Within the Walls of Hell

by Taniform Martin Wanki

  Messenger: Mills supposedly killed three people and had to face the death penalty. You and your likes, who killed thousands remained free or in cases where you were toppled, you were sent on exile with huge material and financial benefits. Even your ministers who were accused of committing atrocities got promoted instead. That was the culture of impunity you promoted and it helped to push millions into the alms of poverty. Your men in uniform took advantage of it and committed all sorts of atrocities like summary executions, armed robbery, rape and extortions from those they were supposed to protect. When there were outcries against the impunity, you created commissions of enquiry. Those commissions rarely handed in any reports. Even when they were handed in, they remained in drawers. The commissions of enquiry were just there with their long cutlasses to cut long stories short. Those that were killed or were victims of extortion were people that did not matter or were those in the opposition. Their woes benefited you and you will still call it justice if I ask you. But that kind of justice where the net catches only the small fishes and let the big ones go through remains down there. Here, the story is different. Now, tell me something… did the killing of Mills bring your three men back to life?

  Carlos: Not at all. I had to have him killed so that he couldn’t be a threat to me and to others.

  Messenger: Was he really a threat in the true sense of the word? Yet he had to face the death penalty. If you ordered the death of thousands only to end up entering the grave yourself, where was the sense or benefit in killing in the first place?

  Carlos: The benefit was that those I killed did not disturb me anymore or anybody else.

  Messenger: There you are right…a dead man does not disturb anybody. What happened to Goodwill Johnson?

  Carlos: Ahh! That one too was a case. He was making a turn on the road with his car when my convoy was approaching. I was obliged to slow down because of that. I had so many enemies and they would have seized the opportunity where he was turning his car to kill me. I had to get out of my car and have him punished. He was supposed to bow as soon as he saw me. But he did not and that was crime number two. I asked my men to give him ten lashes of the cane after which I asked him to bow as the law specified. He still refused and told me that I was not his Master and he could only bow to his Master who was far greater than I was. He even added that his Master was omnipotent and omniscient and I was not qualified even to be His shoe cleaner. That was too insulting because I was the giver and taker of life and no one could possibly have been greater than me. I was head of everything like army, administration, judiciary, associations….in short everything. I spent billions making all sorts of portraits of myself which every home in my country was obliged to have one. My portrait was in every office whether private or public. No minister dared to say anything in public without mentioning my name. That way, my omnipotence was felt and my status of the giver and taker of life could not be challenged. I had to send him to go and meet the one he claimed was greater than me. What insubordination!

  Messenger: There were some three hundred people who ran away from a neighboring country into yours because they were being persecuted because of their minority status and religion. What happened to them?

  Carlos: My eastern powerful and rich neighbor communicated me that the three hundred people you are referring to were criminals. They were a minority group quite alright but they tried to fight for their rights the wrong way. They instigated violence which resulted in the death of hundreds. They got involved in unholy acts of suicide bombing and planting of explosives which killed many.

  Messenger: Did you try to find out if what your neighbor said was true or why they had to resort to such ‘unholy acts’ as you call it?

  Carlos: I did not need to know because I was not at the scene of the action. If my rich neighbor said that they were criminals, I had to accept it as the whole truth. After all, there were criminals everywhere. They were using the wrong methods to make their voices heard. Do you think I should have tried to know?

  Messenger: That is the first thing any normal person would do. They resorted to violence because their lands were invaded and seized, their women and girls were raped, and they were discriminated against in almost all spheres of society because of their minority status and their religion. When they petitioned the government, nothing was done. Instead, those of them who took the steps to petition the government were arrested and jailed without trial. That happened on several occasions and that was what opened the road to violence. When someone is pushed to the wall that is what happens….he fights back with all the methods and weapons at his disposal.

