SCENE ONE

ADEGOKE'S HOME

(Mrs Adegoke is doing laundries. Kunle storms in.)

MRS ADEGOKE

Kunle, why have you returned home at this time of the day, are you not supposed to be at work?

KUNLE

My boss sent me away.

MRS ADEGOKE

Why? What have you done this time around Kunle?

KUNLE

Nothing mother. He sent me away because of money.

MRS ADEGOKE

Ah! Owo ke?

KUNLE

Yes, apprenticeship tuition and he said I should not return unless I come along with the money.

MRS ADEGOKE

Ah! Abi ori Mukaila gbale ni. But he agreed that I pay him by month end.

KUNLE

Hope the month end he agreed to is not April’s because April ended four days ago mother.

MRS ADEGOKE

No o

KUNLE

Yes mother.

MRS ADEGOKE

I said no, it’s impossible.

KUNLE

It is mother.

MRS ADEGOKE
(counts her fingers) Eh! It’s true o. Aye mi o. But my son, I don’t have that money now and neither do I
have any expectations, at least not anytime soon.

KUNLE

So you mean your mouth is dry?

MRS ADEGOKE

Yes o my son, like the sands of the desert. (Recalls) Wait wait. Hold on, I’m coming.

(She enters the room. Comes back with a few one thousand naira bills and give them to Kunle).

MRS ADEGOKE

Take these. I found them in your uncle’s coffers. Now run along, tell your boss that I will pay him the rest
in a fortnight.

(Kunle leaves).

SCENE TWO

STREET

A group of hooligans led by Igara jumps Kunle, beat him to a pulp, leave him for dead and make away
with the money his mother gave him.

Alonge strolls along the road. Sees Kunle's subconscious body. Carries him.

SCENE THREE

ALONGE'S BASE

(Alonge carries Kunle in, lays him down and tend to his wounds. Kunle snaps back to life.)

KUNLE

My money.

ALONGE

Money? What is he talking about?

KUNLE

(Rises to race out) They took my money. I want my money back.

ALONGE

(Pulls him back and sit him down) Relax boy. (Gives him water) Now tell me, what happened to you?
KUNLE

The hoodlums, three of them. They attacked me on my way to work, they beat me and collected.. oh the
money, I have to get it back.

ALONGE

I'm afraid you can’t.

KUNLE

I have to, please help me. My future depends it.

ALONGE

Your future? How much is it?

KUNLE

Four thousand naira.

ALONGE

Four thousand naira? Your future depends on a meagre four thousand naira?

KUNLE

Yes. It is the part payment of the apprenticeship fee my mother gave me to pay to my boss, failure to pay
will bring an end to my vulcanizing career.

ALONGE

Is that all?

KUNLE

Yes.

ALONGE

Well you are right, a man must hump with every last drop of blood and sweat in his body to secure a
splendorous future but why should a young man as brisk and able-bodied like you have to exert so much
for a far away future yet unknown when he can begin to enjoy all the great things the world has to offer
instantaneously without shedding a drop of sweat much less blood.

KUNLE

If I understand you perfectly, you are saying I don’t have to become a professional vulcanizer to thrive in
life

ALONGE

(Laughs hysterically) Professional vulcanizer? You don’t have to be a professional of anything.

KUNLE
Ah! How then will I become successful if I don’t have any profession. Like my mother used to say, the only
way to avoid poverty is by working very hard. Look, all these you are saying is beginning to sound too
good to be true.

ALONGE

You doubt me only because you do not know that which I speak of.

KUNLE

Then tell me, please.

(Alonge walks up to Kunle and whisper in his ear. Kunle is filled with awe and excitement.)

KUNLE

That’s all? To just thread the path that my mates are taking.

ALONGE

Yes and everything you’ve ever wished for, be it money, power and all the beautiful girls in the entirety of
Ganmo will be yours for the taking and then no one will be able to look down on you henceforth.

KUNLE

Please I beg you, take me under your wing. I promise to do whatever you ask of me.

ALONGE

You don’t need to beg for what you already have. Come, let me make you a man.

SCENE FOUR

THUGS HIDEOUT

(Six thugs comes in, singing and gyrating. AlongeAlonge brings a blindfolded Kunle in. The thugs welcome
them with glee.)

ALONGE

Lekiki!

THUGS

(In unison) Ile! Ona! Oke! Ile!

ALONGE

Gura! Gura! Gura!

THUGS

(In unison) Gbigbe! Gbigba! Pelu gbogbo ohun to ba gba! Tiwa ni!
ALONGE

Today I bring before you an outsider who have been led into our midst not by force or trickery but the
willingness of his heart.

THUG 1

Do you confirm the leader’s claim as true?

KUNLE

Yes.

THUG 2

Do you swear to be loyal to your brothers?

KUNLE

Yes.

