Silenced: A Short Story

Nneka Madu sat on the floor with her legs folded, facing the prison gate. She had not spoken to anyone or responded to any query from the prison officials. She refused to speak to the female warden who brought food for her, even when the latter told her about the killing of the leader of the Alasamba Children Movement, Chikadibia Mbanefo, in a protest which was staged on her behalf. When the prison officials questioned her, she kept mute like a lamb sacrificed at the altar.

 But yes, she sacrificed herself for her people. She offered herself up so that the people of Umuaga and Alasamba would have eternal life.

The capital city of Alasamba, Umuaga, was thrown into a fierce protest ever since the government arrested the popular journalist, Nneka Madu, ultimately becoming a battleground between the people and the government.

The protest, which started peacefully, was organized by the students of Umuaga Comprehensive Grammar School. The aim of the protest was to speak against the government's arrest of the journalist, Nneka Madu, who wrote an article criticizing the government's high-handed decisions and policies. However, the protest took a tragic turn when the security operatives fired shots at the young protesters, injuring many children and killing the ringleader, Chikadibia Mbanefo.

Earlier that year, 1880, Chikadibia Mbanefo and his friend, Chetachi Udumaga, were arrested for organizing a protest against the government's high taxation on civil servants. Several children were also injured.

Ordinarily, the government would not have ordered the arrest of the journalist, Nneka Madu. She had many articles speaking against the ills and corruption in the government. And the government never cared about them. She could write as many as she wanted. She could spend her time researching and digging to find evidence of whatever nonsense she wrote. She could go on writing. She was as invisible as every other person in the streets of Umuaga.

However, in the article that prompted her arrest, Nneka Madu compared the leaders of Alasamba to the leaders of Sodom and Gomorrah, who encouraged unhealthy sexual practices among their people. In the article titled "Weighing Alasamba on the Sodom and Gomorrah Scale," she wrote:

"The problem lies with the government. In Sodom and Gomorrah, the leaders encouraged their subjects to exploit the visitors in Lot's house. So also are the leaders of Alasamba: deceitful and manipulative. They keep taking and taking from the people without giving. They pack the wealth of the people for their generations yet to be born. Like Lot's wife, they deserve to be turned into a pillar of salt. They deserve death."

This article enraged the Prime Minister of Alasamba, Tango Kunu, who ordered the arrest of Nneka Madu on charges of inciting public unrest.

And on a warm morning, while she was preparing for work, Nneka Madu heard a man banging on her door. She was feeling dizzy and nauseated that morning. As she managed to reach for the door, some men dressed in Alasamba security uniforms broke into her house. 

That was when she knew that she was done for. She had long expected this moment. She had always been critical of the government's harsh policies. Her articles had drawn the attention of the world to the cruel life of the average Alasamban.

In Alasamba, the penalty for anyone who spoke against the government was death by hanging. So, she had always expected it. She had always felt a hand whisking her away from her purpose, from the people she loved. She had always dreaded the day when she would be denied her right to freedom of speech. She dreamt of the day when she would be silenced for speaking the truth. She hated it, but she knew it would happen. She felt it in her innermost soul.

And that morning, she was taken from her abode to the dungeon called prison. She was taken away from the people of Umuaga to the abyss, where she would be silenced forever.-

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This story is based on the character of a journalist in my novel, Shattered Dreams.

Shattered Dreams,a speculative fiction,tells the story of a timid but highly intelligent boy, Chikadibia, who is destined to liberate the people of Umuaga from an age old tyranny. It is set in an imaginary country in West Africa during the 19th century.