  Carlos: Fighting against a government using violence was the worse thing they could do. There is no government that would tolerate uprising of that form or any other form. My neighbor told me that those that ran to my country for protection were criminals and that if I had them sent back to face justice, I would benefit from investments and financial aid. That was a very generous offer and I would have been insane to turn it down. So, I sent them back to go and answer for their crimes in exchange for what my rich neighbor promised.

  Messenger: So, for investment and financial aid, you decided to sell people who ran to you because they were under the threat of being wiped out.

  Carlos: International relation is a game of interest. There are gains to be made and loses to be incurred. Either way, there is always a price to pay.

  Messenger: That was a very bad way of looking at things and sending them back was definitely the wrong thing to do. Your neighbor was reputed for extrajudicial killings and you knew that sending them back was sending them to their graves. How were you sure that those you sent back were part of the unholy acts you talked about? The reason you advanced for sending them back when faced with criticisms was that they entered your country illegally. Trading lives for money is the most disheartening thing any man can do. You considered them criminals simply because your neighbor called them so. The least thing you would have done would have been to give them the protection they came for and if you did not want to offer them the protection, you would have sent them to another country where the justice system was more human friendly. I will be back for us to continue this conversation. There is someone who is on his way here. See you soon.

  (Exit Messenger)

  Act 3 Sc 4

  Still in Carlos’ room

  Carlos: (Tries to rally the others against the messenger) Look boys, that guy is just bluffing. He can’t do anything to anybody here. I had my popular slogan when I was still in my beautiful palace and it was that ‘Unity is Strength’. I think if we unite, we will form a strong force. I think we can take that messenger guy down.

  Sandi: How can we take him down?

  Carlos: (In a very low tone) As soon as he walks back in here, the three of you can hold him down and I will land some serious punches and kicks on his head which would send him to the grave.

  (Sandi, William and stone burst out laughing) what is funny in what I’ve said? Have I said something stupid?

  Stone: (Still laughing) Oh no! Just go ahead and let’s hear your plan.

  Carlos: I’ve discovered that that guy is the one keeping us here. He is a wizard with very weak powers which we can overcome if we take him down. If we do that, we would be free to go and open that gate and regain our freedoms.

  William: Can I ask one question? (To Carlos) That guy as you call him is alone against millions of us in this land and you think he is the one keeping all of us in here against our will?

  Carlos: What do you mean by millions of us? I see only four of us here.

  William: We are just close to the gate but there are more people as one goes inland. The heat is even unbearable as one goes further inland from here. These rooms are like offices where queries are taken care of before you are asked to go inland.

  Stone: I have one question too bothering me. (To Carlos) If you say that guy is bluffing, weak an
d can’t do anything, why do you answer his questions then?

  Carlos: I answer his questions because I want you my boys to see that I did nothing wrong. (With a smile) What do you guys think of my plan?

  William: I think that idea is a very stupid one.

  Carlos: (Very furious and tries to attack William but is stopped by Stone) If my army chief was here, you would have been dead by now.

  William: (To Stone and Sandi) Do you guys see? (Pointing at Carlos) He is just trying to use us in getting out. (To Carlos) I’ve just asked you if one man can hold millions of others against their will and you haven’t provided an answer. Instead, what you want to know is what we think of your stupid plan. It seems you don’t want to come to terms with reality. Everybody who is here except that messenger has died once and will never die again. This second world is divided into two sections… the right section and the left section. Down there the preachers in houses of prayer made allusion to them and told us that anyone we chose to go to after death depended on the kind of life we lived down there. If you lived a life crowned with material wealth and you associated to it love for the creator and your fellow brothers especially the poor, generosity and selflessness in all you do, then you were going to find yourself in that (pointing) other part. But if you were blessed with material goods and you forgot about your creator, despised your fellow brothers because they were poor or different or for whatever reason, then this is where you will come. Yes indeed, all of us who are here did some terrible things down there… things that we were not supposed to do. Stop blaming that messenger. He is no wizard. Stop plotting to have him killed. It will never happen. He knows you are planning to do things and if you are not careful, he will step in here and tell you what you have been planning. Instead of wasting time thinking of something which shall never materialize, you should be thinking of how you would cope in here.

