Chapter02

Lying hidden a long time ago, somewhere between the northern and western parts of Africa, was a vast piece of fertile savannah land, rich in mineral resources. Bordered by the natural barriers of a wide fast-flowing river to the north and thick forest to the south, this piece of land lay undiscoveredand uninhabited for thousands of years due to the inability of Africans at that time to across the fast-flowing river and to survive the harsh conditions that existed in the thick forest.

To the south of this hidden piece of land was a kingdom that was in danger of extinction due to & excessive famine which had plagued the kingdom now for years. Sensing that their tribe, the Kukulu tribe, might face extinction, the leaders of the tribe consulted with the oracle over which direction the tribe should migrate in search of a new settlement. The oracle pointed northwards, beyond the thick forest. Because the leaders believed staunchly in the sayings of the oracle, they gathered their people together and migrated northwards.

The search for the new settlement lasted for years. Along the way, some of them settled amongst peoples of the different tribes they came across. The others who were adventurous and courageous continued into the thick African forest. Unprepared for the adverse conditions they encountered, more than half of them succumbed to the perils of the forest while the rest, hopeful, forged ahead. It was in this way that the remaining members of the tribe miraculously discovered this piece of uninhabited land.

The land was so vast that the tribe could only settle in one corner of it. Soon, because conditions were very favourable, they multiplied rapidly and built another kingdom more powerful than the former one.

It was very close to a century before another accidental discovery of the piece of land was made. Within a period of seventy years, two other tribes the Osade and Kasa tribes, driven by threats of extinction by natural disasters, forest successfully crossed the thick different directions and were lured by the richness of the piece of land to settle. By that time, Kukulu Kingdom had become very powerful, the kingdom had been in existence for about one hundred and twenty years.

The two tribes did not encounter problems in settling down and progressing, as the land provided them with everything they could ever hope for. The tribes multiplied rapidly and soon, built the Osade and Kasa Kingdoms.

The Kukulu tribe watched the Osade and the Kasa tribes settle on the land that had once been solely inhabited by them for years. However, since the land was large enough to accommodate the three tribes, and since they only occasionally came in contact with the two, they minded their business and lived in harmony with them.

However, as the years went by, the Kukulu tribe had a king called Batoure who was both adventurous and aggressive in nature. He laid claim to the whole piece of land as belonging to his kingdom, since it was his tribe that first settled on it. He threatened war, knowing full well that both the Osade and Kasa Kingdoms put together would be overrun by his warriors. He demanded that royalties be paid in the form of food every three months to Kukulu Kingdom, otherwise, his warriors would exterminate the two tribes.

The two tribes, realising that they were completely out-numbered by the Kukulu warriors who were better trained and armed, had no choice but to give in to the demands of Batoure.

So they started paying royalties as demanded of them. This arrangement notwithstanding, the Osade and the Kasa tribes prospered as the landon which they settled was a land of honey.

The Amada tribe to which Ewuare belonged, had lived for centuries in harmony with other tribes in the western part of the African continent. Disenchanted by a new system of choosing tribal heads that was introduced which did not favour the tribe, the Amada tribe under very courageous leadership, broke away and migrated over a few years in seárch of a new home.

The tribe had migrated through the thick West African forest which had by that time, been partly charted by the Kukulu tribe. Eventually, the tribe stumbled on the already inhabited piece of land which they considered most ideal for them to settle on. A quarter of the migrating tribe, had perished in the search for this new abode.

The tribe came upon the larnd from the northern side, very close to the river, and had therefore escaped early notice. The tribe in turn did not realise initially that other tribes lived on the land south of them. The Kukulu, Osade and Kasa tribes concentrated southwards because the northern part tended to be colder at certain periods of the year.

The Amada tribe was the most skilful of the four tribes that inhabited the land then. The tribe was highly skilled in the art of fishing, farming and trading. Still with the feeling of togetherness that had got them through all the hazards they had faced in search of a new home, members of the tribe worked very hard and within a few weeks, had built a small village with enough dweling huts to accommodate all of them.

Farming had been their mainstay, so they set out immediately to cultivate the land which was much more fertile than the land on which they used to live. Soon, they harvested the first set of crops they planted. The land being flat and open with a lot of green grass, they found it easier to rear their animals which provided them with meat and milk. They also fished, and stored their fish by salting and drying them on the rocks.

They had inhabited the land for only three months when, unannounced, the warriors of Kukulu Kingdom who had somehow discovered their presence on the land arrived one day, heavily armed and ready for battle. They took the Amada tribe by surprise, for, thc tribe did not realise the presence of other tribes so closc to them, They had been too preoccupied with settling down to explore their surroundings.

Rather than confront the fierce looking Kukulu warriors, their leader had made peace, having realised that they stood no chance against the enemy. The Kukulu warriors left only after the Amada tribe agreed to pay royalty for their Occupation of the land as the two other tribes did,The Amada tribe being highly skilful and  enterprising, soon became the envy of the other three, tribes. The tribe established trade links with other kingdoms and traded by barter such products as yam, grains, cattle, salt, and fish.

The tribe rapidly multiplicd and prospered and within some years, had built the powerful Amada Kingdom. By then, the leader of the tribe who led the tribe through the thick African forest and who settled members of the tribe on the land they now occupied, had passed away and the Kingdom was ruled by kings, all descendants of the long dead leader.

