Governor Huud Clashes with Party Chairman, who is dating his Wife

08 Nov Governor Huud Clashes with Party Chairman, who is dating his Wife

Timo Tiko and Rika Huud watched the conference from the comfort of Tiko’s palatial Bammakk City home where he had arranged for a closed-circuit TV to bring the spectacle directly to his bedroom. They missed certain speeches because they were otherwise occupied. Rika and her insatiability kept Tiko busy. But they caught Maka’s address, Camp’s capitulation and Huud’s remarks.

During the long lunch break, Rika had exercised Tiko to his limits, and he begged her to let him watch the afternoon session from his home office. She reluctantly agreed.  Tiko had the TV feed moved so it showed up on the large flat screen near his desk.

In truth, Rika was an unusual problem for Tiko. Until he met her, he had always controlled the women he bedded.

Before becoming the powerful party chair, Tiko had been a successful businessman with a healthy appetite for women. On a number of occasions, including his years in secondary school, where he had faltered academically, his conquests had caused him trouble. His most memorable however, caused him no trouble at all and brought him considerable wealth. Tiko had gotten away with murder in more ways than one.

Madam Riss Noy, a woman twice Tiko’s age and at least twice his weight, had fallen for the sweet-talking 25-year-old budding businessman during one of their transactions, and she did not hide it. Tiko’s bold and immediate response had earned him a large room in Noy’s heart and a pipeline into her hefty bank accounts.

Despite the gulf between their ages, Noy was set on marrying Tiko. Tiko did not want to go that far, but he kept promising a blissful future in order to retain the childless widow’s love. The pressure on Tiko to marry, however, increased with Noy’s love for him. Soon Tiko was given an ultimatum. He must either marry the obese millionairess, who was old enough to be his mother, or be booted out of the love-nest.

He had detested both possibilities, so he played the good boy for another six months until he was ready to strike.

Tiko decided to let a tragic accident get him out from under this unpleasant situation. He would release a deadly snake into the woman’s bedroom. Lethal snake bites happened all the time in Nigeria.

After several weeks of searching, he finally found the right snake, a middle-aged cobra that he brought home and let loose in Noy’s bedroom while she was having a bath.

Some minutes later, he heard the bedroom door open and Noy scream, “Snake!”

Tiko’s heart sank. Noy must have spotted the deadly reptile before it had a chance to strike. Not only had his plan failed, he was now required to play the hero, rushing in and rescuing her from the slithering beast. He would never be rid of this woman.

But when Tiko entered the room, Noy lay naked on the floor, her eyes wide open and clearly not breathing. Unknown to him, she had a bad heart as well as a snake phobia, and the combination killed her.

When Tiko saw her on the floor, he couldn’t believe his good fortune. Now, he didn’t even have to explain how a snake made its way into her room. He carefully put the reptile back into the wooden box in which he’d kept it in since buying it, and carried the box into his bedroom. He returned to Noy’s room minutes later with a big leather bag, and made straight for the wardrobe where he had placed the two-million naira he had withdrawn for her from the bank the day before. All the money was there, intact.

Tiko dumped the unsuspecting snake into a nearby river then called the paramedics, feigning shock and remorse over his lover’s demise.

He was now a wealthy man, and became most adept at getting his hands on his many women’s money.

Tiko made sure he controlled all the ladies who came his way, and, if they were prevented by circumstances from becoming his bed mates, he managed to use them in other matters, increasing either his power or the size of his fortune at their expense.

But Rika was different. For one thing, she was much smarter than the other women and was onto his moves. For another, she demanded sex and wouldn’t take no for an answer. She often threatened violence if he demurred, and he believed she was capable of inflicting real damage if she put her mind to it.

In fact, she was the only person Tiko ever met of whom he was afraid. She had less scruples, more ambition, and much more greed than Tiko did.

But Rika was useful. She had convinced her husband to run for governor and she allowed Tiko to control everything, so by the time the election was over and Huud in office, Tiko held the reigns of power.

Tiko knew this was anathema to Rika, who felt she deserved some of the power she had helped him acquire. But Nigeria was still a paternalistic society and nobody would pay attention to Rika if she asserted herself publicly. It meant that she needed Tiko, the face of power in the party, to further her agenda, and because Tiko knew this, he could keep her under control, to an extent.

