I WOULD HAVE BEEN A PALM WINE TAPPER AND CHIEF PRIEST OF OUR LOCAL DEITY

When I visited Emeka Ugwuonye in prison few days ago, he was in his best – smiling and cracking jokes. He received me warmly and ushered me to a chair. When I tried to find out about the progress of his case, he cut in and assured me that the case is moving on well as he insisted that the case is a waste of his time because the prosecution has no evidence linking him to the said crime for which he is remanded.

“Why did you consider it a wise decision to put yourself through all these because of a woman whom you did not even know before her gruesome murder, you have not met her and she was not even a member of DPA yet you’ve sacrificed almost everything to seek justice for her?”

Ugwuonye looked up from the prison warder who was showing him time and looked briefly at the middle distance before he began to speak:

” Probably because of my early childhood experiences. I hated injustice with passion. I tend to like to stand with David, not Goliath in a fight but definitely not the other David (laughs). My system revolts against any form of abuse of power and injustice”   he said.

Ugwuonye maintained that every turn in the trajectory of his life is divinely ordained:

“I am a man who has seen the extremes of life. We were so poor when I was growing up that it was so difficult for us to feed. When I passed the common Entrance Examination to enter secondary school, there was no money and my mum was crying. Indeed, my oldest uncle suggested that i should follow him to learn how to tap palm wine. I would have been a palm wine tapper by now and there would be no DPA or the struggle seeking justice for Cha Cha today (laughs)”

“The only thing that stopped this whole thing was that I happened to be the student with the highest score in exams and my teachers insisted that something had to be done”

“The EFCC once detained me unlawfully for six months yet I won my case against them. Also I have been privileged enough to attend the same school (Harvard) as the former President of America. I have faced the finest judges America has produced. I have been a guest to president of countries”  he said.

” Through this case, i’m going to prove to my detractors and indeed to Nigerians that ……………”

I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder, as I turned, I saw my wife already seated for morning devotion. So this visit was in a dream?  Oh! God.

Ifeanyi Calistus

Director Of Information

DPA.