Fifteen-year-old Imole Oke, an only child, was two years old
when he lost his father to diabetes, and was put in care of his distraught
grandmother, Racheal, 84.
For Racheal, after a period of unhappiness and gloom, it was
refreshing to see her late son in Oke, her grandson. Holding and caring for him
had lightened the gloom, until about three weeks ago, when that changed.
On Monday, April 24, 2017, Oke was sent to buy petrol
at a fuel station close to the Okes’ residence in Mile 12 area of Lagos but has
not come home till date.
Truly, Racheal has lived the agony of losing someone she
cherished with all of her heart, but doubts that she can survive any more loss.
Since the incident, family members have been worried about
Racheal’s health and eating habit and assurances that they were doing all they
could to find Oke have not helped.
“I cannot eat; I cannot bathe. How can I eat when my grandson is still missing?” Racheal asked.
Although Racheal retired many years ago as a trader and lives
in a drab building in a rundown part of Lagos, she was desperate to have her
grandson back, even if it means paying a huge ransom.
“When my son died, I consoled myself that he left a son behind- his only child. And now, we cannot find him and don’t know what happened to him. I see my late son in the boy, so I am devastated by the incident. His loss is a huge blow and my only prayer is that I see him alive again.“If he was kidnapped and his abductors want ransom, I will give it to them. They should ask for anything they want, I will give it to them as long as they can return my grandson to me. I will pay any amount they want to collect,” she said with a note of desperation.
The fuel station Oke, a Junior Secondary School Two pupil of
Ayedere Ajibola Secondary School, Ketu, went to, is just about 300 metres away
from his grandmother’s house.
His mother, Ebunola, lives with her mother in Ikorodu and
only visits her son at his paternal grandmother’s house in Mile 12 when she
wants to see him.
She expressed sadness over the incident, she said:
“He is a gentle boy and wouldn’t hurt a fly. We have looked everywhere for him but there has been no luck and nobody has contacted the family to demand for ransom. We are confused and don’t know where to go to again,”
Oke’s case has been reported by the family at Ketu
Divisional Police Headquarters, where the police promised to work with other
stations to find him.
His uncle, Felix Oke, who said it has been hard for the
family since his nephew was missing, however, added that they lacked the
courage to search for Oke at nearby morgues and hospitals.
“The family lacks the courage to go to the hospital or the mortuary to look for him to see if there is any chance that he may be there. No, we are not going to do that. And I know that if he were to be in a hospital, he would have called our mobile telephone numbers because he knows them by heart,” he said.
According to Felix, the family has resorted to prayers as it
had no idea of where else to go.
He said, “Apart from reporting the case to the police, we have announced it on a radio station. It was not the first time he had gone to buy fuel there so initially, when he did not return on time, they thought he had lost the money that was given to him and was afraid to come home.“So they went to the station to ask for him but the attendants there said they attended to many boys of his age group and could not identify him. There was no account of any incident along the route to the fuel station, so we were perplexed.“We went to our second family house in Ketu to see if he had gone there but there was no sign of him. So we started calling everyone we know to check if they saw him, but still, there was nothing. He left home around 7.15 am on that day. And that was not the first time that he was sent to buy fuel or anything.
A source at the Ketu Police Divisional Headquarters said that
kidnapping was not common in the area, but that it was not being ruled out
along with the fact that Oke could have run away from home to join a gang.
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Send a boy an errand by 7am to buy fuel. He should be getting ready for school not out to buy fuel. Whoever sent him fuel at that time should be question. To me Some thing is fishing
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