But, he thought, it was like trying to control the cobra he had used to kill his lover. If you didn’t watch it every second, it could bite you.

So, Tiko and Rika had this push-me-pull-you relationship, where each vied for influence over the other. Their sex life was a perfect metaphor, sometimes Rika on top, getting her way, and sometimes Tiko taking the upper hand. The one thing he had learned was that Rika could be controlled with sex. Give her a lot of it, and she’d do his bidding.

But if she was unhappy with his performances or the frequency, she could be a terror. She was fond of throwing glass objects, the more costly the better. To ensure he always satisfied her, Tiko had gotten addicted to Viagra.

Tiko thought about all this as he gazed at Rika, her statuesque beauty on display. They sat sharing a drink at the end of the day in his large home office, equipped with telephones and faxes and other means of keeping in touch with the official party headquarters downtown.

From Tiko’s point of view, the day had gone well. “Camp performed. Your husband must have scared him into putting on a good public face.”

“Gorem scare anyone? Don’t make me laugh. Camp isn’t in line. He’s only pretending.” Rika said and moved across the room to where he sat in a comfortable stuffed chair. She settled in his lap and ran her hands inside his shirt. Tiko looked up at her knowing she was about to demand sex.

“You are right about that, my dear. He is posing for your husband. Camp may have done his job today, but it is tomorrow we must worry about.”

Rika leaned close to his face and ran her tongue over his lips.

“Rika, your husband is on his way.”

“But he’s not here yet.”

Tiko knew he couldn’t deny her, so he slid his hand down her leg and lifted the hem of her dress. He worked his fingers between her legs and she leaned back and sighed. “Tiko, my love …”

Tiko glanced at her. She wasn’t in the moment, and this meant she wanted something. She climaxed quickly. He could feel her spasms through his own flowing gown and he had to admit, this always stirred him. She got off his lap and straightened her dress.

“Now, your turn.” She smiled at him and placed a hand on his leg. Tiko knew something was definitely on her mind and it did not make him happy.

Once they were finished she sat back on his lap and kissed his head. “Tiko, you must do me this favour.”

Here it was, the pound of flesh. Rika was good at setting a mood, creating moments of intimacy and sexual intimacy, putting him off his guard and then springing a request on him. Even when he knew what she was up to, he always felt caught off guard. She was like that, a seductive needy woman who made him feel good.

Tiko had five wives, but the most adored wife, Millie, was just the opposite. She was completely conventional, sex in bed after dark when the children were asleep. No other places. No other times. But Rika, she was as unpredictable as the weather.

“What is it, Rika? How can I make you happy?”

“I want you to tell my quisling husband that the time has come for him to make First Lady an official post, with an office, a budget and other things. I also need new cars for the office.”

Tiko tried not to sigh audibly. Rika had been after him since the beginning to effect this, but Huud had resisted and Tiko had other more important matters on his mind. But the woman would not give up.

“Your husband is worried how it might look with money so tight. I understand the problem.”

Rika got up off his lap, glaring. “How it looks? I’m the one who convinced him to run when he was rejecting your overtures. You owe me and I will have this office!”

This wasn’t the first time they’d had this fight. But this time, Rika was prepared to fight for his support.

“If you don’t do this for me, I will have no reason to help with the campaign against global warming. In fact, I might well begin making speeches about the need for more water for our people.”

Tiko looked at her alarmed. “You’re not serious.”

Rika moved closer, but the usual sexual tension was missing. This was warfare, and she was at her most dangerous. “My husband being governor does me no good if I’m merely his wife. I didn’t work to get him into office so he could have all the benefits. A wife who goes public against her husband’s policies would create many problems. It might even uncover wrongdoing.”

Tiko wondered if she was bluffing. She had no evidence of any wrongdoing. As stupid as Huud could be, he knew he wasn’t foolish enough to let his wife in on the illegal skimming, or even to hint to her that it was happening.

On the other hand, the accusation alone could open up a Pandora’s box, which could in time bring them down. Tiko nodded.

“Of course, Rika. You’ve waited long enough and deserve a reward for your part in helping put our party into power. I will speak to your husband.”

“Today, Tiko. When he arrives you will tell him.”

