By Dr Kinsomebody Egbuchu

It was midnight and I crawled atop of a double cushion foam, my only bed. Immediately, tiny raindrops spattered on the roof and cold air waffled into my only one room apartment. This apartment is my mansion, estate etc. And in it,every morning I wake up, I would heartily thank the Almighty God for the perfection of wholeness and for the wholeness of perfection, and also for who He is.

So, when I dozed off, it looked like images of world phantasmagoria floated into my consciousness. In the dream, I saw "Chains" surge their way towards me. And hidden hands dangled them menacingly from "Above."And behold the "Chains" were far off. Still in my consciousdream, I blinked and the "Chains" floated nearer. I shrouded and a loud bang sounded outside my door. Like a frightened stallion, I sprang up and something heaved itself against the door.

Defensively,I ducked under the cushion foam and the door crashed violently on top of the cushion. Dark "Shadows" rush into the room, and with them came a long heavy "Chains" that lashed on me as the "Shadows"barked: "Chains from your kinsmen".

Then,I came to recognise these "Chains". I realised that the "Chains"draw their power from the "Above". After this first dream experience, I also came to the recognition that these "Chains" are my Igbo kinsmen who came after me and called me "Idiotic" when I first declared my intention to grab Aso Rock. They worked tirelessly from the"Orders from Above", against my dream. When I protested, the "Shadows" (the oligarchy that install people in Aso Rock) boldly and quickly replied that the "Above" cannot operate and have their way without my kinsmen taking the lead. When I realized this, I went home to tidy up things.

Then came another good and sweet night. I folded myself into my double cushion foam and off I dozed. Again, images of official handover of the baton of leadership of Nigeria rounded me and I was about singing down heavens with those in the same ideology with me. And lo, "Chains" rushed me from all angles of my room.

This time, both "Shadows" and "Intruders" were on my throat. I yelled, but violently, they threw me outside and I landed violently into a waiting truck. In the dream, I looked up and it was the Iwuanyawus, Orji Uzors, Kema Chikwes, Nzeribes et al, after Ojo Maduekwes, Udenwas, Mbadinaujus and Nnamanis had flogged me heavily with the "Chains".

Those my Abuja-contractor kinsmen united and spat on me, and I struggled as if it were in "Idiotic" helplessness. When I yelled again for general help, there were none except the birds of the air that carried my cries to the outside world that watched my humiliation.

In all my presidential dreams, I was daily hounded by Igbo-phobism in collaboration with a shadowy deity called "MONEY", which some of my kinsmen worship more than the Creator. In these my nightmarish experiences, sometimes, these "Chains" will crowd around me and whack my face, trying to pluck off my eyeballs right there in my one room apartment. During that time, their thick fingers will poke into my wrapper, and their rough palms would try to tie iron chains on my mouth for me not to speak out my ambition. When I yelled, they would squash my "dirty" mouth, and I would groan inside.

On some occasions, pains and torture would send hot urine down my legs, and dimly I would hear rancous laughter from the "Shadows",the "Above" and the "Intruders"; and in shame, I would remain dumb with those in the same ideology with me.

Moreso, when their squeezing intensified, I would lose consciousness and the deadly agents against my dream would lose themselves in joy. And these deadly agents that are in operation are my kinsmen whom we choose to represent and protect our interest outside our homeland. We seek their welfare and they seek our warfare and farewell to death. These my kinsmen parade and discredit their own brethren everywhere they go.

So,when I returned to that unconscious (dream) world again, I found myself somewhere with buckets of excrements surrounding me, and a choking odour greeted my return.

Fearfully,before I could look around, heavy "Chains" had held me hostage. Then, the 'traitors’ agents (my kinsmen) disappeared into thin air,acting on the "orders from above ". These actions from my kinsmenc onfined me to lay waste for many decades, and with it, the memories of our (those in the same ideology with me) contributions to the Igbohood floated before me.

The actions of these Igbo traitors reminded me that they were even toddlers when men were men. I also remembered that these sects of people were cowards when we fought great battles for the growth of Igboland. In the yam barns of their parents, they hid while we marched in confrontation with foreign traitors of our land to a standstill.

Ignominiously,eminent contributors of our Igbohood have been lying waste and some dehumanised by the oppressors in collaboration with my kinsmen too young to be sons of those they humiliate. And to this writer, the most annoying part is that these my shameless kinsmen insultingly breathe into our faces, the meaningless cliché "Orders from Above" as if we have no equal right to be in the "Above" and dish out the same order.

Infact, these my kinsmen derive pleasure in terrorising their own because of a mere pittance for their immediate pleasure. And this is why IBB in 1992 said:"For Yorubas, we know their problems, for the Igbos, we know their price".

During those my presidential dreams, my kinsmen and their cohorts, would after their disgrace and torture, drag me up and shove me out violently. One after the other, they would spat on me and warn: "Remain quiet and be warned not to stop us from getting our daily bread" from above (Aso Rock).

But in spite of all the dehumanising treatment they gave me in my dream-presidential ambition, when I woke up, undaunted, I vowed that inside the grave will I retreat to fight against the subjugation and anihilation of the Igbo anytime, anywhere until that status quo is totally eradicated or the oppressors crushed.

Dr. Kinsomebody Egbuchu, a human rights activist is the Editor, New Republic Newspaper, National President, Jewish Restoration Congress(JERECO), Leader, Eastern Peoples Emancipation Congress (EPEC) and amember of many human rights groups.