***THE ADVENTURES OF BIMPE***
EPISODE 17
The new d@t£ for the murder case against Alhaja Zainab was fixed in March. On this day, the courtroom was almost empty, the public had lost interest in the case, but Bimpe was there, not because she was interested, but to tell the public that she still cared about Justice for her late husband, Alhaji Dambazzau. Alhaja was led into the court, this time by psychiatric male nurses, dressed in white. She looked parched and burned out, but, her eyes were not lifeless and pas-sive as it usually was. This time, if one looked closely, one would see fierceness in her eyes. The Judge c@m£ in and was surprised by the almost empty courtroom. He called the Defense counsel and the prosecutor to the bench. After chatting with them for a few minutes, he dismissed them.
Judge: “The law must be practiced according to the la-id down rules. In spite of my conviction, I have to judge this case based on the evidence before me. The defendant alre-ady pleaded guilty, so there is no doubt of guilt. What is in question is the sanity of her mind at the time of committing the crime. We have had doctors testify that after evaluation, she was deemed insane, and since the prosecuting team did not bring any doctors to refute the claim, I hereby proclaim Alhaja Zainab Dambazzau, insane and mentally unfit. She is therefore to be remanded to the mental institute for life. There shall be no incidence of review of her sanity in the future; she shall spend her remaining days in the mental institute, so the society can be safe. This is my judgment” he ban-ged the gavel and exited the court. Yusuf bowed his head and held it in his hands, he was tired of fighting, he was frustrated and down casted.
The psychiatric nurses were leading Alhaja back out of the court; she was not handcuffed because they had given her a numbing tablet that would s£nd signals to her br@in that she felt like slee-ping. But, unknown to them, she hid the drug un-der her ton-gue and la-id down. So that immediately, the nurse left, she took the drug out and disposed it. So they were not prepared for the drama she was about to perform. As soon as they were on the staircase, heading to the van which was parked at the curb, Alhaja pushed the man holding her, because he did not suspect and had his eyes on the road, he tr!pp£dand fell, which also destabilized the other nurse, and Alhaja ran with everything she had got.
By the time Yusuf raised his head up, he saw that his mother was alre-ady out of the court room. He ran outside to catch up with her before she was taken away; he was just stepping out into the March, morning sun when he saw his mother running away, and one of the nurses on the floor.
Yusuf: “Oh Uwa, why did you do that? Now you are going to be a fugitive” he whispered to himself. Bimpe heard the commotion outside and rushed out to see, behold Alhaja was gone. Fear descended on her heart, it gr!pp£dher so much that she staggered on the staircase, like she was going to fall, but Yusuf rushed and held her before she reached the ground. She steadied herself and moved away from him. The police were called immediately, people gathered in front of the courthouse videoing the psychiatric nurses who wore confused faces. They could not tell how a woman, who was frail and had been given sedatives could push them and escape from their hold.
Two men, who were as-sociates of Alhaja Dambazzau sat in their meeting place and watched the news of Alhaja’s escape from the courthouse. They had links to the Inspector General of Police and they called him immediately, and gave him a task; Alhaja must be found, she better be found dead, than not found at all, they said.
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Bimpe and Brian were the talk of town, their love was enviable, but in their closet, they could not stand each other. Brian could not pretend for long, most especially as Bimpe kept postponing their wedding announcements. She changed d@t£s thrice alre-ady, and Brian was beginning to lose his patience. There was another pla-yer involved in this game of chess, and that was Chief Bamigboye.
Question: How will Alhaja survive this impending destruction? What could be Chief Bamigboye’s plans exactly?
***THE ADVENTURES OF BIMPE***
EPISODE 18
Because Bimpe began to spend so much time in the Bamigboyes house, the patron of the house began to have fond feelings for Bimpe, and this was not lost on Bimpe. She began to invite him often, for business dinner on the pretense that they were to discuss the fashion week. And on such dinners they would not discuss business, but other personal issues. Chief Bamigboye would tell her about his late wife, the things he liked and from such discussions, Bimpe began to have an idea about his weaknesses. One day she had come to the mansion, hoping to take Chief Bamigboye to his favorite polo club, but met Brian instead.
