‘Socrates, come in for Zero-Zero’.
I stirred in my sleep, stirred in my bed, and began to climb up from the deep depths of dreamland.
‘Socrates, Socrates, come in for Zero-Zero’.
This must be urgent. Any time Zero-Zero calls, it’s like that. The man would not stop until he heard my voice. Zero-Zero carries the bag of Alfa-Alfa. To get a call from Zero-Zero means that Alfa-Alfa needs your attention immediately. By the time the call came the third time, I was fully awake and ready to spring.
‘Socrates. Socrates. Socrates. Come in for Zero-Zero’.
Everyone with a walkie-talkie in hand knew what this call meant. Zero-Zero did not call for fun. His calls were few and far between and your response had to be express.
‘Zero-Zero, this is Socrates’, I said, speaking into the mouthpiece of my handset. I was still recovering from my wrestling bout with three speeches yesterday.
‘Location?’
Of course I’m in Yenagoa. Why do they always begin with that question? How far could I go when the next speech had to be written?
‘Socrates, your loc…’
‘Hotel’.
That was another thing I couldn’t understand. The call language couldn’t seem to tell the difference between a house and a hotel. It didn’t make sense to me that you were in your house, possibly beside your wife, and there you are confessing that you were in a hotel. But every insider knew that you were home when you said you were in a hotel.
‘Alfa-Alfa wants you india mike mike’.
Just as I thought. It had to be immediate and it had to be very important.
‘Roger’, I said to the handset. ‘On my way’.
Another speech to be written. No doubt about that. Alfa-Alfa only needed my attention when there was a speech to be written. He would hand me an exclusive document, or brief me about a forthcoming event. He would tell me what he wanted inside his speech, a few ideas that would make sense to the electorate, and then he would ask me to polish it the way I do.
His mood could not be predicted. It swayed like a random pendulum. This morning, his mood was expansive when I walked into his study. He was even generous enough to smile at me. I kept a straight face because that smile could switch, in the twinkle of an eye, into a big forbidden frown.
Even so, I couldn’t miss the anxiety in his voice. He was a retired Air Force officer, but his military habits had never left him. He was a stickler for time, and he wanted his speech well ahead of every event. That’s what I was paid to do.
‘Good morning, Your Excellency’.
‘Yes, Socrates. Good morning. How are you? How did you like my delivery yesterday?’
I paused, took a deep breath, trying to be sure about exactly what he meant.
‘You read three speeches yesterday’.
‘I mean all of them’.
‘They all came out well, Your Excellency’.
‘Especially the one for the lawyers’, he said with a hint of pride and satisfaction.
I made a mental note to take a second look at his address to lawyers. I wasn’t there all through his presentation at the occasion because I had to return to my office and resume work on the next speech.
‘Well, we have a big event coming up’, he said. ‘Governors from all the oil-producing states are coming to Yenagoa. Senators and members of the House of Representatives will also be in attendance. Give me a speech to remember, a speech that will speak the mind of the Bayelsa State government. Start a draft. Later in the evening, I want you and the Political Adviser to sit with me and brainstorm on the way forward’.
‘Alright, Your Excellency. I will start right away’.
‘Call me the Orderly on your way out’, he said, handing me a two-page document.
‘Thank you, Your Excellency’.