THUG 3

Do you swear to do everything the brotherhood requires of you at all times?

KUNLE

Yes.

THUG 4

Do you swear to dine and wine with your brothers during sunny days?

KUNLE

Yes.

THUG 4

When there is no trace of sun but thick dark clouds in the sky, do you swear to fight, die and mourn
alongside your brothers?

KUNLE

Yes.

THUG 5

Good, then I guess he is ready. Capo please proceed.

(Alonge draws a knife. He yanks Kunle’s hand and slice his palm. He place a bowl under his blood-
drenched hand so blood could drip into it.)

ALONGE

(Raises the bowl) Your blood has been mixed with the blood of your brothers. Now drink.
(Alonge gives the bowl to Kunle. The thugs gyrates as Kunle drinks from the bowl)

ALONGE

How does the blood of the brothers taste?

THUGS

(In unison) Like wealth, power, women and death!

ALONGE

(Collects the calabash from Kunle) Now you are no longer an ordinary wimpy boy, you are now a man.
Now rise.

(Kunle rises. Alonge removes his blindfold. He turns to see his new family.)

ALONGE

Lekiki!

THUGS

(In unison) Ile! Ona! Oke! Ile!

ALONGE

Gura! Gura! Gura!

THUGS

(In unison) Gbigbe! Gbigba! Pelu gbogbo ohun to ba gba! Tiwa ni!

(Celebration begins with weeds and liquor and ends with every one of them having a hangover.

SCENE FIVE

ADEGOKE'S HOME

(It’s almost 12:00 in the midnight. Dare lies on a cushion chair in the living room, deep asleep. Kunle,
Dare's nephew tiptoes in. He walks slowly past his brother and head for the bedroom.)

DARE

(Awakes) Where do you think you're going?

KUNLE

(Stops in his tracks) Uncle Dare, good evening. I thought you were..

DARE

(Cuts in sharply) Shut up! I said where do you think you are going.
KUNLE

Where does it look like I’m going? Inside now.

DARE

(Mimics Kunle) Where does it look like I’m going, inside now. So you are still sane enough to know that
when it gets dark, inside is where every cultured child should be.

(Kunle shrugs.)

DARE (cont'd)

Answer me while I speak to you!

KUNLE

Yes.

DARE

So why did you remain outside when night began to fall? Why didn’t you come home? Dare, the elders
says that the Jackal does not walk in the public sphere during the day and a respectable person does not
walk in the public sphere dead into the night.

KUNLE

(Mumbles) That is an obsolete proverb.

DARE

(Nears Kunle menacingly) What did you just say?

DARE

Nothing.

DARE

(Sniffs Kunle’s cloth) What smell is that? Weed.

KUNLE

Se Koriko?

DARE

Rara, Igi Araba ni. Kunle o ti n fa Igbo!

KUNLE

Ah! No, never.

DARE
You have the temerity to lie to my face. Are you telling me that I have lost my sense of smell or that I am
not in my right mind?

KUNLE

If you say so.

(Dare goes to pounce on Kunle. Mrs Adegoke emerges from the bedroom.)

MRS ADEGOKE

What in God's name is the noise all about? Why must you both display your uncouthly behavior in the
middle of the night.

DARE

It is your son again Iya Abayo, for the past few weeks he has fostered a habit of spending most of his days
away from home without any genuine reason and returning home at ungodly hours.

MRS ADEGOKE

Is that why you want to deprive the neighbors of peaceful sleep?

DARE

I am just trying to talk some sense into him.

MRS ADEGOKE

Aren’t you supposed to make sense of your own aimless life before you stuff a child with the sense of
which you claim to be the fountain? Or is the leading horse not supposed to be the precept of others
behind.

DARE

Aunty mi, you have no right to talk to me like that.

MRS ADEGOKE

I have the right to talk to you however it pleases me because I have been feeding and clothing you ever
since you graduated from the University with a grade which in itself is nothing to write home about. You
better get your act together else you’d be told the tale that rendered the squirrel deaf.

DARE

(Storms out) O wa lara yin.

MRS ADEGOKE

And you Kunle, the next time you come home this late I will make sure you have no home to come back
to. Now get out of my sight.

(Kunle enters the bedroom. Mrs Adegoke follows him in).

 SCENE SIX

IGARA'S BASE

(Igara and his men kick back with smoke over card games. KunleKunle enters quietly, as though he's come
to beg for alms. One of Igara's men get a glimpse of Kunle. Calls the attention of the rest to him.)

IGARA

No be that boy wey we do that time be that?

MAN 1

Boss na him o

IGARA

Wetin werey come dey do for here?

MAN 1

I no know o

MAN 2

How the bastard take find us sef?

MAN 3

Make I go reason am?

IGARA

Chill, make I reason werey myself.