  Carlos: Please stop trying to give me lessons. If you knew all that, how come you find yourself here and not in that nice place over there?

  William: Well, I am here because I did things I was not suppose to do and I have admitted that. But you continue to deny yours even when all the evidences are in front of you. What is wrong with you?

  (Just then they see the messenger passing outside with the new comer following him) As I was saying, nothing can happen to you or anybody else here. You will feel hungry but there will be no food to eat but hunger will not kill you. You will feel thirsty but there will be no water to drink but thirst will not kill you. You will feel like sleeping but you can’t sleep because of the intense heat. You will try to kill yourself but death will not come. That is what you should be preparing your mind to face instead of plotting some stupid things which shall never materialize.

  Carlos: (Gripped by fear) are you saying that I shall never go back to my beautiful palace again?

  William: I’m afraid you shall never go back. Listen, it was destined for man to live and die once. You have died and are now across the border between this world and that one below your feet.

  (Re-enter Messenger with a long sword in the hand.)

  Messenger: (Hands it to Carlos) You have been planning to kill me or should I say take me down?

  Carlos: (Lets the sword fall from his hand and it disappears as soon as it touches the ground. Falls to the ground)

  Messenger: (To Carlos) All your life, most of the things you did were those you were not supposed to. You killed people for various reasons which you were not supposed to. If you can remember, I asked you a while ago if killing Mills for supposedly killing three of your men brought them back to life and you said no. That means that the killing of the three men was wrong and killing Mills because he supposedly killed the three men was equally wrong. “Two wrongs cannot make a right” that is a famous saying down there which is very true. Only my master has the right to take a life since he is the only one who gives it. By claiming to be the giver and taker of life, you equated yourself to my master which was a terrible offense. My master gave life to each and everyone to fulfill a purpose. By killing anyone, you put your agenda ahead of my master’s own and as a result leave my master’s mission unaccomplished.

  Carlos: (trembling) Are you saying that a man who killed another man was not supposed to face any punishment?

  Messenger: Punishment, yes but death penalty, no. When my came down there and was about to leave, He appointed a successor. He told that successor that what he would bind down there on earth would automatically be bind up in the skies. The strings of successors have always been against taking a life for whatever reason and that is binding here beyond. It was not your place to take a life or order the taking of one. Only my master has the right to do so.

  Carlos: What if the murderer escapes?

  Messenger: A murderer can run away from fellow man but not from my master. He has a way of taking care of them.

  Stone: What about imprisonment?

  Messenger: Imprisonment is an option if and only if it is not used to put away those you feel are opponents. It is an option if and only if it is not regarded as punishment. It is an option only if it is regarded as a reformation process in a reformation center. That is, if someone steals because he is hungry and is caught and taken to prison, he should be trained to do something or acquire a skill which will enable him to be self employed once he gets out of that prison. Arming him with that skill will prevent him from committing that crime which brought him to prison in the first place. When you take someone to prison and after a while that person regains his freedom, you need to take the prison out of him. So, arming him with a skill is another way of taking the prison out of the prisoner. In the same way, if a man kills another man out of anger, make him to realize that what he has done is wrong and while in prison, train him how to control that anger. That way the prison would not be a place of humiliation but a place where human dignity is restored. But what happens down there is so disheartening to my master. Once someone has been brandished a criminal, he is automatically stripped of all his human rights. He is subjected to all sorts of inhuman treatment which makes my master very sad. Once someone has been brandished a criminal, it does not mean that all is lost as Man sees it. That criminal is still important to my master. My master can still use what Man has rejected to accomplish his mission.

  William: Even murderers?

  Messenger: Even murderers. My master’s ways are not Man’s ways. (To Carlos) You killed people because they were your opponents, they did not fulfill your political convictions or refused to worship you. You forced many to lives their lives following your convictions forgetting those of my master. That was improper. That was not all; you refused to accept that there was someone greater than you were. Well, that person does exist and He is my master.