She was truly mad, and Tiko didn’t doubt she was capable of anything.

Tiko had to decide quickly how to handle her demand. The best way was to tame Huud when he arrived, and then when he was simpering in the corner, dictate the terms of the new First Lady’s office.

Huud wasn’t a strong man when challenged.  He could out-manoeuvre weak or unsuspecting opponents, but when faced with an all-out offensive, Huud invariably folded. No real backbone. And Tiko had always been able to get Huud to do anything he wanted. After all, Huud had tried to stop the graft when he first became aware of it. But now he was as deeply into it as the rest of them. And that meant he could be controlled.

Huud understood his vulnerability. He wasn’t dumb. He was realistic and practical and would always make the choice of self-preservation. Tiko fully understood the Huuds of this world, even the Rikas. They wanted to survive, above all, and that is how Tiko controlled them. He knew that most people convinced themselves that self-preservation justified anything.  It was people like Camp who were worrisome, a man who felt doing the right thing was more important than staying alive.

 

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As Huud drove to Tiko’s house, he swelled with pride over the way the day had gone. His biggest fear was that Camp would somehow cause trouble, or make vague statements to the press, which might raise questions. But Camp had acted just as he had been ordered and the conference achieved its goal.

Huud and his political cohorts would have the rest of the fiscal year to address the water issue. The pressure was off. Now there would be endless committees, meetings and position papers. Sometime in the distant future they would send their findings to the UN, and that august body would spend months, if not years, trying to decide what to do.

By that time, Huud would be out of office and living in London with millions in a bank in the Bahamas. Huud tried to find solace in all this, but he felt vaguely ill. This happened whenever he thought of how things were before he got into politics. Before he met Rika and was duped into her circle of ambition and greed.

When he became the head the Nigerian Air Authority, it was a poorly run and parasitical company that could not break even and found it extremely difficult to maintain the existing international airports. Heavily dependent on government subsidies, the NAA was plagued with massive frauds and accused of the harassment of foreign nationals.  More frightening, perhaps, were the poor landing facilities at NAA airports.

Huud had reversed the trend by his third year. His strategy was simple. He made sure that everybody, from his next-in-command to the cleaners, worked for their pay. During Huud’s first year, the workers who were used to indifference complained about his demands, and Huud responded by firing them.

In the second year, even though he did not make a profit, he did not have to use any government subsidies to pay the salaries of his staff. He used them to replace obsolete equipment and to begin construction of new airports.

By the end of his fourth year, Huud had succeeded in restoring the confidence of foreign airlines in the NAA and garnering respect for himself at home and overseas.

This feat, accomplished in a country where corruption and lethargy ruled, earned Huud the attention of the moneybags of the People’s Party. Huud had brilliant credentials, but he was not sure that the successful transformation of a parasitical agency was proof he could run a state.

Huud remembered how, at their first meeting before the elections, he had first rejected businessman Tiko’s offer to make him candidate for a governorship position.

But Tiko had done an end-run around Huud and gone straight to Rika. Huud knew this had been the case, but at first he did not know about the affair, which he would find out about much later. By that time, he had agreed to run, at Rika’s insistence, won the election and found himself beholden to Tiko.  Rika was more or less out of his control.

Huud leaned back against the seat in the rear of the limo, which now approached Tiko’s vast estate with its beautiful gardens. At least, Huud thought, he could expect Tiko to be full of praise for the way the convention had gone.

 

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When Huud was shown into Tiko’s office, Rika was sitting off to the side on one of the plush couches. She looked at her husband without smiling. Tiko, ensconced behind his massive desk, nodded and gestured to a chair opposite his desk.

“Please have a seat, governor.”

Huud looked at them puzzled. He couldn’t believe they weren’t pleased.  His life depressed him, worried from moment to moment about how he was perceived by these two people.  They should have been patting him on the back, shaking his hand, offering him a well-earned drink. Instead, he felt like a schoolboy who’d been summoned to the principal’s office.

Huud looked from one to the other. He had hoped at least to find a few days of respite from the grind of uncertainty and secrecy that hovered over him like an ever-present cloud.

“Did you see the conference? Doctor Camp made a very strong statement supporting our assertions. He’s going to help push this through to the UN.”