Igara walks up to Kunle menacingly. He reaches out to grab his neck but with a speed of light Kunle grabs
his hand and twist his arm. He twirl the snapped arm behind him, swirl him around and kick him behind his
legs, sending him to his knees. Igara let out a deafening cry.

Igara's men springs up to attack Kunle.. They stop cold as….

ALONGE and a few of his men appears from all corners, brandishing all sort of deadly weapons and
moving on them menacingly. They circle them and put them to their knees.

KUNLE

Lekiki!

THUGS

(In unison) Ile! Ona! Oke! Ile!

KUNLE

Gura! Gura! Gura!

THUGS

(In unison) Gbigbe! Gbigba! Pelu gbogbo ohun to ba gba! Tiwa ni!

Kunle retrieves a dagger from his waistband and give Igara’s neck a quick clean slit. He pushes Igara’s
dying body to the ground and lead his cult's slogan to which they responded resoundingly, taking pleasure
in their hands down victory.

Kunle sprints out. His cult members follow suit.

SCENE SEVEN

PALM WINE JOINT

(Dare and a few other men chats and drink palm wine as they play Ayo. Adigun sprints in, breathing
heavily as he scream.)

ADIGUN

Here you are. The town, the town… The town is on fire.

DARE

Ah! Fire? What do you mean the town is on fire?

ADIGUN

Fire. Blood. Body. With my own two eyes I saw them. Dead bodies covered in blood.

ALL

Dead body!

DARE

Where did you see a dead body? Relax and speak properly.

ADIGUN

Dead bodies!! Not one, not two, not three, plenty dead bodies. I saw them with my two eyes while I was
on my way here.

DARE

Are you sure you saw dead bodies

WINE SELLER

And where exactly did you see them.

ADIGUN

Woo!! E ma fejo pami. Emi njapa ni temi o!

(Adigun sprints out through the way he came in. Leaves everyone amazed.)

(Adigun sprints back in.)

ADIGUN

They are coming! They are coming!

(Everybody scatters in all directions and exit through different exits.)

SCENE EIGHT

KING'S PALACE

(Kabiyesi paces, he looks as though his mind is in utter disarray .Otun rushes into the palace. Olukosi and
Iyalode follows him in. They greet him.)

KABIYESI

Honorable elders of the town, welcome. Hope you all got here unscathed?

OTUN

Barely Kabiyesi, barely with God’s help.

OLUKOSI

Kabiyesi, Only Iyalode can attest to how many corners we had to cross to get here in one piece.

IYALODE

Yes Kabiyesi, the town is only a stone's throw from becoming a slaughterhouse.

KABIYESI

My honorable chiefs, dreadful news about the town over which I am King swarm my ears every passing
second. My eyes have seen more horror and atrocity in a fortnight than it has since my mother brought
me into this world. My chiefs, I beseech your counsel, do not watch while the town our forefathers have
entrusted to us is razed to ashes under our noses.

OLUKOSI

Kabiyesi, we share your agony and we are ready to do whatever it takes to stop those cold-blooded
animals from destroying our town any further.

OTUN

Yes Kabiyesi, I suggest we propose an ample offer to the police for better protection.

IYALODE

Lailai! Olopa ke, lelekelo?! Look Kabiyesi, originally isn’t it the police's constitutional duty to protect the
lives and properties of the people in whatever location they are assigned? The police have failed to serve
their primary purpose many times over in spite of us paying them handsomely for added protection, what
have we gotten in return?

MOA

Excuses, excuses and more excuses.

OLUKOSI

You are right, Iyalode. Last year before those mere serial pickpockets and burglars became cold-blooded
animals, I caught a lowlife breaking into the home of a neighbor of mine and I called the police instantly,
they arrived at the scene one hour after the thief had made away with valuables in the house.

IYALODE

They complain about basically everything.. The officer in charge go break o

OLUKOSI

Our van dey mechanic workshop o

IYALODE

Abi fuel no dey inside our van o. All sort of rubbish and nonsense.

OTUN

So what exactly do you suggest we do?

IYALODE

Army!! Yes the army. Kabiyesi, were la fi n wo were. Let us call the army, I am sure that once they see
khaki and AK-47 they will run back to where they came from and those who refuse to do so will be killed
on the streets like the animals that they are.

OTUN & OLUKOSI

Haa!

IYALODE

Beeni.

KABIYESI

Iyalode, truly the army have more than it takes to ret rid of this menace in one fell swoop but the army’s
presence in town at this delicate moment will create more fear in the heart of the people and besides,
because the army take command from the federal government, getting the commander-in-chief to
mobilize some men will cost us too many hassle.

OTUN

And even if we get the government to send them here, after two days of kicking up dust with their big
boots, they will be gone and then those dangerous rats will crawl out of whatever hole they scamper into.
I think the army is not the solution to our problem since because we need a fast, efficient and lasting
solution.

