•A young man went missing for 5 years, his father dies of heartache, he returns with mental illness
From Jude Owuamanam
The joy of Mrs. Priscilia Chimara knew no bounds when she got the information that her son, Uche Emmanuel Chimara, who went missing more than five years ago, has been found alive. The plight of Uche was brought to light through the assistance of a netizen, Chekk Peters, who lives in Monrovia, Liberia. Peters had encountered Uche at the border town between Liberia and Monrovia, where he had been wandering since 2019.
Uche, in search of the golden fleece, had made a journey to Liberia. However, probably finding life very tough there, he decided to go back home. Unfortunately he got lost on transit.
According to the story Peters got from Uche, who spoke incoherently, he was on his way to Nigeria and at some point during the journey, the vehicle he was travelling in made a stop over at a border town. Uche said he went down to buy something and by the time he got back to the vehicle, the driver had driven off, leaving him stranded . Since then he has been wandering in that town, living at the mercy of mosquitoes and hunger.
Despite his sorry state, Uche was able to state precisely his state of origin, local government area and village. He told his interviewer that he hails from Umuokpara Abba in Nwangele Local Government Area of Imo State.
Immediately the story went viral, the people of Abba posted the video in various Whatsapp platforms and in no time, Uche’s mother was located in Umuduruagwu, Umuokpara Abba, where the current traditional ruler, Uburu 11 of Abba, Eze Ndubueze Maduawuchukwu, hails from.
His mother, who spoke to a resident of the community in a video that also went viral, gave a pathetic story of how Uche’s father, Godwin Chijioke Chimara, died in pain after years of fruitless search for him.
She said: “I am the mother of Uchechukwu Chima Emmanuel. This incident happened in 2019 when he went missing. Since then we have been looking for him. We went through all the nooks and crannies of this country, yet we could not locate him. Nobody could give us a clue as to his whereabouts.
“The thought of him and what could have happened to him filled the mind of his father and he died as a result of that. After his father’s death, I was left with the burden of locating him alive.
“This has also compounded my health situation. I have been thinking of how to locate him. He’s the only son. In short, the only child we had before this last one we had (apparently born when Uche went missing). So, he’s the older of the two.”
Mrs. Chima pleaded with Ndi Abba and all people of goodwill to assist her in bringing her son home.
Eze Maduawuchukwu told Daily Sun that the community is making arrangements to repatriate him home. His town union, Abba Ama Ano Community Development Union (AACDU) is also making arrangements to see him home and also rehabilitate him.
Maduawuchukwu said: “We are on it. Immediately the clip was sent to us, we set the process in motion. We have a brother who lives in Cote D’Ivoire. He promised to help us to bring him back. He’s trying to get all the documents.
“We were able to meet the mother where she spoke and solicited the return of her son. The video would help us assist the authorities to give the necessary permission to get him out of the area.”
The traditional ruler added that the community is also putting together a committee to take charge of his rehabilitation.
He said: “Immediately he gets to Abba, we will start the process of getting him well again. Our happiness is that he has been found alive. We are happy about that. Our community has never been found wanting in the affairs of every Abba indigene.”