Compound Investigation

Eko tire was a brigadier General in Biafra army during the civil war. He was a general in Nigerian army before the war. Having ended up on the losing side, he was among those laid aside by the Nigerian government after the war.

   Despite the ‘None victor, None vanquish’ declared by the Nigerian government after the war, 50 percent of the soldiers that was formerly in Nigerian military from Biafra side was sent packing without recognition or compensation. 

To recognize the efforts young men from that region contributed in the defense of their mother land, the leaders of the tribe made it compulsory that every government establishment that needed security department must first made former soldier their priority before any other. That was how Eko Tire became the chief security officer of Obioma secondary school Ubee.

He was from the neighbouring town of Awai, it usually take him about 20 minutes from his house on bicycle to the school following Apian way. The Apian way was a narrow part route in the forest full of grown tree on both side, no one is sure whether those that transverse that route weekly is up to 10 in number. It is used by those that has heart and wants to save time and money.

      He had been on that work for 11 years, first as an assistant security officer then, as the chief. He was in charge of 10 men security personnel. 

He was seen as unshakable by the students due to the tales following his exploits in war and his physique too. He must have been in his early fifties then but looked like someone his thirties. His characters seems to match the image he is portraying. strong man image.

    Their work there seems to be mainly to frighten the unruly students and make them fall in line. Their weapon consist of only machete, bow and arrow. Nothing like gun or any other serious weapon.

The school was located in rural area, and the students numbering about 800 of which about 20 percent lives in dormitory. Eko tire and his group work includes watching over the students and the school properties. 

No communication gadgets, no serious weapons and only five men in each shift watching over the school compound that will cover about eight football pitch.

    Since the inception of the school, there had never been any major security incident in the school. The security department had just been existing without ever doing any serious work outside putting some students in their proper place.

The school chemistry and physics laboratory was equipped with all manners of lab equipment and chemicals needed for experiments. 

The boarding house students usually attends mass at the village church every Sunday and it’s the duty of the senior boys to organise the junior one and security personnel following them to service. Initially, they weren’t monitored on Sundays until the teachers noticed that some of the students uses the privilege the Sundays offer to do other things after the service. Some will follow their day students friends to their houses and came back in the afternoon, some evening without. Permissions. 

      Now, the security man will march them to the church and back after service and to go anywhere, you need submit written permission to the security man, but you can still disappear at your own risk. 

The security men that did night shift would usually use the comfort the church seats affords to have a nice snooze while service is going on. Those moments affords the students opportunity to silently put their already prepared letters in the pocket of the snoring security man and left the church to the chagrin of the confused and embarrassed security man when the shuffling of legs leaving the church after service woke him from his slumber. Rushing outside to join the students that ignored him inside, and on enquiring of the missing ones would get the same reply his dozing colleagues always get.

“ Were you not the one that permitted them to go?” 

“permitted them to go?”

“ Yeah, of course”

“ I don’t remember doing that”

“ I don’t know, they said they gave you their letters”

“ Excuse letters?, I don’t receive any”

On searching himself, he would be surprised to see three excuse letters tucked neatly in there that his confusion widens. He would spent another 20 minutes wondering when he had that transaction with the three students that he would be forced to conclude that the students were right and him wrong.

      Rainy season is never a friendly season for the security personnels, not only that the school compound wasn’t tarred, some places were not grassed too and full of muds. The weather colder in the night and not all of them has umbrellas and rain coats.

The school gates don’t have locks and the fence didn’t cover the whole compounds. The security house is a bit far from the gate, classrooms and laboratory buildings. The five men on duty each shift were meant to cover the big compound especially in the night. In rainy seasons, it is a kind of punishment to them.

Last week, Eko tire was shaken to his core for the first time since the war. He was coming to work as usual, following the same apian route he had followed for years, he had covered about 70 percent of the journey when he saw a leg sticking out of the undergrowth beside the route. He rushed into the school looking white and shaken, he narrated to the principal what he saw on the shallow route, and was still lost in thought on how he will return home when the police came. After asking him questions for minutes, they went to see for themselves. The investigation was still going on when one rainy Monday morning, the physics master came to work and reported that about 30 percent of the laboratory equipments were missing. 

     No glass broken, doors intact, Eko tire decided that it is time to go on early retirement. He had seen enough in the army to know when to fade. This time was one of those times. When the officers left, he went to see the principal for a lengthy talk.