  Carlos: So Goodwill was right? And who is that your master?

  Messenger: He is the one who created everything you see from the birds in the sky down to the fishes in the sea. He created everything including you who wanted to take his place and refused to recognize his existence. When you heard that He was omnipotent and omniscient, you multiplied your portraits and forced them on your citizens and made yourself head of all the institutions to make them feel that you were all powerful as well as the giver and taker of life. Anybody who did not abide by your rules was fired or sent to the guillotine. That was not all, apart from killing, dismissing and threatening, you equally had thousands of your opponents injected with poisonous drugs which engendered memory losses and forced them into mental institutions. When there were criticisms from abroad, you talked of destabilization plans to push you out of office. You banned all public demonstrations because you saw only the hand of destabilization. When you over looted the state coffers and criticisms followed, you still talked of attempts to destabilize your government. To you, all that was a game of politics and now you can see that the outcome is different. Since you lived your life in the belief that my master does not exist and
have now realized that He does exist, it means you’ve lost everything. Here, you will have nothing.

  Carlos: (Desperate) is there no way your master or can I say our creator, have mercy on me?

  Messenger: I’m afraid it is not possible now. If you were still in that world below your feet, it would have been possible. But once across that bar, it is no longer possible. You got to power and instead of serving my master’s people, you were busy serving yourself. You allowed power to blind you to the realities which laid bare in front of your eyes. The plight of the masses did not bother you. You used their poverty as a means to make them worship you. That power, it was my master who gave it to you to serve His people but you used it to make them feel how important you were. You even claimed to be equal or greater than my master who created you.

  Carlos: (exasperated) please, please, please stop. Say no more. The words are piecing like a dagger through my chest. Why did our creator not stop me when I was doing all those terrible things?

  Messenger: I have heard that question before and it keeps coming up. Let me tell you a little story…. There was a man called Ogun Wise who lived in the Northern part of the most populated country in Africa. I am referring to Nigeria. He was an old man but at the same time very wise. He was a moving library and went around the village and neighboring villages answering all sorts of tough questions. That earned him the name ‘Mr. Wiseman’. The villagers admired him and were proud to associate themselves with him. Each time he made his appearance anywhere, there were shouts to announce his arrival and all attention was tilted towards him. Not everybody liked him though… there were some whom out of envy hated him and did all they could to discredit him. One of those was Alamo Suleiman and he was bent on disgracing Mr. Wiseman in public by asking a question which he would not be able answer. So, one day there was a gathering as usual and all those present had exhausted all their questions and just when there was a lot of noise centered on the wise-ness of the old man, Alamo surged forward with his left palm closed. “Mr. Wiseman,” he called out. “Here in my palm is a butterfly and I want you to tell me if it is still alive or dead. He had his intention in mind and it was that if Mr. Wiseman said that the butterfly was still alive, he would use his little finger to press hard on the head of the butterfly so that it would die. But if he said it was dead, he would just open his palm and it would fly off. Mr. Wiseman stood there speechless and the crowd became very quiet. Alamo asked his question again for a second time already with some airs of triumph. The old man took a deep breath and remained silent again for a while. The crowd was watching. Then he opened his mouth and said “Well, whether that butterfly lives or dies depends on you because it is in your hands.” That was not the answer Alamo was expecting and it kind of put him in a fix. He did not know whether to kill the butterfly or to open his palm so that it could fly off. He just stood there not knowing what to do. But all what I’ve narrated boils down to one thing…..choice. Alamo had the choice to either bury his envy and tap into the mountain of knowledge the old man carried around or to uphold his envy and find ways of disgracing the old man. In the same way, he had the choice to kill the butterfly or to let it fly off alive. You too had a choice and though your actions were terribly hurting to my master, He did not give up on you. He still did all He could to stop you.