Bakassi Rangers : FICTION

Chapter 2

In another part of the country,

Far away from the nation’s capital city, an exchange was about to take place.

The darkness was like pith. The barge sailed silently and slowly in the quiet black sea. The barge, a 10,000

ton capacity tanker had was carrying a full load of the black gold of bakassi. A couple of militants in dark

uniforms kept vigil for any sign of danger. They were well outside the continental shelf of their fatherland

well into the ‘’High Sea’’. They were waiting for their contact to show up. Their captain a former naval officer

was sure they had navigated to the right spot agreed. The Capone was infact becoming impatient. The air

in the boat was tense and everybody was on red alert. The scouts were the first to sight the ship. A medium

size ocean liner much bigger than their barge. They immediately scurried down to alert Capone. Capone

was the ruthless leader of the militia arm of MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta). He

is respected and feared by both the Ijaw community and his men. It is rumoured that he single handedly

killed twenty JTF soldiers in a confrontation near a Okpati jetty pipeline. Capone and a group of his militia

had gone for bunkering after a classified clearance, they were almost through when a barge surfaced from

the blues packed with JTF soldiers who began firing at the militants , gun battle raged on for more than one

hour as the militants were cut off by the JTF. Capone was filled with rage, as he fought watching four of his

men fall. He withdrew to the back of the jetty and began some incantations . By then most of the militants

were wounded and the JTF had radioed for reinforcement. JTF continued to fire into the jetty but only

frequent gunshots responded.

The sight was bone chilling and devilish the militants watched with fear as their leader sailed out towards

the JTF soldiers on a fisher mans barge there was not a single piece of cloth on his pith black body riddled

by thousands of scars, save for a red band tied round his waist and another black one around his head. In

his hand he brandished an UZI submachine gun. ‘’Suicide thought his men, its all over.’’ The soldiers began

shooting immediately they sighted the barge, they emptied over four hundred rounds of ammunition at the

barge and its occupant. Everywhere was covered in smoke. It took ten minutes for the smoke to clear and

they were shocked to see the barge and its occupant standing five feet from their dugouts. They would not

live to remember the look on his face. It was devilish and a horror to behold. The devil himself was riding

the barge. A cruel smile was on his lips as he shot down one after the other the solders paralyzed with fear.

This story true or false has been told and retold so many times, that it heightened the aura of mystery

around the Capone. Capone arrived immediately flanked by his men all armed with machine guns ,

grenades and sniper rifles. Their faces were smeared like men in a guerrilla warfare, men and women with

well built bodies. None had a smile on his face, a real bunch from hell. Capone barked orders sharply as

they approached the barge then he whistled in a peculiar manner and immediately as if in response another

queer whistle came from the side of the barge and the hatch door was lifted and a man emerged from the

barge. He was escorted by two well equipped bodyguards probably Somalian pirates. He looked round at

the militants and finally at the leader.

‘’ We have a mutual friend’’ he began. He was British.

‘’What’s your name?’’ Capone replied icily.

‘Sigmoid Freud’

What took you so long?

‘’We are right on time.’ the white man replied with a sneer at his watch. He did not hide his dislike for the

militants. But they sold him crude at a very cheap price.

The Capone was not a man of many words and certainly would not be trading words with a white man.

We have the crude, can we see the goods?

Mr. Whisky instructed two of his pirates to go check the crude. There is no such thing as trust on the high
‘’We are right on time.’ the white man replied with a sneer at his watch. He did not hide his dislike for the

sea; all the pirates on either boat were armed to the teeth. When the pirates came back nodding their

heads in confirmation, Whisky invited the militants to come on board and inspect their goods. Hidden away

in wooden crates below the deck were ammunitions of all kind, 1000 explosives , 500 automatic rifles, 200

machine guns; twenty rounds per second,50,000 rounds of magazines and other military equipments and

gears.

“All brand new, straight from factory in Belgium, We deliver on our word.” Mr Whisky offered a wry smile

which he obviously forced. Good for business.

Capone inspected the ammunitions with a devilish half grin on his face.

He offered a hand shake which the white man shook hesitantly.

‘Good business’ Capone said in a husky voice.

‘Let the exchange begin then’ Mr. Whisky finished giving instruction to his men to lower the pump.

The exchange took about ninety minutes and the two boats parted ways, each one changing its perceived

course as soon as it lost sight of the other.

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