My encounter with Ateke Tom

Ateke Tom talking to the press at his Okochiri home

I am one of those Nigerians who want to live long and that is why I have always avoided war torn areas.

It is for this reason I have not visited my home, Odouha Ogbakiri (in at least fifteen years) where a senseless communal clash took the lives of at least than one fifth of the population.

This reason made me boycott certain parts of Port Harcourt which I believed were black spots, when you consider the killing fields Port Harcourt turned into between 2002 and 2007.

Of course I won’t be found dead in the Diobu area of Port Harcourt or anywhere near the old Port Harcourt Township called Town because of the fighting and blood spilled in those areas during the dark days of Port Harcourt.

Two other places I would not visit are Okrika and Kalabari kingdoms and I believe by now my reasons for that would be clear. I would not also go near Rumuekpe in Emohua.

Just to get things straight, when I visited Sudan in 2007 I turned down an offer to visit Dafur.

Yes, I am a journalist, a sports caster with Cool 95.9 FM in Port Harcourt and late last year I started receiving text messages with results of a Wakirike Peace and Unity cup hosted/ sponsored by Ateke Tom, the former militant leader who was once alleged to have wondered why people talk badly about him since like he says “I only killed about two thousand people.”

I got the results via text message and used them regularly on my sports show on radio until I received a call one day inviting me to Okochiri in Okrika, the home town of Ateke Tom since he was supposed to present prizes to the winners of the competition.

At first I did not want to go because of myself imposed exile on places like that, but after much cajoling and pleas I thought I should try it out.

Besides I wasn’t the only one making the trip and they were not going to kill all of us would they.

On the day of the trip, I told our contact that I was not going to drive from Port Harcourt into Okrika on my own lest armed men appear from out of the bushes and open fire on us.

Yes I agree I had watched too many American movies for my liking but it had to be safety first.

We drove into Okrika at about 10am with a colleague from work and one from the Africa Independent Television and there we met others from RSTV, Silverbird’s Rhythm 93.7 FM and many others.

As we drove into the town, I remember that I had not been to that part of Rivers State since the early 80s when my dad used to take us there to see his tailor who had been making suits for him since the 1950s when he schooled at the Okirika Grammar School, OGS.

Of course, I could not remember anything from my last visit to the town because it was at least 25 years ago.

We were led to the house of Ateke Tom and the first thing I noticed was that it was still under construction.

When I asked, I was told it was destroyed by the army and air force during the last bombardment of the place.

While we waited for the ceremony to start, we saw a group of young men who obviously were not footballers file into the premises (we were outside watching at that time since we had not been invited in).

These men looked rough, scary and deadly too.

Some had horrible scars on their faces and parts of their bodies; at least two of them had an arm cut off and word went round that they were his soldiers going in to settle a pressing matter.

They spent so much time with him and by the time we went in for the pre-ceremony briefing it was already getting to past noon.

Walking into his house, he just sat behind a table with two bottles of whisky (I think) and glass cups in front of him.

He looked like any normal man on the streets of Port Harcourt, dark glasses, bling bling and smile that would make any ignorant person doubt he had ever done what he did in Rivers State between 2002- 2009.

He asked us to sit and we all did then he watched us for about two minutes and asked if we would not drink with him and nobody moved and inch... naturally.

He took a cup, poured some whisky in it and drank some of it and then said in pidgin English, “Now I don drink wetin dey make una fear, make una join me nah” which simply means, “Now I have drank the thing that scares you, would you guys mind joining me?

Some now got bold enough, stepped forward and drank but I have never tasted whisky in my life so I didn’t move an inch.

After a short session answering questions, he joked with us on a lot of issues and I just sat back wondering, “Is this the bad guy or former bad guy of the Niger Delta region sitting behind a table in front of me, telling jokes and feeling like one of us?”

After that we moved inside the main Okirika village and attended a ceremony where he presented cash prizes to winners of the football, wrestling, dancing and draught competition.

I saw elders and chiefs pay obeisance to him and I wondered, “what alife”

Masquerade dancers. Watch what masquerade
is made of

At least he is trying very hard to launder his image by hosting peace competitions and retreats.

He said he was tired of living in uncertainty and had embraced peace and the amnesty.

He also chided Boko Haram for going to war up north and the series of bomb attacks saying “We wey don see problem sabi the value of peace so make them learn o” meaning, “We who have fought before now understand what it means to live in peace and I wish they learn from us.”

Eventually we left the town back to Port Harcourt and I could finally breathe. I sure did not feel at ease there.

Now I ask myself, will I visit Okirika anytime soon? I seriously doubt it but I am happy for the experience. Thank God I also went there in peace times and not in the heat of the Port Harcourt crisis.