“I am never where I don’t want to be. And if you eventually catch me, be smart enough to know that I let you do that, for reasons best known to me.”- Odogwu.
As he lay on the small bed in his cell, Iroko noticed that the lights were suddenly in a state of constant flicker. He ignored the incident since it was a normal NEPA characteristic, or was it the prison generator that was faulty? He brushed the insignificant thought off his mind and focused on the motivational book he was reading.
A while later, the lights went out completely. Some inmates grumbled out loud as the entire prison went dark.
No footsteps, no sound of any kind, but Iroko perceived the presence of a second party. Was it the fragrance of the newcomer’s perfume, or the scent of the cigarette he smelt in the air? Whatever it was, he was certain he wasn’t alone. This newcomer wasn’t a fellow inmate nor was he a prison guard.
“Agu adi eri agu,”a bold and well-disguised voice spoke in a native Igbo dialect from the darkness of a corner in front of his cell. A cigarette was lit, exposing the deemed red burns at its tip and the clicking sound of a lighter lid being flip-locked was heard.
Iroko recognized the voice immediately and knew who the man in the shadows was.
“Odogwu!” He rushed to the bars of his cell, fuming as he tightened his hold around them.
The man drew a round of the cigarette and released the smoke a moment later.”O mua,” came the reply as he walked into view with his hoodie flipped over his head, concealing his face. “I like the way you call my name with so much vigour, Odogwu!”
“You bastard son of a gun! “Iroko glared at him with so much hatred, he loathed him for being such a pesky little thorn in his flesh. Iroko had underestimated the extent at which the mysterious vigilante known only as Odogwu would go to put him down.
He was a corrupt politician and a member of an underground crime syndicate called the Inner Circle. The organization was structured to deal on drugs and human trafficking under the governance of a certain Black Mamba whose real-life identity was unknown even to the members of the syndicate. The Inner Circle had a reputation for being anonymous, for their operations were covert. Their name was more or less just a whisper in the wind.
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The police knew of their existence but could never find or catch them because they were always too careful and never left any traces behind. They were good at covering their tracks, so good that the police had to close their file. The Inner Circle controlled almost every sector of the country’s economy, they were everywhere, probably that was why it was impossible to catch them.
However, little did they know that someone out there had been planning to take them down, one by one. When his first victim, a prime minister, was exposed as the fraudulent man he was, the syndicate did not take the attack seriously since he was able to bribe the police to sweep the case under the carpet.
How Odogwu had gotten close enough to film the prime minister in his living room where he was having a drink with some friends and laughing about how gullible Nigerians were was a mystery to him. The video trended on social media, especially the part where he admitted to all the crimes an anonymous citizen had sent to the cops.
In the video, he was bragging about how he could buy his way out of every and any situation. Nigerians took matters into their own hands and raided the minister’s home. His escape was narrow but those bodyguards of his made sure he was unharmed.
He had two options; turn himself in to the authorities and face a fair trial or keep hiding until the angry Nigerian mob eventually found him and give him jungle justice. Of course, there was option three, to leave the country but then, Odogwu had by now kidnapped his daughter and asked him to choose one of the other two options or else he would kill the girl.
It was nothing more than a bluff but he knew the minister wouldn’t risk it. The prison was where he ended up in. Odogwu was merely the spark, angry Nigerian youths were the flames that set his whole life ablaze.
The syndicate considered him a force to be reckoned with after he’d put three of their members behind bars. Gradually, he earned the trust of the masses even after the Inner Circle paid off some public figures to discredit him and his team, tagging them as criminals and outlaws, not heroes.
One by one Odogwu was taking them down. Whoever received a black postcard in their email or at their house or office would know that they were next on his list. Corrupt politicians, syndicate or not, became afraid to leave their money in the bank after he’d dealt with senator Sani.
The man had embezzled millions of Naira from the national purse and covered his tracks perfectly. When Odogwu was ready to cross his name off the list, he instructed his hacker, a seventeen-year-old girl known to the masses only as Fly Girl to access the senator’s account after he’d cloned the man’s ATM card in a five-star hotel while he was distracted by Efosa’s company by a pool.
The moment he signaled her that he was done, she just vanished after senator Sani took his eyes off her for a moment to say hello to a friend.
After Fly Girl had bypassed the security of his card and gained access to his account, Odogwu asked her to transfer all the money that he’d stolen to random bank accounts. The money remaining in his account when she was done was only his salary for that month.
Five hundred Nigerians received alerts that evening and each person got a token of twenty thousand Naira. Fly Girl had created an algorithm that could access a person’s bank account through their BVN and weigh amongst many accounts which ones were poorer. That way she didn’t end up enriching the rich, those who received the twenty thousand Naira were those whom her algorithm had calculated to have needed it the most.
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Senator Sani had a heart attack when his bank called to notify him of what was happening. Odogwu had forwarded him a video of how his money was being transferred to different accounts. He was rushed to the hospital, and he was stabilized in preparation for his detainment.
Now, Iroko was Odogwu’s fifth target. He’d learned from senator Sani and had ordered his bank to transport all of his money in three different vans; two would be empty and only one would contain the money. The three vans left the bank at the same time and parted ways afterward, each going in a different direction. This was to confuse Odogwu on which van was carrying the money but Fly Girl outsmarted him. She hacked into the street CCTV where the three vans had parted ways and highlighted them on a programme she’d created.
It measured all three vans and ran an analysis of the mass and weight of their tyres. Ideally, a loaded van should weigh more than an empty one. One of them weighed more and its tyres were lesser as a result of the pressure on it. Odogwu and his team hijacked the van, packaged the money, and distributed it to traders in an open market.
How the mighty Iroko fell. He used to think he was invincible, above the law but now a street orphan had reduced him to nothing and released incriminating evidence that had sent him to prison for life.
Odogwu laughed lightly. “Not so tough now, are you?”
“You think this is a game- ?” Iroko raged.
“- Oh, it is. And you’ve lost,” he smirked. “Agu adi eri agu. Lion no dey chop Lion. Iwatago?”
“My people will find you.”
“Not if I find them first. And you know what happens to people I find. You’re an example.”
“Who do you think you are, Odogwu, some kind of modern-day Robin Hood,…you want to continue the legacy of Lawrence Anini- need I remind you of how he ended up?”
“You and every other member of the inner circle will pay for all your atrocities.”
“You’re a bigger fool than I thought if you think you and your band of merry friends can bring down the syndicate.”
“I know you still communicate with them.” Odogwu leaned closer and said softly, “Tell the Black Mamba I’m coming for him. He’s next on my list. You will all spend the rest of your miserable lives behind bars knowing that I, Odogwu, put you there.”
He walked away and added while still in motion, “All of your assets and shipments are gone by the way!”
“Curse you, Odogwu!” Iroko yelled angrily, “curse you!”
Odogwu flung his cigarette away and marched on without turning back.”I’m already cursed.” He whispered to himself.
In as much as he was exposing the bad guys, Odogwu was still a wanted criminal because he’d taken the laws into his own hands. This had spiked the controversy, Who is Odogwu, a Hero or a Criminal?
Story By Samuel Francis