Finally, Tiko rose from behind his desk and moved around so he was standing near Huud. “Things only appeared to go well.”

This threw Huud, who looked over at Rika, but she gave him no indication as to what Tiko was talking about. “I don’t understand. Didn’t you see the speech? It will be on every TV station and in every newspaper!”

Tiko moved closer to Huud, a move meant to intimidate. “Don’t be naïve, governor. Camp said all the right things, but he is planning to turn on us. And I think he’s talking to Peter Abel of The Zodiac.”

Huud felt as if he were in Wonderland. “When I brought that up you told me Abel was vacationing in London. Now you think he’s in league with Camp?”

“My wife spoke with Abel just yesterday, and he admitted he was after all of us. If he is.  If he’s gotten a lead, which took him to London, then he got it from somewhere high up.  My guess is Doctor Camp.”

“You have no proof. And his trip to London might be a fishing expedition.” Huud knew his response was weak even as he said it.  He heard Rika make a disgusted grunt and felt himself shrivel.

“You have not handled Camp. He has handled you.”

Now Huud stood up, hoping to regain some advantage in the discussion. “Just a minute. I did precisely what we discussed. And he went along as I asked him to. He tried to talk me out of having him speak, but I insisted.”

“That should have been your first sign he was up to something. Politicians love to speak. He should have jumped at the chance.”

“He’s a scientist not a politician.”

“And now you defend him. Listen to yourself, governor. You like this man. You want to believe he’s no threat. That’s what worries me here.”

“I still have people spying for me, and they have strict orders to keep tabs on Camp, his wife and anyone who might cause us trouble. I resent the implication that I’m somehow being careless or fooled.”

“This isn’t up for discussion. From here on, I’m running our operation. You will make the speeches we tell you to, you will appear at ceremonial events, but you will make no official decisions, you will do nothing without my say-so. You have proven yourself completely incapable of watching out for this man.”

“That’s bullshit!” Huud went up to Tiko, standing toe-to-toe with him. “It was my people who first warned you of Abel’s interest in bringing down my administration.”

Tiko turned on his heel and walked back behind his desk. He looked at Huud with utter contempt. “This is how I want it, this is how it will be. I am running things completely. There’s too much at stake. If you try to fight this, you’ll lose. Don’t forget I control the State House of Assembly and not even the EFCC can penetrate them.”

Huud knew all the legislators were Tiko’s boys and they could impeach him in a minute. He looked over to Rika, one leg crossed over her knee, her foot rocking back and forth, watching. She seemed almost amused by her husband’s castration.

“Don’t worry, Gorem, nobody outside this room will know of this. You will still be the public face of everything we do.”

Huud noticed the use of his first name. He wasn’t even “governor” anymore. “Is there anything else? Perhaps I can fetch the party committee water at their next meeting.”

Tiko replied with a chilly smile. “There is one other matter. I think it’s time we created that official First Lady post we discussed.”

Huud glanced at Rika and realized this is what she had been waiting so patiently to hear. It had been on the agenda the whole time and was only revealed when he was powerless to refuse. “Fine. I’ll announce it’s an official position.”

“It’s more involved than that, Gorem. She will need a budget and an office, which we will submit to you for your signing.”

“I’ll have to check. Space is limited…”

Rika finally spoke. “What about the one storey office building opposite yours? Am I not more important than the Adult Literacy Agency? I must have my own staff.”

Huud stared at her, disbelieving. “ALA?  And where are they supposed to go? That is my pet agency.”

“They move out, of course? They don’t have to be that close to you for the world to know they are important. I could spare them some space on the ground floor if you want.” Rika said this as though she were the most magnanimous human being alive.

“That’s unacceptable.”

“No, that’s a good idea,” Tiko said. “I’ve seen the space and it’s fine for a secretary. He only answers phones and does correspondence, Gorem.”

“And what the hell is Rika going to be doing in her space?”

“Whatever I see fit.” Rika stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at him. “And I’ll be needing a limo.”

Huud looked at Tiko, hoping he might counter this but he merely nodded his approval.

“Why don’t you just anoint her governor?”

Tiko shrugged as if he had considered this. “The people would never follow a woman.”

Huud turned on his heel and left the office.