The Stolen Manuscript (Episode 1)

A dirty looking middle aged man was seen been dragged by some armed police men into the Area G Police Station at Ogba. He looks like someone who hadn’t bath for days. His unkempt beard gives him the look of a rascal and he looks very rough.

Traces of blood can be seen on his blue jeans and part of his tee-shirt was torn. He was either rough handed by the military policemen who arrested him; maybe he was in a fight with someone before he was arrested.

At a guess he should be around forty to forty- five years of age.

His hands were cuffed behind him.

Dead bodies lie along the road and inside drainage just after the junction at Omole Estate after Berger, leading to Ogba. They were hoodlums who had serious shootout with the policemen, while the man was being brought in by the convoy of the police; they were intercepted just before Omole. The hoodlums who came shooting in a hilux vehicle, tried to free the arrested man, but were all killed in the process.

Bodies of the killed criminals were first carried to the Area command, first for press briefing, after which they would be moved to the Ikeja General hospital.

People along the road scampered for their lives while motorists escape, some into the estate, some parked their vehicles along the road and ran on their legs. At least ten vehicles were badly damaged, but no one was killed aside the criminals that waylaid the police convoy.

The alert had gone round monitoring and patrolling police vehicles around the Ikeja command. One of the police vehicles was damaged and the criminal was transferred into a marked police van.

As the patrol cars drove down from Omole to Ogba police command, there was sporadic shooting into the air by the policemen to warn off invaders.

Onlookers particularly shop owners opposite the Area G command have gathered to hear the story. Most people said a particular notorious armed robber was arrested, even most police officers didn’t know what the whole thing was about, some of them had run away from their traffic post, for safety.

This must be a high rated case, as even the Commandant; an Assistant Commission of Police was part of the team that made the arrest. If he was not on the team and in the vehicle during the attack by the hoodlums who tried to free the criminal that was arrested, the attackers would probably have escaped with the arrested man. He shot most of them by himself.

Being an Assistant Commissioner of Police, means he has worked in lots of police commands, in different parts of the country. Apart from working in many police commands, he was known for his track records of unfolding high profile criminal cases.

He was one of the policemen drafted to unfold the case of murder of a young lady killed in a hotel by some group of fraudsters. There were no traces what so little in that case, but when he was brought into it, he unfolded it and ensured the criminals were arrested and prosecuted.

His police profile shows he had most of his trainings in America Police Schools; he attended the University of Illinois Police Training Institute, coming out one of the best ever.

The Area Commandant, a tall and broad shouldered man has scar that looks like something gotten from a fire accident, it covers from the lower part of his nose, down his cheek to his left ear.

Even his height and build could not hide his potbellied stomach which kind of spoils his macho build. The stomach protrudes in his well fitted police uniform.

As the Commandant steps out of the operation vehicle both uniformed and non-uniformed officers saluted him, he walks into a storey building that housed his office.

Pressmen were already all over the premise waiting to get the first briefing from the police boss on the incident. The corpses of the slain criminals lie in front of the Operation Unit of the command.

As he walks into the building millions of thoughts went through his head, most high profile criminal cases like this are hardly committed by a writer in his over twenty service in the Nigerian Police Force.

Writers are usually highly placed people in the society, everyone one respects a writer because being a writer takes a lot of commitments. He doesn’t know any writer that has a criminal record, in the whole of his career, not even financial crime, not to talk of a high profile crime like this one!

Most writers he has met, especially those who have made names for themselves in the industry are very reserved people, and even those who took to activism have quiet private lives.

His suspicion is that some highly placed people in the society could be involved, maybe even the governor. That was why he decided to go with the team to make the arrest; leaving an inspector who will assign an IPO to such matter was not necessary. He would get the case file from the inspector initially assigned to case when he was personally through with the man.

He had seen him on TV talk shows and on the Newspaper, but this is going to be his first physical contact with him.

Matters like this that involves high people in the society requires careful handling, if he handles it carelessly it could cost him his job while the inspector will remain in job. If he has to lose his job for any reason, let it be that he lose it because of his principles.

Two police sergeants marched the suspect to the counter, going to book him in, as their usual practice, but the commandant ordered them to take the suspect to his office.

As the commandant walks into his office, Inspector Sanni, who was initially assigned to the case quickly, walks up to him, “Sir, shouldn’t we detain him first, you already had a tough day sir?”

“We are trained to have tough days” The commandant answered, “Bring him in here in the next fifteen to twenty minutes; I want to have the first talk with him before anyone does”

He sighs as he walks into his office. His personal police aide stands by to await instructions, while Sanni who never liked the commandant’s personal aide, walks by him, feeling dejected at the police boss’ instruction to have himself alone talk to the criminal.

“Inspector Sanni” the commandant calls out just before he shuts the door, “No one should talk to that man before I do no one!”

“Yes sir” he salutes and walks out of the office. No one questions the boss in the police force unless you want to be shown the way out.

The commandant ordered the personal aide to stay outside while he went into the restroom in an inner part of his office. Something keeps ringing in his head, there must be a connection between this writer and some politicians, and he should be able to nail someone to this.

The commandant was optimistic that the case could either get him promotion to become a Commissioner of Police or cause him to be dismissed from the Force. Either way, he was sure the case would come with something big.

As for Sanni, he didn’t like the guy, that officer is not loyal; he thinks almost aloud, there is so much story going on in the command about his many affairs with female police officers, even some of them that are married. In fact he was reliably informed that Sanni was seeing Amina, the female Sergeant he personally worked her transfer from Ebonyi.

Categories: Short Stories & Articles

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental

The Stolen Manuscript (Episode 1)

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