Garin Mazugal

Chapter 8.

CHAPTER 9.
  Artificial smiles stretched along faces of the couple.The marriage came as a shock to everyone.Questions were asked.Motions raised, faults hunted and natives wer Gossip centres increases meteorotically.His party members were even more shoked.There was no prior information.All they knew about the wedding was the IV Alhaji sent to them. What did Alhaji Iro want? What was his aim? Alhaji didn't do a thing without informing his party members. This one was an exception. Alhaji  however couldn't care less about what people thought.He was known to be very pragmatic and calculative in politics. Almost every move he has made,most especially as the elections drew closer, was a pantomimic.It looked ordinary on the surface but the manipulative Alhaji Iro knows what he wants. This marriage wasn't an exception.

  The elections weren't far away.Alhaji Iro wants full control of the party structure starting from the Chairman,Board Members, Aspirants, Women leaders,Youths and any other strategic position. He began the process of dominance by literally scheming and diabolically ushering himself into the chairmanship position of the party despite wide resistance. The resistance was of course broken with Mazugal dollars.Then he poisoned the hearts of the Executives, sowing seeds of contempt, hatred and insurbodination for the likes of Hajia Talle.This marriage was the last stroke of the highly thought out masterpiece.

   Hajiya Rumai was all smiles. Her dream of getting married was to be fulfilled anyways after she had virtually resigned hopes of hooking a suitor. Her reputation of trouble, gossip and home breaking didn't help her in any way. She was however, surprisingly, getting married to Alhaji Iro, the most powerful man in Mazugal.She didn't kid herself as she knows Alhaji Iro too well. His uncanny knack of twisting ordinary situations to favour his desires was not lost on her. She knew the marriage wasn't for love or affection.It was clearly a political move.She was someone who is said to command a little bit of respect amongst the women Her campaign of sermons has endeared her to some section of the female population. This what Alhaji Iro wants. Someone to use to control the women and by extension, solidify his grasp on the political atmosphere of the city of Mazugal.

There was a lot to eat and drink.It was a more or less a circus.Alhaji Iro spared no resources in making the event a memorable one.He wants the memory of it to linger for a very long time. He did this,knowing that his secrets will be public knowledge one day.When this happens, he'll remind them of the amount he spent on the wedding and how they shamelessly, threw caution in the winds, eating away like hungry animals.

"Amarya Rumai!" People chirped happily.She kept smiling sheepishly as if trying to conceal the farce going on. The power,prestige and money it'll bring kept her feet rooted to the ground.

"Na'am " came the reply: a soft sounding worsened by her ever expanding smile.

"Gaskiya I'm Happy for you"

"Thank you"

"Who would have imagined this wedding? Hajia Rumai and Alhaji Iro? Who would have believed that any man will look the way of Hajiya at this age?"

How she wanted to jump out of her seat! She would have grabbed her by the neck and given her a fantastic beating! Alhaji Iro's warning kept ringing in her head..

" Don't disrupt this thing because I know you.I know you've offended a lot of people with your lies and gossips. You've tortured people with your words. Expect them to seize this opportunity to revenge. They'll curse and mock you. Don't react. Don't make a scene. Do not  disgrace me"

"Toh ai Allah kenan.In YA nufe ka da abu,toh babu mai hanawa (God listen to anybody)" Hajiya replied.

"Allah ya bada zaman lafiya (Prayers for peace)...". Numerous other lines of prayer will be said.Then the predictable sequence of hanging around and feigning conversational indulgence then dispersing when food appears continues.
  This meeting was regaled with irregularities.Intentions being first and then many other things followed.Alhaji Iro used this venue to perfect his stranglehold on the party. First, Dr.Yaro will be schemed easily but if he proves difficult, then the law of the jungle will be applied in full. Secondly, Hajia Rumai is to be made women leader. This was why the marriage happened in the first place. Thirdly, a well engineered smear campaign will be launched. Anyone who dares happenings will be easily silenced with this.A chief propagandist will thereafter be employed. One who can dig up informations and panel beat it to his taste.Last of these is the technical silencing of Hajia Talle.

  " I hope we are all on the same page " Alhaji Iro told the nocturnal gathering.It was late in the night. They stayed back,riding on the pretence of keeping their friend who just got married company.They waited for a complete desertation of the venue before coming out to hatch their evil plot.Every one necessary was present.

  "Toh,Chiyaman." Alhaji Mai Naira said.He talked with a bit of respect unlike the verbal humiliation he gave Mal. Barau.

"I'll make the money available"

"That's very good. You know we also need a propagandist"

  "Everything will be taken care of"

"Yawwa,Mai Naiira" Alhaji replied.

"And don't forget..." MIL chairman interjected.

"MIL Imams.we'll need some money available for our own campaign activities in the mosques. "

   "Aah! Very true.....we'll do that" Alhaji Iro said with clinical finality.

There was silence in the hall.Everyone turned to Alhaji Iro for talks but the man was quiet.Everything seized.The breathe of humans filled the air with so much music that the dead wouldn't mind kicking a leg or two.Everyone was confused.Attempts to talk were quickly hushed down by Alhaji Iro.Even the fearless Alhaji Mai Naira was beginning to get worried. Then Alhaji Iro spoke.

  "Silence is a very fantastic philosophical tool.It kills the aggressor and makes them look like strangers in the lands they've conquered.If any one of us had made a move,everyone will would have noticed.If anyone present here is planning to betray me,he should know that I'll get him. Meanwhile,I want everyone to be on their feet."

"What for,Alhaji?"

  "An oath "