Where are you from, and how are you related to the young man who was said to have been shot by the police?

I am from Abia State, precisely Isuikwuato Local Government Area. I am in my 40s. The boy we are talking about is Mba Moses Onyekachi, my first son. My son should have turned 23 by November this year. Sadly, he died at the age of 22.

What circumstance led to your son’s death?

The incident happened in Cross River State on the 1st of August. We had travelled to my village for a burial, and while returning on Friday (August 1) that morning, we received a call around 7 am to rush to the Navy Clinic, Calabar, where a relative was admitted.

My husband hurried there first while I stayed back to put things in order. When he got there, he met security men and asked questions. Then he looked and discovered it was our son. He was asked to come inside. My husband kept asking, ‘What happened?’

They said Moses went to preach the gospel at the former governor’s residence. That location is known as the State House in Calabar.

According to what we gathered, he was treated as a threat. He was beaten and shot. He was left lying in a pool of blood from about 11 am until late afternoon.

Around 5 or 6 pm, Red Cross officials nearby heard gunshots and rushed to investigate. They found Moses in a critical condition and moved him to the Navy Hospital. Shockingly, the authorities seemed more concerned about covering up than saving his life.

Policemen were stationed around him as though he were a criminal. We kept asking why there was secrecy and why the governor himself appeared indifferent in the matter. We were told he wanted to know how Moses dared to approach his residence.

The hospital delayed the surgery that was to be carried out on him, saying he was unstable. They demanded over N400,000 for an operation. It was eventually scheduled for Sunday, August 3rd, but postponed to Monday, August 4.

The surgery lasted six hours, and though unconscious, he survived. But by Tuesday, complications arose. He fell into a coma and was placed on oxygen. From then until Friday, he remained unconscious.

Doctors said he needed blood urgently — five pints of a rare type, costing N100,000 each. We struggled to provide it. Each transfusion caused him terrible pain. Unknown to us, he had severe internal injuries from the brutal assault.

How did he die?

On Saturday night, nurses requested forms and photocopies before administering drugs. Later, my husband and I went home briefly, leaving my elder sister with him. Suddenly, she called, crying that Moses was gone. He had screamed in pain, saying he was tired, before giving up. We rushed back, only to confirm he had died.

Was any government official there?

We called Emmanuel Dickson, who identified himself as a chief of staff or special adviser to the governor. When we informed him, we discovered some security officers disguised as patients, and they all started leaving when it was confirmed that he had died.

Red Cross officials came around 11 pm that night. Finally, on Sunday, August 10, at 4 pm, we deposited Moses’ body in the morgue, paying N54,000. Dickson promised to assist, but only sent part of the money. So, we completed it ourselves.

What happened thereafter?

The morgue staff called us to say security personnel insisted on seeing him, though it was against procedure. Since we were not the ones, we were not going to give them the go-ahead to see the body. We refused.

This was because they had already started claiming that my son was mentally unstable. So, I knew something was wrong. We told them no. After that, Emmanuel Dickson called my husband and I on the phone and said we should start coming to State CID Calabar, and that the Commissioner of Police wanted to see us.

I said, ‘No, no, no. You killed my son; you did not sympathise with me. You are now ordering me to come and see the Commissioner of Police?’ We told them were not coming, and suggested that if they wanted to see us, they should come and meet us in our lawyer’s chamber.

Before then, my husband and I had already begun receiving threats through calls from many of them. So, we understood the implications of what they wanted to do.

Did you inform the police about the development?

We wrote a petition to Zone 6 in Calabar. Then, the AIG in Calabar sent a signal that those men who were on duty the day my son was shot should come to Zone 6 to write their statement. The men, who were at the hospital where my son was admitted, were also asked to come to Zone 6 to write their statements. It’s now close to three weeks, and nobody has given us any feedback.

Each time we went there, they kept sending the same signal over and over. We couldn’t even understand what was happening. It was only inside the police station that someone explained to us that nothing was being done about the matter.

They advised us to run to social media or reach out to anybody who could help, saying that was the only way the matter could be handled. As a broken mother, that was when I turned to social media in search of a solution. I was advised not to bury my son immediately.

 But this case is a murder case. But I said I wanted to bury my son. For all my sweat and struggles to get to this level, I deserve to bury my son in peace — and to have peace myself. Yet they are depriving me of that.

I even received a memo, which indicated that the state government is satisfied with us, and I appreciate that. But in reality, the government has no regard for us. Nobody has cared enough to look our way. Instead, their people are calling and threatening me.

But was your son having any mental issue?

They said my son was mad. I knew they were wrong. This was the boy who wrote JAMB exam for the first time and scored 196, and they’re saying he had a mental problem.