allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Help! My Family Is In Danger, Cries Man (Page 1 of 2)

AS he walked into the Corporate headquarters of Vanguard Media Limited , Lagos, it was glaring that all was not well with this fellow, following his perturbed countenance embedded in what was later discovered to be fear of an imminent danger that could result in another catastrophe in his family, unless there was a quick intervention to stop a re-occurrence of the seeming impending danger.

For Mathew Ewansubor, as he later identified himself, this is certainly not the best of times for his entire family following what he described as 'threat to life of members of his family', back in Ekpoma, the University town of Edo state.

He traced his family's present agony back to October 2006, when his elder brother , Mr Paul Ewansubhor collected a loan of N500.000.00 from one Mr Justus Ogun, an indigene of Uromi in Edo state, with an accrued interest of N240.000.00, all totalling N740.000.00.

The incident that signalled the trouble ahead, as gathered, reared its ugly head two years later, when the money lender, in the company of the lawyer that was involved in the whole transaction and another unidentified fellow, reportedly stormed the Ewansubhor's family house in Uhumudumu , Ekpoma, with an intention to forcefully eject them out and lay claim to their property.

Passionate pleas from the perplexed members of the family, especially their 85-year-old mother, Mrs Comfort Ariobonose Ewansubhor that the matter be handled amicably, fell on deaf ears as the invaders allegedly threw everyone out including their helpless old mother, who was said to have in the process, hit her head on a hard object outside. Unfortunately, she reportedly gave up the ghost a month later as she could not bear the excruciating pains from the injury.

In this interview with crime guard, Matthew raised alarm stating that his mother's assailants who are walking the streets of Uromi as free men, are not only priding themselves as untouchables but are still threatening to cause more havoc to his already devastated and traumatised family.

Excerpts :

On June 3, 2008, the man that loaned my brother the sum of five hundred thousand naira, came in a saloon car in the company of four other men and parked in front of my elder brother's compound in Ihumudumu, the same compound they flung my mother out, which resulted in her hitting her head on a stone resulting to her death weeks later. Also with them was a lawyer who was introduced to my brother as the money lender.

They again knocked on the door and my cousin and niece opened but fortunately their father, that is my elder brother, was not at home. They came prepared for another catastrophe, as it is obvious they were not yet done with us. Why would they not let my family be? My mother has paid the price with her life. Why disturbing us. Our family members are presently living in fear because we do not know when they would strike again. Despite the fact that my elder brother, Paul Ewansubhor has paid part of the money, they are still laying claim to the property.

It all began on a friendly note when in October 11, 2006, one Peter Okharedia of number 11, Ubiaja road, Uromi , was introduced by a fellow Uromi man (name withheld) to write an agreement for a loan of N500,000.00 with accrued interest of N240.000.00 .

For the services rendered by the lawyer, my brother paid him the sum of N25.000.00. It was a verbal agreement and so far, the sum of N310.000.00 have been refunded in four installments out of the N740.000.00 borrowed. Even when my brother requested for the receipt of payment, he was assured that there was no problem and it was based on that trust that he gave them the money.

But to our surprise , the same man in the company of the person that loaned the money, visited my brother on January 17th, 2008 claiming they have bought our family house and denied that no payment was ever made to them. Trying to play smart, they asked my brother to produce the receipt of the payment to support his claim. They thereafter, directed that everyone should be thrown out of the house.

My 85-year-old mother was pushed from her bedroom to the sitting room, beaten and tortured like a mere child before she was thrown outside. While outside, she was on her knees pleading for help , they again pushed her backward, and she fell and hit her head on the floor leading to her death weeks later. . In spite of the fact that my poor old mother was writhing in pain on the floor, the property in the house were all thrown outside and at the end, the main door and exit were locked with padlocks. My beloved mother cried out that they should have pity on the little kids around who just came back from school and had not eaten but they ignored her. Worse still, the lawyer could not realise the illegality of their actions.

It only took the intervention of sympathisers who succeeded in pleading to them before they could open the locks and that was five hours after the invasion. But before my family members could pack their things inside, my mother's temperature had risen. She had enjoyed vibrant health until that fateful day. That night she was given medical treatment. The next morning being January 18th, 2008, she was in hospital but unfortunately she died on February 18 after series of medical complaints.

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