AN AIRPORT DISASTER.
When Colonel Hersdrickhe got off the plane, he smelt the warm Nigerian air,feeling it caress him swiftly along the length and breadth of his skin. Going through Immigration and Customs was quicker than he thought. Soon in less than 40 minutes he was headed to pick up his luggage at the Checking Arrivals Section and go for his mission in the Humid and hot dazzling Nigerian capital, Abuja.It waa then his problems started. One, His luggage now seemed a little bulkier but he didn't care to check again. "Certainly it had passed customs", he thought.
He soon caught sight of the Uber Taxi driver sent to pick him with his placard and his name stencilled in clear cold letters across it.
When he had approached and shook hands with the taxi driver whose name was Yusuf and told him they should be off to the taxi.
Then an incredible thing happened;
" oga, oga, wait small make i go restroom", Yusuf muttered, clutching his waist conspicuously.
"Why is that?", colonel Hersdrickhe's Hungarian English accent portrayed him as a man who laughed and spoke at the same time.
" oga, na my waist... I get cough... Sorry malaria... Sorry na pain" Yusuf's stammering became more suspicious.
Colonel Hersdrickhe was stunned,"Let me get this straight, Your waist is having cough". Colonel Hersdrickhe had not come to the end of his statement when he burst out laughing and signalled Yusuf to go and drop his luggage at the taxi cab before moving to the restroom.
Yusuf had not been gone for more than 3 minutes, when he returned being roughly drawn along by three men.
They walked up to Colonel Hersdrickhe and one of them who wore black sunshades started addressing him.
"Mr white man, we have come to put you under arrest for unlawful possession of cocaine found in this your bag". The man then paused to raise the bag Colonel Hersdrickhe had given Yusuf to go and drop earlier.
While the man was reasserting himself, Colonel Hersdrickhe's mind was working rapidly. He soon had the situation in control. He thought," Certainly as a force man, he knew there was no way these men were security operatives,there were just some boys looking for a lucky windfall. And certainly it was Yusuf who was hand in glove with them.certainly it was he who must have given them his bag to stuff the contraband ".
He braced himself for a fight. Six minutes was enough for him to knock them out, bleeding and writhing on the floor. But six minutes was also enough for the security personnel at the airport to arrive the scene and arrest him. As he was being bounded into a police van. He thought about the CIA Mission he was sent to carry out in Abuja. He then knew it was a failed one.
He closed his eyes in one heavy sigh.
OGBU VINCENT CHIEDOZIE
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