 |
| Chinasa and husband |
Mrs. Chinasa Okereke, whose three-year-old son was
allegedly killed for ritual purpose by a Muslim cleric at the White Sand area
of Isheri Oshun, Lagos State, has narrated how the cleric told her that the
murder of the little boy was nothing new.
According to Chinasa, when she finally came face to
face with Alfa Kazeem, he told her that her son, Chiagozie wasn’t the first
person that had been killed. She further alleged that he told her that his late
father, a baale, carried out similar killings.
She said: “He said that his grandfather is a highly
placed person in the government. He said it was only a matter of time before he
leaves police custody. He said they belong to Ogboni cult. He said that the
killing of my son was nothing new. The way he was saying it, it was like I
won’t get justice. My son suffered and died in pains.”
Last Tuesday, a 15-year-old boy, Simon, living in
the building next to Chinasa’s, picked Chiagozie at the front of their compound
and allegedly took him to Alfa Kazeem. According to Simon, after he handed
Chiagozie to Kazeem, he gave him N500.
A frantic search for Chiagozie started. Policemen
were brought into the matter. When police got hold of Simon, he confessed to
have taken Chiagozie to Kazeem. He led
police to an uncompleted building, where the corpse of Chiagozie was found. A
red cloth was tied around his neck and a big stone kept beside his head.
Recalling how Chiagozie was kidnapped and killed,
Chinasa said that it happened last Tuesday.
The mother of four, who lives in a multi-room building, said that her
oldest child is 10, the second eight, the third is the deceased and the fourth
child is just nine-month-old. The oldest child was not around when Chiagozie
was taken.
She explained that on that fateful Tuesday, she
brought the children to the front of the house because she wanted to bath them.
Leaving the eight year old and Chiagozie outside,
she briefly stepped into her apartment to get a wrapper to strap the
nine-month-old to her back.
When she came out, Chiagozie was nowhere to be
found. When she asked her eight-year-old daughter the whereabouts of her little
brother, the girl said that Simon, the 15-year-old living in the building next
to theirs, took him.
Chinasa said: “When my daughter told me that Simon
took Chiagozie, I immediately rushed to their house, but his guardians said
they had been looking for him. When it was getting late, we went to the police
station to tell them that Simon took our son and that we couldn’t find him.”
This was even as she mentioned that three men,
believed to be family members of Kazeem, came to her home around 11pm to
threaten her.
She said: “The three men were on a single motorbike. I noticed there was no plate number on the
motorbike. They came around 11pm on Thursday. They said if anything happened to
the Muslim cleric in police custody, they would ensure that the whole of my
family and that of my husband are wiped out. They mounted the motorbike and
zoomed off. Since then, we’ve been living in fear. I’m still grieving my son;
I’m yet to get over the shock of his murder when these men came to threaten us.
We need government and police protection. We’re no longer safe just because
we’re demanding for justice. All we want is justice!”
The clergy of the church, where Chinasa and her
family worship, Reverend James Okeke, said that the church was behind Chinasa
and her family in this period of loss and grief.
Okeke said that when he was called by the deceased’s
parents that the boy was missing, he was not too worried. He thought the boy
would soon return home.
The Reverend became uneasy when he was called on
Wednesday morning and told that the boy was yet to be found.
Okeke said: “I believe the little boy was killed
with mystical powers.”
No comments:
Post a Comment