OLUKOSI

Ehnehn. Kabiyesi, Otun is right. Nibo lo foruko si tele to n je Jembete. Now you speak some sense.

OTUN

Ha! Emi! Emi go! Lenu e Osi.

OLUKOSI

Rara o, un o lo go o, ohun ti mo wi ni wipe e gbe die.

(They wrangle incessantly to everyone's amazement until Iyalode separates them)

IYALODE

Ah Aha! Ki lo se eyin mejeeji! Loju Kabiyesi! Ka ti e wa so wipe Osi Kere ko gbon, eyin Otun te tun wa je
agbalagba nko? Eyin na wa n se langbalangba.

(Olukosi and Otun faces Iyalode. Tries to pounce on her. Kabiyesi stops them all.)

KABIYESI

Oto. Ki lo n se gbogbo yin! A ni ki a je ekuru ko tan, e tun wa n gbon owo e sawo. Se e o ni ironu rara ni?. A
wi tan a ni Ilu n daru. Awon omo yin na lo ndaaru. Awon iwa palapala ti won de ri yin te n wu naa lo fa.

(They all bow to beg Kabiyesi. A loud sound is heard from outdoors. A song of victory and conquest.)

(Otun and Olukosi goes out to see what is going on.)

OUTSIDE THE PALACE

(A group of youths led by Dare, carrying all sort of weapons dances around their three hooded captives in
restraint.)

(Otun and Olukosi joins the dance and usher them into the palace. The youths greet the king.)

KABIYESI

Youths of Ganmo land. Seeing you in this mood of gaiety during this troubling time fills my heart with
immense happiness but tell me, what is the reason behind your smile.

DARE

May you live long Kabiyesi. We have captured the ringleaders of the confraternity groups that has been
spilling blood in our town for the past few weeks.
(Dare gestures that their captives be brought before Kabiyesi and they quickly are. He opens their faces to
Kabiyesi and the chiefs awe. Iyalode quickly recognizes Kunle amongst the three.)

IYALODE

Kunle! Ha! Dare, isn’t this Kunle, your nephew.

DARE

Unfortunately he is Iyalode.

IYALODE

But how manage. What is he doing here among these people.

DARE

He is one of them.

IYALODE

Ha! Rara o, the Kunle I know is a very meek and easy-going boy.

DARE

That was the Kunle you used to know, the Kunle we all used to know, this one is not my nephew, this is
not the child that was born and bred in my household. This is a cold-blooded animal.

IYALODE

Ah! Kunle how did you get mixed up with these people. Kilo sun e de be?

OTUN

Young man, answer the question.

(Kunle remain mute.)

KABIYESI

E fi le, Yi o pada soro to ba ya. But Oluwadamilare, how did you manage to capture them?

DARE

For the past few weeks Kabiyesi, my nephew has become very brash and increasingly mischievous. I saw
it but nobody else did, not even his mother. He comes home very late in the night and slips out at the
dead of the night like a wild cat. So last night I watched him ashe slipped out of the house and followed
him to their hideout where they were planning an early morning incursion of a rival group, so I called
them, (to his fellow youths) the valiant heroes of Ganmo land.

YOUTHS

Great!

DARE
And together, we round them up. We had no weapon or charm, only the strength of our body and soul
and the prayers of our mothers.

KABIYESI

You are heroes indeed. Here I am with the chiefs discussing how we are going put an end to our troubles
unknown to us that our valorous youths have already cured our sickness. This kingdom is forever
indebted to you all.

DARE

We only performed our filial duty Kabiyesi.

KABIYESI

E seun, e kare.

(Otun quicky go and have a word in Kabiyesi's ear. Olukosi and Iyalode join them. Kabiyesi nods in
agreement.)

OTUN

(Says a very short prayer for the youths) Truly you have captured these three and I must admit that we
are all surprised and equally amazed but I believe we can all agree that the work is not totally done. This
arrest is just a tip of an iceberg. There are many more of them out there looking to soil our unsullied town
with the blood of their fellow human and so far you are the only ones that have successfully captured
some of them.

OLUKOSI

Yes my valiant youths. You are our best bet at cleansing this town from hooliganism. So therefore Kabiyesi
have a proposition for you.

KABIYESI

Community Police. They will be in charge of keeping peace and sanity in every corner of the town. They
will have my complete support and the backing of the law enforcement. They will be equipped with
adequate arms and everything else they are going to need to effectively perform their duty.

DARE

We were born and raised here. We know every nooks and crannies of this town better than anyone. Here
is our source and there is no better honor than having the privilege to protect it from outsiders that have
come to corrupt our youths with heinous acts.

KABIYESI

Then it’s done. The necessary arrangements will be made in a few days and you will be empowered, so
ready your body and mind but before then, take these hooligans to the police station.

Kabiyesi rises and enter his chambers.

Light Fades.