For a couple of centuries, the kings continued  with the good work of their forefathers and took the kingdom to great heights. By that time, the kingdom had become a trading giant. It traded with other kingdoms beyond the thick forest which had once isolated them from the rest of the world.

The people of the kingdom lived very happy and fulfilled lives and could not have asked for anything more from their gods.

Somehow and unfortunately for the kingdomand its people, a spate of bad leadership dramatically put an end to their happy and fulfilled lives and seriously threatened the continued growth of the kingdom. Rather than working hard toward the growth of Amada Kingdom and to maintain the egalitarian nature of the Amada society as others before them had done, this set of bad leaders chose to subjugate their subjects, They paraded themselves around on the streets as superior beings and enriched themselves at the expense of their subjects, stealing from the collective pool of their subjects from which royalties to the Kukulu Kingdom were paid, and even directly from their subjects.

Some of their subjects reacted, but were brutally silenced by the king's guards. And then, as a way of further entrenching their will on the people, draconian laws were enacted which partialy eroded the treedom ot the people within the kingdom. As time went on, the sense of commitment and togetherness which combined to elevate Amada Kingdom to such an enviable height gradually disappeared and life became that ot every man for himself. The activities of the kings indirectly brought about social degeneration and the Amada society which had for many years been blind to differences in status soon became class conscious.

Four classes of people finally emerged within the tribe. The dominant class was the royal class, and people of Amada Kingdom strongly believed this class was a chosen class which their gods decreed should lord it over them, despite the harm that class had done. This class included thekings and their relatives who did as they pleased.

The next most important class comprised the king's guards who, apart from guarding the king, his relatives and the palace, were also the warriors who represented the kingdom in wars and kept law and order within the kingdom. 

Recruited mainly from wrestling competitions organised by the king, these men were usually the best wrestlers around and were given special training after recruitment in the use of conventional fighting weapons. They were therefore highly skilled and specially trained for their role. This class saw itself responsible only to the king and therefore, chose not to show its human face to the common people of the kingdom. The guards were the executors of the king's dastardly acts and for that, they enjoyed special privileges which made them feel superior to the common people.

This class toyed with the welfare and happiness of the common people of the kingdom in a way which bordered on adventurism without a voice in opposition.

The wealthy class did not have special roles in the kingdom, except when members of the class were specially honoured by the king. Honorary chieftaincy titles were given to a select few from this class. The traditional chiefs together with Some of these wealthy chiefs, formed advisory councils which advised the king on civil matters.

Therefore, wealth brought some members of the wealthy class into close association with the royal family and the king's guards. This indirectly gave them immunity from oppression. This class together with the royal family and the king'sguards, formed the ruling class.

The common people of the kingdom constituted the fourth class. Completely subdued by the ruling class, this class could only watch as its freedom was completely taken away from it. It bore the brunt of the oppressive activities not only of their kings and their guards, but also that of Kukulu Kingdom which often requested for beautiful women and male slaves. Royalties paid to Kukulu Kingdom were collected from this class.

This class of people in Amada Kingdom who were clearly in the majority, accepted their plight as having been decreed by their gods. They carried the heavy yoke of oppression without much dissent.

King Batoure of Kukulu Kingdom had since Joined his ancestors, but other kings after him continued with what he started. They found the collection of royalties from other kingdoms a very convenient way of feeding their tribe while they devoted their energy to other things. Gradually, the Kukulu tribe completely lost appetite for work and became more and more dependent on the three kingdoms for food. As the years rolled by, the tribe began to demand for more from the kingdoms and soon, resorted to taking away their women and enslaving their men and children. The mutual co-existence which could pass for friendly gradually turned hostile.

The Kukulu tribe knew its dominant role on the savannah land and its survival, depended on the very large number of members of the tribe and its fighting capability which it had used to subdue the three kingdoms into paying royalties.

Therefore, although it lagged behind in other human endeavours, it kept its war machinery well oiled. It developed special warriors which kept them at-the-ready to face any opposition from any quarter, at any time.

Meanwhile, the King of Amada kingdom had no cause to oppose the increased demands of Kukulu Kingdom. it simply increased the contribution of the common people as the situation demanded. Life, therefore, became unbearable for the common people of Amada Kingdom. And, as fate would have it, every other succeeding king showed the same traits as the king before him. It seemed in an uncanny way, that the bad' blood in every king was passed on to his children one of whom would later become the ruling class in Amada.

king after the death of their father. It seemed to the people of the kingdom that the hardship Would never end. Generations had passed, but the story remained the same. Ewuare was born privileged, and like  all other privileged children, he was told the story of the tribe, but no mention was made of the hardship that the common people of the kingdom experienced in the hands ot the ruling class which, more often than not, included their fathers.

However, unlike most other privileged children who later in life perpetuated the oppressive acts, Ewuare rebuffed at a very early age the idea of turning his own fellow tribesmen into his personal servants. As he grew up, he became more independent and labelled in his mind the hardship the common people cxperienced as oppression. When, in later years, he found himself in a position to speak out in support o the Oppressed, his courage miraculously failed him.

This failure was a major cause of unhappiness for him and the shame of it would not allow him reveal it to anyone until close to his death.