Four years after her only son, Charles, disappeared from home, Madam Sabina Okoro, 70, has been agonising over his whereabouts.? She wants to see her son’s corpse even if he’s dead. NNAMDI MBAWIKE , reports.
When Charles Okoro escaped from his father’s imposing residential building in Dina-Nume Community, Nwangele local Government Area of Imo state in 2008, her mother never bothered to look for him. If at all she was worried, she was consoled by the fact that the young man merely left home to avoid arrest by the police, who were looking for him in connection with his alleged involvement with the activities of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB.
Many years have gone by and there is no sign that Charles would ever be found. No one knows his location and hope about his survival is fading away with the passage of time. Many have now come to the conclusion that the young man is no more-a feeling that gives his ailing mother more headache and heartbreak.
Charles must have been among hordes of people hauled away by security agents when they invaded the town in search of MASSOB supporters. The clampdown on the group’s supporters was ordered from ‘above’ following allegations that they were planning a showdown with the government over some vexed issues in the country.
He is suspected to have escaped from the compound just as the security agents descended on the place. But that is all that is known about the young man. Where he moved to and what he has been doing ever since, are shrouded in mystery.
Following his miraculous escape that night, security agents were said to have combed the entire vicinity and finally issued a two-day ultimatum to the family to produce him at the state police command or get the wrath of the policemen.
It was an incident anybody would want to forget in a hurry because of? the manner the entire compound was turned upside down by gun-wielding security agents, who insisted on going with Charles or keeping vigil in the compound.
Unable to get Charles as ordered by the police high command, the armed men arrested his father, Okoro, who himself was not in the best state of health at the time of his arrest and incarceration. Despite pleas by well-meaning men and women, the police refused to release Pa Okoro at the time.? He died shortly after he was arrested and detained, leaving behind, an aged and ailing widow to mourn for the two most important persons in her troubled life.
Yet Charles whereabouts cannot be ascertained by the family.
Thus, denied of both husband and only son, Madam Sabina has been left in the cruel hands of fate to fend for herself.
Narrating her ordeal to newsmen amid tears in Enugu, Sabina, pleaded with the police to produce her son. She insisted that even if they had killed him they should be kind enough to produce the corpse.
“I know he is alive. My instinct tells me that he is not dead but has chosen to remain quiet and in hiding for fear of being arrested by the police. I really want to see my son”.
Mrs Okoro added that since the incident, she had not set her eyes on her son, stressing that he [Charles] was being haunted for his alleged role and membership of the outlawed MASSOB.
“My son cannot be linked with such a group.? He was never a member of MASSOB. I did my best to explain this to the security agents that came looking for him but they insisted on his arrest. When eventually they could not get him, they arrested his father, who was released on bail two days after”, she added.
The 70-year- old widow disclosed that her husband, who died on June, 2009 had developed the illness that eventually took his life after his incarceration.
The troubled widow called? on security agents to save her the trauma and eventual death by providing her with the opportunity of seeing her son.
“I believe that the best thing they can do to save my life is to make me to see my son. That it how they can save my life at this point in time,” she added.
Although many fear that the man must have been killed by the police, she still believes strongly that the young man must be in hiding to avoid being arrested by the police.
“I want to see my son, I know that he is alive but has decided to remain in the hiding for fear that he may be arrested by the police. But I want to see my son. I have told anybody that cares to listen that the boy is not a member of MASSOB.? I never saw him relate with the group and I believe it is a case of mistaken identity. Till now, nobody has told us whether he committed any other offence than being a member of the group as they said.
“I have continued to ask why and whether there is something I have not known concerning this matter. The way we were harassed, the way we were kicked about in a bid to produce Charles leaves much to be desired. If I had my way, I would tell those security agents to show us evidence of their claims because I am still in doubt as to whether it was for membership of MASSOB that my family could suffer such humiliation” she cried out.
Sabina disclosed that some of their belongings that were destroyed during the raid in a desperate move to arrest her son have remained without replacement till now, an incident she described as a sad reminder of police brutality.
Although she wishes to see or at least hear from her son, Sabina is a woman under serious affliction. Who will bail her out of her predicament?