My son was processing his master’s admission in Canada when he was killed — Victim’s father

Innocent Meju, a Delta-based man’s grief is infinite and he feels irretrievably torn apart after identifying the lifeless body of his 33-year-old son by the roadside in Agbor Town. He tells Victoria Edeme in this interview that until the circumstance surrounding his son’s death is unravelled by the police, his pain cannot be assuaged

You recently lost your son. How was the news of his death broken to you?

My name is Innocent Meju, from Ogwashi-Ukwu in the Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State. I live in Agbor with my family. The deceased, Smart, was my youngest child. He has a twin sister. As I speak, she’s yet to recover from the shock.

On the morning of Wednesday, July 17, 2024, my son left home while I was still in bed. Smart told his siblings that he was going to attend a graduation ceremony at a school along Lagos-Asaba Road in Agbor. He was an adult, so I couldn’t monitor his every move. At the time, he was 33 years old.

I stayed indoors that day because I was not feeling well. I’m ageing, so I rarely go out. In the evening, around 7 pm, I called him to pick something up for me but his phone rang endlessly.  He didn’t respond even after I tried multiple times.

I assumed he had returned home and decided to rest. I thought he would return my calls when he saw them.

Do you live together?

Yes, we live together in the same compound. It’s a building with four flats, and I occupy the two upstairs. He had his room on the other side of my flat.

Did he return your call later that day?

He didn’t. I waited until after 8 pm. His mother told me he was yet to return home, and I started wondering if night had caught up with him somewhere.

He never stayed outside the house beyond 7 pm. I have a rule in my compound, which also applies to the tenants—the gate should be locked by 7 pm for security reasons.

In most cases, I don’t even go downstairs to lock the gate because he usually does that. He would lock it up and drop the key. So, when he didn’t return on time, everyone became concerned.

We left the gate open, hoping he would come back. But he didn’t, and I continued to call him until about 3 am. The phone kept ringing without being answered. I thought maybe he decided to stay out since the gate might have been locked, and planned to return the next morning.

With that mindset, I managed to catch some sleep after 3 am, though I barely slept at all. In the morning, I started calling him again, but this time the phone was unreachable.

It was at this point that anxiety set in, and I started thinking about all the things that might have happened. I didn’t know what to think. With the help of his mother and others, we started making calls and alerting people.

When did you eventually get notified of his whereabouts?

20 minutes before noon on Thursday, I got a call that he had been found. The background of the call was noisy, and I struggled to hear what the person was saying. By the time I got a faint idea of what was being said, I immediately drove to the location and was told he was at the police station. I began to wonder what kind of problem might have warranted police involvement. My mind just kept wandering.

The only news I heard when I arrived at the police station was that he was dead—just like that. The news was so shocking and devastating that I couldn’t comport myself. I wanted to throw myself on the ground, but some people held me.

I cried like never before but that didn’t solve anything. It felt like a nightmare. I kept asking myself if it was a dream. I didn’t know what to do. That’s how I found out about my son’s death.

Were you told of how his corpse was found?

I heard that people in the area saw his corpse and alerted the police. It was only when his body was taken by officers to the police station that I was contacted. When I tried to drive home, I almost passed out, but the police and others volunteered to drive me home. It hasn’t been easy since then.

Since the police recovered the body, it automatically became a police case, and they have been handling the issue. As it stands, we’re not allowed to take the body for burial. My son’s body is still in the mortuary. Until the body is taken care of, the sadness in the family won’t lessen.

How far has the police investigation gone?

No one has contacted me. I’m still waiting for an update from the police; otherwise, there’s nothing I can do. On my part, I feel that I shouldn’t interfere with their work. They know what to do.

I’ve been indoors and don’t have the strength to go downstairs, let alone go out.

Based on your instincts as a father, do you think his death was deliberate or accidental?

That’s exactly what I don’t know. As human beings, we can only speculate, but only God knows the truth. My son had been going out and returning home without encountering any problem. No one stays in one place for 24 hours.