By Suyi Ayodele

Copyright tribuneonlineng

….Victim arrives Benin paralysed

The Edo State Migration Agency on Wednesday rescued a 27-year-old indigene, Godstime Uwoghiren, from Burkina Faso.

Uwoghiren, who was allegedly poisoned by his friends for buying a lady’s bike in Burkina Faso, was brought back to Benin City, the state capital, paralysed and unconscious.

The aircraft which conveyed the victim touched down at Benin Airport at about 1:00 p.m., alongside the Director-General of the Agency, Lucky Agazuma, and other staff.

The victim was hurriedly picked up by a waiting ambulance and rushed to the Edo Specialist Hospital, Benin, for emergency medical attention.

Addressing journalists at the airport, Agazuma said the state government was informed of an Edo indigene who had been poisoned by his friends out of envy after buying a bike in Burkina Faso.

The Edo Migration Agency boss added that immediately the information reached them, Governor Monday Okpebholo directed the Agency to arrange for the victim to be brought back home.

Agazuma lamented that all efforts to get necessary information about the victim were frustrated by his immediate family, saying, “After a good four months, our efforts yielded results and here we are with Godstime.”

According to Agazuma, “When they reached out to Mr Governor that Mr Godstime was sick, paralysed, and that he was poisoned in Burkina Faso because he bought a bike, the only contact person we were given was his sister. We asked her to lead us to the family, but she refused for a good four months. Today, she is crying profusely. We are taking her to our office for further investigation.

“And to our surprise, at the early stage of this rescue mission, the family rejected it, but Governor Okpebholo insisted that we must go and rescue him, and we succeeded,” he enthused.

He urged parents to warn their children that “not all that glitters is gold,” adding that “many Nigerians are suffering over there.”

The mother of the victim, Mrs Susan Uwoghiren, while thanking Okpebholo for coming to her son’s rescue, narrated how he got to Burkina Faso.

“He came to Benin from the village to learn how to drive a truck. But suddenly, he called his father that he was travelling out. We asked him how, and he said we shouldn’t worry. The next time we heard from him was when he called that he was in Burkina Faso.

“We were talking regularly until recently when we didn’t hear from him, and when we carried out our investigation, we were told he was seriously sick. So, I told my pastor about it and we started praying. Thank God he is back,” the distraught mother narrated.

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