By Uche Akunebu
“The great seducers do not offer the mild pleasures that society condones . They touch a person’s unconscious, those repressed desires that cry out for liberation. Do not imagine that women are tender creatures that some people would like them to be .Like men ,they are deeply attracted to the forbidden ,the dangerous, even the slightly evil” – Robert Greene, author of the “Art of Seduction ”
Robert Greene the author of “49 laws of power and the “Art of Seduction ” is a man of letters with an extraordinary mind that provides illuminating insights to inscrutable topics, and he seems to have laid a foundation as to understanding the bizarre news that came out of Equatorial Guinea concerning a certain Don Juan (Womanizer ) by the name Baltazar Engonga ,a great seducer who’s fascination for eating the “forbidden fruit” leaves prudish minds in a state of melancholy and co -travellers in the flesh industry famished and asking for more explicit clips ,after watching series of his bedroom debauchery that occupies the Internet space like the Roman Collossus.
Baltazar Engonga , who headed the equivalent of Nigerian Economic and financial crime commission (EFCC) in his Country, Guinea and who like Ceasars wife ought to be above board and walk on the road of rectitude ,regrettably was not only running roughshod with public funds ,to which he was being investigated for ,but turned his office into red light district bereft of red flags . While Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was credited to have made conquest of Europe in his time ,Balthazar Nganga, the beast of the bed made conquest of 400 women as revealed by the 400 recorded tapes discovered in his house.
In the list of the 54 year old debonair given to debauchery are wives of twenty ministers , wife of the police chief ,sister to the president ,his best friend wife ,his brothers wife ,that was heavy with pregnancy, and singles ready to mingle. Baltazar blessed with good looks ,but ugly in not respecting moral boundaries, as other people’s wives became his favourite as he craved to satisfy his sexual urge .
His penchant to poach other people’s wives from the guide provided by Robert Greene is rooted in the fact that great seducers sail on every river whether sacred or not.
A peep into history shows that Baltazar may not have walked alone in the hall of sexual infamy ,as before him was a gallant lover,Sergei Saltykov who fell in love with with the Grand Duchess Catherine, the future Empress of Russia . Story had it that Catherine’s every move was watched over by her husband, Peter,who suspected her of trying to cheat on him and appointed servants to keep an eye on her. She was isolated and was helpless ,until Saltykov ,a handsome young army officer showed up.
In 1752,Saltykov a great seducer had to befriend Peter the husband of Catherine and also the the servants watching over Catherine. In this way he had opportunity of seeing Catherine alone,including diverting her horse during Royal hunts and riding off into the forest with her where she was brainwashed by Saltykov .To be caught courting Catherine was like walking into the gallows without a blindfold ,but Saltykov the great seducer never had butterflies in the stomach ,as regards that,as he went on with his amorous advances towards Catherine.
After many trysts ,Saltykov succeeded in putting Catherine in the family way ,as he was said to be the father of Catherine’s son Paul who later became the Emperor of Russia. When Peter finally got rid of him sending him off to Sweden ,news of his gallantry in matters of the heart than in the battlefield travelled ahead of him and women swooned to be his next conquest, the way it happened in the case of Balthazar the beast of the bed from Guinea.
Another historical example of great seducers inclined to wild pleasures can be found in Italy. In the early 1880s a young journalist Gabrielle D Anunzio showed up in the Roman scene. A short man that was so ugly in appearance that noble men of Rome allowed him to mingle with their wives and daughters, as they considered him unworthy of any woman’s love or attention;meaning that their wives or daughters would be safe with him,but that was the other way,as Gabrielle turned out to be the ladies man ,as he was the king of romantic flattery .He ended up sleeping with the wives and daughters of the noble men of Rome ,who spoke highly of Anunzio ,and saw him as an Adonis than an ugly man ,as he was beautiful in the bedroom.
The Christian holy Bible also provides us with the story of sex without boundaries as encapsuled in 2 Samuel verse 11 . It was the story of how King David in looking through the roof of his Palace lost his sense of reasoning on sighting Betsheba the wife of Uriah taking her bath. On inquiring about Betsheba from one of his guard ,he was told that she was the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah. Being the wife of Uriah was not a red flag for him ,as she desire her to quench the fire in his loose loins . Not only did King David slept with Betsheba, he got her pregnant and sent the husband to the fiercest battle field to die in order to possess Betsheba for his wild pleasures.
