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Sunday, 14 October 2012

UNIPORT 4: How efforts to save my son were aborted – Llyod’s mum

Bereaved mother…Mrs Jane

Mrs Jane Toku Mike is the mother of  Lloyd, one of the four students of University of Port-Harcourt who were clubbed to death before a cheering crowd at Omuokiri-Aluu community for alleged theft of computers. Jane, who could not hold back tears shared her last moments with her son in this interview, says she had turned to God for consolation.  According to her, Lloyd, who was a year-two civil engineering student, was her first son. And it took them eleven years after they had him for other children to start coming. Excerpts:

At what time did you get to the scene of the murder?
The crowd was still there when my husband and I got there. We introduced ourselves to the Joint Task Force men on ground. We heard they fired shots when they came  to stop the people but it was too late because the children were gone. They then allowed my husband  to go and see the corpses where they dumped them. When he got there, he immediately placed his hands on his head, crying. I too, from the distance I was, knew my son was there.



Immediately,  I knelt down and started thanking God for all that happened. I did  that because the Bible says that in all situations we should give thanks to God, we should give God glory. I sensed that everywhere was quiet while I was doing this. Probably it dawned on the killers and the cheering crowd that the children had parents and were innocent.

I later went to see the children. One of them was still breathing, I recognised him as my son’s friend and I started shouting his name, Tekena, Tekena. Immediately I started screaming for ambulance. My husband, his uncle and those that followed us to the place rushed to the hospital for ambulance but when we got to the hospital he had given up the ghost.

How many children do you have?
I have three children. He was my first child. And it took us eleven years to start having other children after we had him. He was my first son, a two hundred level civil engineering student of the university ( she paused a while, shook her heard, then gazed at the ceiling and continued talking). There were times people saw us walking together and they asked if he was my boy friend because he was tall.

When you heard of the incident, what did you do immediately to save the situation?
When it happened we called a police officer  (name withheld). He then gave us numbers in the control room to call which we did. Later we called him again he now said he was going to call them back.

I also called my brother who was closer to the place because we live far from the university, to rush to the place. He did and he said he met them using the plank to hit the children. He tried to stop them but they pushed him aside. He had to go into the cheering crowd asking for anybody that he could talk to that could help ask the people to stop what they were doing.

He said a man he spoke to told him not to bother that the chief of the community was aware of what was happening. He said he still made frantic effort but to no avail. Later he had to rush out of the scene to go get help from outside. But when he came back the boys had already died.

Any last moment with your son?
Before my son went to school, he gave me a book he bought from the church. He said I should read it, that it was on how faith works.  He said he had read it and I should do same, that when he returned, we would discuss it.

I have been reading the book since he passed on. The book gives me strength. It is the last thing that exchanged hands between us before the brutal murder.

‘WE WANT JUSTICE’
Lloyd’s father, who bears almost the same name with his son, appealed  to government and humanitarian bodies to stand by the families of the slain children to demand justice on the issue.

“I want justice to prevail because the children were innocent. The community had no right to do what they did. I am appealing to government and human right bodies to stand firmly behind families of the children to fight for justice,”he said.

“If nothing is done, this type of thing would continue in Aluu community. We were reliably told that five of them slept together.  And when they woke up, they went to demand debt, it was at this point the community rounded them up and stripped them naked and hacked them to death.  I and two others that came with me carried their lifeless bodies into the ambulance.

3 comments:

  1. It's touching that humans could do such to human like them.I weep each time i see or hear of this.To all the bleeding hearts(MOTHERS) of these children,it'll be wrong to say take heart but just do that.Don't even know what to say because it could've been any mother's child as long as am concerned.Take heart dear mothers.Thank You.

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  2. The leader of that community couldn't investigate before giving that order.If that's what it takes to be a leader then he should be stone to death likewise for the community.He must be stone to death.

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  3. Tins happen. There are so many untold stories of the activities of the slain boys. Who were they going 2 collect the debt from and at what time? Was anyone of them armed? In as much as we condemn the action of the killers, we must also look @ the consequence of what their mission @ that time of the day would have resulted. I am not judging the dead but all the articules that I have read appear to paint them as saints. However, it may have been someone elses child that would have been wasted. Parents should please watch the activities of their wards cos like u know, to every action there is an equal but opposite reaction. Furthermore, the action of these people (Aluu or rival cult) shows that the average Nigerian has long lost trust in the ability of the Nigerian Police to carry out their responsibilities, hence people take laws into their hands and do it their way. While we hope and pray that the culprits be brought to justice and the souls of the departed rest in perfect peace, it is also our prayer that sound judgement and fair hearing should be given to those accused of the crime. Otherwise, we'll go some steps backwards in trying to make positive move. Finally, going to burn the houses of Aluu people is criminal and I am sure its people's children who were sent to school and not the police that are involved in this act. Watch the activities of your children please.

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