In a fairly large village in the Northeast, a thief called Goga was pursued one night by some villagers. As he continued to run for his life, all the villagers abandoned the chase except one Ado and his brother, Musa, who continued to match the thief every step of the way into the bush away from the village. Ado was a young prince with abundant courage.
Musa put up a good run but being older, he had to give up, leaving Ado alone in the race against the thief. At the point of exhaustion near a stream, Musa advised Ado to let Goga go. Ado refused, saying, “Barni da shege; yau sai na kama shi (let us alone, I will get him)”. The chase continued beyond the stream until Musa lost sight of them.
When Goga noticed that Ado was markedly alone, he suddenly stopped and turned to Ado, asking why must Ado continue to chase him. Ado said he wanted to arrest him because he was a thief.
Goga did not reply Ado but unsheathed his sword and started to approach Ado. Yet, Ado, who was unarmed and physically no match for the huge thief, stuck to his guns, typical of a prince. The rest was a tragedy.
At Ado’s funeral the following morning, Musa shed tears copiously at the loss of his young brother. He narrated how he advised Ado to stop but Ado was too ideological to listen. He blamed fate for making Ado push his luck too far.
But the story did not end there. Goga the thief realised his mistake. Next time, he commanded a gang and returned to the village. The villagers eventually abandoned their property and the thieves looted as they wished. Such attacks became annual events that would take place after every harvest.
Musa never stopped mourning his brother. He believed he will avenge his blood some day. Then it occurred to him that the villagers need to organise themselves and give the thieves a good run for their money.
He explained before the chief that the only advantage that the thieves had was that of organization. The chief permitted him all he needed to organise the villagers. He mapped out the necessary strategies required to repel Goga, should he and his gang turn up again.
After the harvest period that year, on a market day, a rider from the village incidentally overheard two passenger members of Goga’s gang discussing in their language an attack they would stage that night. He quickly notified Musa after dropping them.
Musa did not waste time to prepare an ambush at the stream. As the gang was struggling to cross it, they were rained with bullets from atop the trees that lined the stream. None of them survived except Goga, who Musa discovered seriously wounded among the dead.
The memory of Ado rushed to Musa’s mind and blocked any thought of generosity to Goga. Musa placed his gun in Goga’s forehead and said, “Greetings to Ado”. Goga begged Musa to spare him. But Musa shook his head as he slowly pulled the trigger and, in a split of a second, quenched the thirst of revenge with a shatter.
The village gained peace forever. The looters are gone. Musa lived to inherit his father as the chief and led his people to justice and prosperity. But he never forgot his younger brother, Ado. The women in his domain would never cease to sing the dirges of Ado in their homes. So did the girls in the public square.
Now, who is your hero in this story: Musa or Ado?
Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
20 October, 2020