Back to Balthazar, he was living his wild dreams of satisfying his sexual urge no matter whose ox is gored in the society. He couldn’t be restrained by societal norms ,as he has his life to live. This mindset ,which is the mindset of great seducers, led him to the marital territory of his brother, where the pregnant wife was his object of fascination. It takes two to tango ,and it could be said that the brothers wife belong to the category of women who go for the “forbidden fruits” and found in Balthazar not a bad guy but a co-traveller in the business of wild fantasies.
We were told that Balthazar set sail on a ship of shame with wives of serving twenty ministers . He did not coerce anyone of them ,as they all consented to his entering their hallowed chambers ,and recording proceedings. Such was the stuff made of women given to wild orgies and who considered the normal bedroom business between husband and wife as being infinitesimal;and as such ought to be outsourced to those with extreme ideas of the adult game.
Balthazar was not only the darling of wives of powerful people in Guinea, as he equally experimented with singles who sang in the same hymn book with him . He was the Prince charming of females looking for flings ,as he appeared to have the keys to orgarsims, which made the opposite sex to swirl around him like bees to honey.
With his instrument of procreation, he is said to have fathered so many children in Equatorial Guinea as it stands ,as his sexual escapades were without protection of any kind . The thing about great seducers are they are wild when it comes to business of the bedroom, and this particular individual was just a beast of the bed who was interested in the body fluids in the act .
Some people may ask why will a married woman who is expected to operate in a coded manner when the demand of the flesh comes so heavy opt for a camera recording the act? Is such a woman oblivious of the fact that such a recording can be used for blackmail in future ? The simple answer is that when the wild sexual cravings come ,women given to eating the “forbidden fruit” allow their senses to go on sabbatical:and that was the case with all the women that accepted the video recording of bedroom debauchery that took place in Balthazar apartments.
A foremost African dramatist ,professor Ola Rotimi had a book titled “The gods are not to blame” but if am to write a book on Balthazar Engonga ,a fitting title could be “Balthazar is to be blame ” . Yes, Balthazar the beast of the bed should be blamed for what they say in law “criminal covetousness ” as the women he took to his slaughter slabs ,where people’s wives ,and he was aware of their marital statuses . He had no conjugal rights over such women ,when their husbands were still on this terrestrial plane .
Balthazar is to be blamed for causing family tremors, as the husbands of the affected wives must have lost confidencees in their spouses and may be seeking for divorces for the shame brought upon their families as a result of the unbridled libido of Balthazar and their loose wives .
Balthazar, is to be blamed for becoming a bad example to his children ,who also are likely to suffer scorn in schools for what their father did to women . He may not have thought about this ,which is typical of all great seducers without moral thinking cap.
Could there be other Balthazars not just in Equatorial Guinea but in our society? Yes there are other Silent Balthazars lurking around in the Ivory towers, faith -based organisations , banks , government agencies, etc,who overlook the red flags and run amok with their sexual fantasies
Infact ,in the ivory tower, where the writer is familiar with ,lewd lecturers see female students as booties . For a female student to pass her exam ,she has to first pass the bedroom text set by the amorous lecturers. Marital status is of no consequence to these sexual predators ,as their wild fantasies must be met at all cost.
A glimpse of the gory picture of sexual misconduct could be gleaned in the Punch Newspaper of Augusst 17,2023 with the bold headline: “UNICAL suspends law faculty Dean over sexual harassment allegations”
The paper reported thus : “A viral video in social media had shown the students of the law faculty storming the office of the Vice-chancellor, Prof Florence Obi ,bearing the placards with inscriptions such as “Ndifon must go for our sanity ” ,”We are tired of buying law law journals ” ,we are tired of lecturers not attending classes ” and law girls are not your bonaza ;Prof Ndifon should stop grabbing us and others ”
While it is an established fact that there are other Balthazars in our society, this writer recommends that the one in the eye of the storm ,Balthazar Nganga of Equatorial Guinea should be made to explain himself before his country’s court what led him into coveting other peoples wives and indulging in bedroom debauchery that runs short of civilised behaviour.
The husbands of the wives of of those who embarked on a voyage of voyeurism with Balthazar Nganga should equally rev up their romantic lives and bedroom strategy, if they are not resorting to divorce,after the Shame brought upon by their wayward wives
Families that have suffered emotional trauma and shame as a result of a man of 54 still sowing his wild oats should seek counselling from professional psychologists to get out of the shock and live a normal life .
As the Guinean with an unofficial Guiness book of record trends across the world, his likes are implored to go and study the displined life of Joseph who ran faster than Usain Bolt,when pontifah the wife of Pharaoh of Egypt wanted him worship in her “holy temple ” ( lay with her).
Dr Uche Akunebu is the Head of Poets Del Mundo (Poets of the world) Nigerian chapter and Editor of African book series of the international human rights arts Festival based in New York.