Three days in hospital

When my eyes opened on Wednesday afternoon I looked up at the ceiling and saw bright lights everywhere, unlike the lights in my bedroom. I saw myself inside white bed sheets, which surprised me because the sheets on my bed are green.  I then looked up and saw the drip with a long tube connected […]

When my eyes opened on Wednesday afternoon I looked up at the ceiling and saw bright lights everywhere, unlike the lights in my bedroom. I saw myself inside white bed sheets, which surprised me because the sheets on my bed are green.  I then looked up and saw the drip with a long tube connected to my wrist. Soon a nurse came in and I asked her where I was. She said, “Alhaji, please don’t exert yourself. You are in the hospital. You were brought here on Monday afternoon.”
Later on they allowed my wives to come in. I could see worry and fright all over their faces. They obviously thought I was going to die. Then my top campaign aides arrived in my hospital room. Alhaji Gohe came in, followed by Maikahon Karo and Tsinin Kusa. Anbuga Anbarka came in, followed by my local government coordinators including Mai Karanshap. They greeted me and said they thanked Allah that I survived. After I gathered some strength I asked them what happened. They said we were collating election results in my living room on Monday and as soon as our agent brought the result from Mun Tsira Local Government I fainted.
I struggled to sit up in the hospital bed and said, “Maikaho, what was the election result? Who won?” Maikaho pretended to be coughing and he left the room. Before I could ask Tsinin Kusa, he also left the room. I then turned to my wives and said, “Who won the election? Has the result been declared?” All three of them said, “Alhaji, don’t mind the election result. The doctor said you need rest. Just lie down and rest. They are still compiling it.” I asked which day of the week it is and they said today is Wednesday. I said, “Today is Wednesday and they are still compiling the result? How many days will it take them to declare the full result? This state is small, only 14 local governments. How about other states, have they declared full results?”
Nobody gave me any satisfactory answer. That was how they kept dribbling me until the next day when I woke up in the morning, felt strong enough to stand up and I walked into the corridor of the hospital ward. The television was on and there I saw the picture of Barmu Dakatsalle filling the screen. The TV announcer was saying, “The Governor-elect of Tafki State Alhaji Barmu Dakatsalle has been receiving congratulatory messages from all over the state. Yesterday a delegation of traditional rulers led by the Emir of Tafki Alhaji Ali Toron Giwa III visited him in his house…” Suddenly it dawned on me. I lost the election and even ended up in hospital. That was why everybody was dodging my questions and telling me that they are still compiling the results.
My younger brother Bilal was the first to arrive around 8am with a hot water flask, plates and some food dishes. He was happy to see me sitting up on the bed and he said, “Ah! Alhaji, we are grateful to God that you are feeling better…” But I cut him short and said, “Give me the final result sheet.” He tried to tell me that the result was still being compiled but I told him that I heard the television refer to Barmu Dakatsalle as Governor-elect so I want to see the result sheet. Bilal relented and said “Uncle Maikaho is holding the result sheet which our state collation agent brought.”
Maikaho arrived an hour later and when he saw that I was much better, he agreed to give me the result sheet. It was titled Independent National Electoral Commission, Form EC-4A, Result Sheet, Governorship Election, Tafki State. I lay back on my hospital bed to study it. It started with a declaration by the returning officer Professor Bello Akukuturu, Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Birnin Tafki. He said, “I am the returning officer [blah blah] that the election was contested [blah blah].” I skipped that part and went straight to the accompanying sheet of paper that summarised the results.
The candidate of Get and Spend League [GSL] Barmu Dakatsalle got 432,211 votes. My hands were trembling as I looked further down the sheet of paper to see what I got and what Goshin Bauna got. I sighed when I saw that I came second with 198,009 votes. Goshin Bauna who is the candidate of the ruling Everyone Should Eat Party [ESEP] got only 122,345 votes. So all my effort for over two years, all the money I spent, all the energy involved going round the whole state and holding endless meetings, has come to naught.
I looked at the result sheet again. GSL’s candidate won the election even though he is a buffoon, half-illiterate, somebody that no one took seriously but just because of the guguwa of his party’s presidential candidate he defeated me in this election. And he is even a hypocrite and a betrayer. Did GSL leaders and my own SIP leaders not agree beforehand that we will support their candidate in the presidential election and they will support me in the governorship election? Only for them to turn round after they won the presidential election to betray me.
The doctor came in and said I was free to go home, so Maikaho helped to pack my bag and drove me home. All my top campaign aides soon arrived at the house to ask after my health. I told them I was okay. I asked them to forgive me for fainting when the election result began to come in and I saw that GSL betrayed us and were on their way to winning the election. My campaign aides were now saying all kinds of things, that policemen connived with GSL in Korama LGA, that the result sheet for Tsamiya LG was filled even before the election started, that the INEC officer in Kunkuwa LGA was a son-in-law of the GSL chairman, blah blah.
After they left I entered my house to meet with my wives. My senior wife Goggo Babba and my second wife Goggon Makka were very upset with my defeat and their eyes were red from crying but I noticed that my third wife Goggon Abuja was rather cheerful. So I called her aside and said, “Are you happy that I lost the election when your seniors are crying?” Then she told me why she was not upset. She said, “The two of them went and shared the first lady and left me out. They agreed that Goggo Babba will be the first lady in Birnin Tafki while Goggon Makka will relocate to Abuja and she will be the first lady when you go to Abuja and abroad. That is why I am happy that we all lost.”