DECEMBER 19TH 2009

Our conjugal merger was at its embryonic stage. I deemed it worthy - one day - to visit my new queen and to say hi to the foetus in her womb. Then she was a semi-finalist in the university.

I was told that a prominent sister would get inducted into the fold of the married the next Saturday. Like ours was graciously attended by ilks, we considered the occasion an avenue for reciprocity.

We set out in radiance and elegance. On me was my best attire - the white regalia I donned on our nikaah day. We joined friends and well wishers at the venue. An ambience of jolliness was created as pals to the celebrators. And as we were about taking the spoons to the mouths to fulfil gastronomic obligations, a call was received from the campus. It was about the secretary of the MSSN being battered by some cult assailants.

Since the nikaah was in town - not far from the school, seven of us swung into action. At the pace of the hottest horse, we boarded the next available vehicle to go rescue our brother from becoming a sudden history at such a tender age. On arrival, we met our brother relatively naked. His trousers had been torn into a rag. But kudos to a good Samaritan who had offered him another to cover up.

Our presence gave the brother the nerve, the verve and the panache to deal the leader of the gang some hard blows. We couldn't bear the damage they had done to our own. It was much. We had to give a helping hand to fall the powerless giant. His cohorts were begging rather than fight in support of their leader. They must have been intimidated by our roaring, apparently. So rescue mission actualised.

In less than 30 minutes of our return to the party venue, we got another distress call that a mosque had been invaded by those miscreants and the worshippers therein chased out amid threats to life. Immediately, we disseminated the information and everyone decided to return to campus before nightfall. We all left in our numbers. Our goal at that point was to ensure the safety of the ladies, some of whom were pregnant like my wife.

We were almost getting to the school gate when we got attacked by the blood-sucking vampires. They shelled us with bottles. But fearlessly, we faced them, even with no fighting tools. We couldn't afford to do the runaway game. If we did, they would clamp on us hard. And we owed the duty of protecting our women. So rather than run away, we ran after them, and they eventually ran for their dear lives.

We got to the gate. One of them appeared to us in settlement mood. Rather than roast him to severe beating, we told him to caution his runaway satans to allow peace on the campus. Had we known (with how things later panned out), we wouldn't have allowed the pretender to go untouched. We entered the school and advanced to the central mosque for Solaatul Asr. We could not but pray in batches like soldiers on the the war front.

Some security officers came around inquiring about the incident. Having told them our own side of the story, we were assured that those demons would no more attack us. They told us that they had engaged them, and that they had promised to leave us alone. Counting on that situation report, we decided to lead our women to their various hostels, after which we would sit down and strategize the next line of action. Some brothers were asked to stay at the front, the women in the middle, while others moved behind. It was all about protection of those fragile beings.

Little had we moved than we heard gunshots from invisible shooters. The cowards could not physically combat us. That would be suicide on their part. They hid somewhere and targeted their shots at some of us. Before I knew it, my left leg had received several bullets, and about nine of us gunned by the snipers, including a security officer who must have been touched by a stray bullet.

My white regalia turned red and I swam in my own pool of blood as I was carried like a baby by rescuers back to the mosque. After a while, a security van came around to pack all the injured to the general hospital.

What a day to remember - December 19th!

Author: Kay Yusuf