Brian: “Hello honey”
Bimpe: “Sweetheart, where is your dad, I want to take him to the Polo club”
Brian: “Why don’t we go instead, dad is not in the house”
Bimpe: “No we can’t go together because you are not a member, and the reason we are going, is business, and you wouldn’t know anything about that” Brian looked at her carefully, he was wondering if it was derision he heard in her voice.
Brian: “Bimpe, when are we getting married. You tell me that marrying me has been your lifelong wish, and yet you keep postponing our wedding. You ha-rd ly spend time with me, you rather spend it with my dad. I know you lost your parents, but my dad is my dad. No matter how much you take him out or spend time with him, he is still my dad”
Bimpe: “Oh Brian, why are you acting like a child whose candy is threatened? Your dad is just a good man, and we are business p@rtners. So it is imperative that we get to know each other” she replied.
Brian: “So when are we getting married?” He was re-ady to f0rç£ a d@t£ out of her because he was tired of waiting for her to pick a definite d@t£.
Bimpe: “we will be married in two weeks, on my birthday” she said.
Brian: “Good, I will get in t©uçh with a celebrity events planner to plan our wedding from scratch to finish. The court wedding will precede the church wedding”
Bimpe: “I won’t have a church wedding”
Brian: “What do u mean by that?” he said, trying ha-rd to keep himself from flaring up
Bimpe: “It means exactly that Brian. I don’t see the nee-d, it is just a waste of time and resources. I love you Brian and I want us to be joined by a priest, before God” she replied and embr@ced him.
Chief Bamigboye was sitting in his office with his friend from the University days, Doctor Dapo Ogunleye, they were discussing. Dapo confided in him the thing that has been disturbing him and kept him from marrying until now, while Chief Bamigboye told him the thing that he wouldn’t dare say to another person.
Chief Bamigboye: “Dapo, I am in trouble oh. This girl has entered all my system, I cannot go an hour without thinking about her, I am perplexed, I want this girl, but it is impossible. A girl like that wouldn’t want me; my son is whom she loves”
Dapo: “Don’t tell me, that your son’s fiancée is whom you are talking about like this”
Chief Bamigboye: “Who else. I have never met a girl like her, if my son was half the person she is; I would be the happiest man today”
Dapo: “What would you do about this? This is dangerous; she is supposed to be your daughter-in-law”
Chief Bamigboye: “I know what I will do”
Dapo: “Tell me, my friend, what will you do?”
Chief Bamigboye: “You will know about it in due time” he replied and sipped from his glas-s of wine.
One day, Chief Bamigboye was alone in the house and Bimpe visited, she had intended to drop the groom and his men’s outfit.
Chief Bamigboye: “My dear Bimpe, how are you and how is the wedding preparation?”
Bimpe: “I am fine daddy. I wanted to drop this for Brian” she bent down in front of Chief, to drop the package on the adjacent sofa. Chief could not hold it anymore, he gr@bb£d her from behind. Bimpe turned abruptly in surprise.
Bimpe: “Dad, what is this?” she said softly.
Chief Bamigboye: “Bimpe, I love you, not just your b©dy, but your intelligence, the way you carry yourself. I would have asked you out the day I met you, but I thought by giving you to my son, he would be a better man. But can I just have a taste of you?”
Bimpe: “After that, what next? I like you too, a lot. What would society say; I want to be with you. After knowing you, I found out you were perfect for me, but what would society say?” she replied him, and moved slowly to him. She k!$$£d him lightly on thel-ips and ran out of the house. Chief Bamigboye wanted to run after her and ask her to cancel the wedding, but he knew she would not. He thought her, too principled.
TO BE CONTINUED…