Kosara, a class one student at Government Junior Secondary School, Lugbe, was to go to school that Tuesday morning. However, her foster father – David Okoye – felt that his wife – Ifeyinwa – would need her help. He asked her to accompany Ifeyinwa -who had decided to seek spiritual help for their new born baby -to church.
The 36-year-old mother of four was so anxious to take her baby to Deliverance Prayer Ministry, Pyakasa, that she did not want anything to hinder her. She had been invited to the place by a friend who had told her that she would get solution to her baby’s ailment there.
She became impatient when Kosara couldn’t locate the padlock and key with which to lock their apartment door. She flagged down an ‘Okada’ and by the time Kosara came out, Ifeyinwa had gone with the baby, Mmesoma. Unable to trace her aunty, Kosara returned to the house.
When David came back from his farm in the afternoon, he was surprised to see Kosara and no trace of his wife. It was then he knew that his wife had gone to the church without Kosara. As the day wore on, he became anxious that the woman had not returned.
When he could no longer bear the waiting, he went to the church to look for her. He was told that the wife was not seen within the premises. Fear of the unknown gripped his heart as he left the church premises.
As he made it back to his house, he felt the rational thing was to head to Lugbe Divisional Police Headquarters. At the police station, he lodged the complaint that his wife and baby, Mmeso, born on December 15, 2012, at Primary Health Centre, Lugbe, were missing.
An Investigative Police Officer was assigned the case. After lodging his complaint, David was asked to return in 24 hours, if by then they hadn’t returned. This was at about 7pm on that fateful Tuesday.
David could hardly sleep that night. Anxiously, he waited for daybreak.
David could hardly do anything the next day. He spoke to anyone that he could. Before the 24-hours he was to return to the police station, he received a call from one of his pastors from the Deeper Life Bible Church.
The pastor asked the whereabouts of his wife and David lamented that she had been missing. It was then the pastor told him that he got a call from the police. The corpse of the woman had been found in a gutter near the FHA Gate Junction.
Apparently, when the police saw the corpse in the gutter, they saw the woman’s Bible and tucked inside the Bible was a paper on which was written the pastor’s phone number. They called the pastor who acknowledged that he knew the family.
Then, David and the pastor went to the police station and from there to the gutter where the body had been found. The tongue of the woman was sticking out. The body was beginning to decompose.
David could not ask too many questions but he asked the whereabouts of his baby. It was then that the police told him the most shocking story of his life.
According to him, the police told him that the baby had been brought to the police station the previous day by a woman the police claimed was a Good Samaritan and this was before he laid complaint at the same police station.
The Good Samaritan, the police told him, had seen the woman the previous day in a condition that suggested the baby’s life was in danger. She rescued the baby from the mother and brought the baby to the police station.
David lamented, “My wife was not drunk. She had no mental problem. It was for the baby that she was going to the deliverance ministry. Okay, if my wife was not well; why did the Good Samaritan not rescue my wife? Was it only the baby that needed to be rescued? I love my wife more than any child.”
The only explanation that David could get from the police was that when the Good Samaritan brought the baby, they asked a police officer to follow her to where the mother was but unfortunately, they did not see her at the spot the baby was taken from her.
David knew that there were too many questions to be asked, but time was running out. The body of his wife was beginning to decompose. If there was any delay, the mortuary would not accept her body.
He had to make arrangement to take the body to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital in Gwagwalada where the body was eventually deposited in the mortuary. Before the process could be completed, it was already about 3am on Thursday. He was accompanied by the police.
Asked if he had demanded for autopsy to be performed on the corpse of his late wife, David, a farmer and a former Chairman of the Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycle Owners Association of Nigeria – before commercial motorcycle was banned in the city centre – said he had no money for that.
He said, “I have been growing dry season corn by the waterside. It is the corn that I grow that my wife roasts for our feeding and upkeep. Since she died, money is not coming in. I cannot even ask police questions. I know them very well when I was an Okada rider. If you go there to make a statement, they will demand for money which I don’t have. Now that we are no longer harvesting the corn, within two weeks, it will dry up and lose its value.”
Public Relations Officer at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Mr. Frank Omagbon, confirmed to our correspondent that the body of the deceased was brought dead to the hospital in the late hours of Wednesday by David and the police.
Following due process, he added, the casualty unit of the hospital confirmed the body dead before it was eventually deposited in the morgue.
At Sauka Tauka, a village near FHA Estate, where the Okoyes live, the suspicion on everybody’s lip was that Ifeyinwa had been killed for ritual.
Divisional Police Officer at Lugbe, Mr. Rabiu Sabiu, told our correspondent that the police was not investigating the death of the woman because she died of “sudden natural death” and for the fact that the husband did not raise any suspicion.
He said, “The woman was found in the state of being mentally affected. Public spirited people within the community saw the state of the woman, rescued the baby and brought her to the station. The child is under two months. We saved the life of the child and took her to the public welfare of the FCT.”
Further telephone conversation between the DPO and our correspondent went thus:
At what time was the child brought to the station?
“I can’t tell you that now except I go through my records.”
But sir, do you have a record of the people that brought the child to the station?
“I can’t tell you that except I go through my record. I don’t have the record off hand.”
So when do I call you back?
“You can call later in the day, maybe around 11 am.”
Okay sir. I will do that. Thank you very much.
Hello sir. I called you earlier from THE PUNCH. I want to know what you are doing about the woman that died; your investigation so far.
“We are working for the husband. He came here and recognised the body as that of the wife. He did not raise suspicion of any foul play. The body was conveyed to the hospital together with him. He did not raise suspicion of any foul play.”
Okay, he has not raised any alarm or suspicion?
“Yes. He did not raise any suspicion.”
Sir, my interest is those that rescued the baby from the woman. Do you have their identity?
“You see, it is just like when you are passing by, you come across a child in a distress. What will you do? That is what happened. Those people rescued the child from the mother and took her to a nearby police post before it was brought here. We cannot keep the child here and we had to take the child to the welfare department for caring. That is what we do. The father has gone there and he has identified his child. We asked to liaise with the welfare for further necessary action.”
At the Welfare Department, a senior official who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity because he had not been authorised to speak to the press, confirmed that the child was brought to the office on the same Tuesday.
However, the welfare officer said that the police report accompanying the baby indicated that it was an abandoned baby.
The officer said he was alarmed two or three days after, when the police called the welfare office to say that the mother of the baby was mad and had died.
He added that it was another bombshell on Monday when the police called again to say that the father of the baby wanted to see the baby. He wondered at the contradictions in the statements from the police.
The welfare officer told our correspondent that the baby was taken to Saint Fabian Home EFAB Estate. However, after admission at the Home, she was found to be very sick and had since been admitted at the National Hospital.
No comments:
Post a Comment