With blood gushing from his head, he later saw the light of the day after months of being in captive, the street in which he found himself was strange to him, the people look frayed and haggard, Father Sixtus is in the street of Somali after being taken into captive by the much dreaded terrorist- Al qa'eda in Islamic Magrib (AQIM) from his cathedral in Mombasa, Kenya. Father sixtus is an octogenarian clergyman who is forthright and prominent critic of the group, they raided his cathedral at the wee hours of a sultry Sunday, 24 June, 2002. Seminarians and reveren sisters were among the 24 people killed during the raid. The whereabouts of Father Sixtus was unknown as the forensic unit couldn't identify him among the dead nor casualties, macabre blanketed the whole of the communities, it was until a video clip released by the leader of the group, Abu al Islam, that the location of Father, as he was fondly called was known. Father Sixtus passed through different phases of torture to give up his faith- from waterboarding to solitary confinement, his escapades is still untold in any media because of the controversies sorrounding it, on the day of his escape, he was bludgeoned with rods and booth kicks to the mouth and the head but like the saying goes in a bag of spoilt groundnut there must be a relatively good one, a servant known a Omar masterminded his escape. Father Sixtus was cunningly moved to the back of a rickety, brown, Ford truck. He was maneuvered by Omar to the rear of the truck where clothes of the terrorists is been moved to a laundry that is mile away from there base. Father Sixtus climbed down from the truck with utmost dexterity- that's a hunger for freedom. When he climbed down from the moving truck unknowingly to him he fell on the foot of a NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) soldier, almost lifeless and gasping for speed as if he went on a cross country race. Onlookers scampered at the sight of him with his much bloodstained cassock but the soldiers was quick to garner courage in rescuing him and as well engaging the terrorist on shootouts. Father Sixtus was flown home to Kenya receiving one of the best welcoming celebration in the history of Kenya, he dined with president Kenyatta and wined with survivors of the horrendous attack in his cathedral. In 2005, Father Sixtus became one of the peace envoy in East Africa established by the UN.
In memory to those who lost their lives in different attacks by Al Shabab and AQIM.

Written by: Ejioffor, Ikechukwu
Alias Lionet
University of Nigeria, Nsukka