir.”
“Who was she?”
“Nkiru.”
Vacoura burst out laughing. “Tell me it is not the barren woman who dances the fire dance and has slept with everybody I know.”
“It is her, sir.”
“Who is the fool who does not know that a dog in heat does not choose her man or he could not afford her?” the chief asked with laughter in his voice.
“It was Pokzee's wife.”
The chief stopped laughing. “Are you trying to call me stupid?”
“No sir
. She was a witch, so she turned into her husband and raped her out of jealousy. She confessed it.”
“
Envoy, I heard about the flamboyancy your wives are portraying. They put on glittering coral beads.”
“They were given to me by Chief Akuna during the feast.”
“But your wives wore them when you were away to let the market women know what coral beads should look like.”
“I sent it for them during the feast.”
“Let me see, you were away for four days. You went with a convoy of people so that should be at least a day’s trip. So which day exactly did you send them to bring these beads? Because your last wife wore them on the day you left.”
“My mistake, he gave it to me before I left,” the
envoy said, nodding as he corrected himself.
“You and I both know Akuna will never give you anything for free. I initially thought it was for transporting goods to him so he could sell to the Portuguese, but it seems there is another reason. So the choice is yours. Confess and save yourself being tortured to get everything out of you. Then you will be removed as
envoy. You and your family will, of course, be banished from the province, or you make things easier for all of us.”
“Chief Akuna gave me the beads for a favor.”
“I do not have all day. What was the favor?”
“It was a personal favor, sir.”
“I understand.” Vacoura snapped his fingers and two guards came forward. “Cut my Ika's thumb and his middle finger.”
“The Patient One, what are you telling th
ese men to do?”
The two
Omees pinned the envoy on the floor, brought out their knives, and sliced his fingers from his hand while the envoy screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Stick a cloth in his mouth. He is blocking my ears.” The
Omees immediately stuffed a rag in his mouth.
“Look at what this
avaricious fool has done to my floor. Do you not have any sympathy for the people that work here? Just imagine him allowing his blood to pour all over. In fact, cut the whole hand off.”
The
envoy was kneeling and trying to beg with words, but his mouth was full. The Omees had pinned him down again as they wanted to slice off his hand.
“Wait! I think he is trying to say something. Remove the rag from his mouth
,” Vacoura ordered.
“Chief Akuna sent his messengers to me before the feast. He told me to bring a girl to Ogwashi who would announce rape publicly regarding Pokzee to inhibit his succession. He gave me horses, beads, and other gifts and due to my weak heart, I fell for the temptation. Everything was going well until his wife claimed the crime.”
“So what happened to her?”
“She was burnt alive, but the woman was really a witch. Everyone saw her appear from smoke.”
Vacoura looked him deeply in the eye and then faced his messengers and told them to bring Pokzee to his presence.
As Pokzee arrived, he bowed to the chief in the conference room. He saw the envoy on the floor with blood all over his hands and he was not positive, but it seemed like he was crying.
“I know why you have come and we accept the shame that our
envoy has bestowed upon us,’’ the chief said. “I have thought of over a hundred ways to replace your loss and this is the best I can do. I give to you Okonpoli, son of Aghinere, now the former envoy of Alloida, to be your slave, along with his wife and children. From now on they will be recognized as your
slave.”