A businesswoman, Victoria Mba, whose 22-year-old son, Moses Mba, was allegedly shot by police officers at the residence of the Cross River State Governor, talks about her struggle for justice, the attempt to label her son as mentally ill, and her demand for an autopsy.

Where are you from, and how are you related to the young man who was said to have been shot by the police?

I am from Abia State, precisely Isuikwuato Local Government Area. I am in my 40s. The boy we are talking about is Mba Moses Onyekachi, my first son. My son should have turned 23 by November this year. Sadly, he died at the age of 22.

What circumstance led to your son’s death?

The incident happened in Cross River State on the 1st of August. We had travelled to my village for a burial, and while returning on Friday (August 1) that morning, we received a call around 7 am to rush to the Navy Clinic, Calabar, where a relative was admitted.

My husband hurried there first while I stayed back to put things in order. When he got there, he met security men and asked questions. Then he looked and discovered it was our son. He was asked to come inside. My husband kept asking, ‘What happened?’

They said Moses went to preach the gospel at the former governor’s residence. That location is known as the State House in Calabar.

When Moses arrived, about five policemen denied him entry, asking if he had an appointment. He explained that God gave him a vision and directed him to deliver His words. He left, returned a second time, still requesting to see the governor, but his request was not granted.

According to what we gathered, he was treated as a threat. He was beaten and shot. He was left lying in a pool of blood from about 11 am until late afternoon.

Around 5 or 6 pm, Red Cross officials nearby heard gunshots and rushed to investigate. They found Moses in a critical condition and moved him to the Navy Hospital. Shockingly, the authorities seemed more concerned about covering up than saving his life.

Policemen were stationed around him as though he were a criminal. We kept asking why there was secrecy and why the governor himself appeared indifferent in the matter. We were told he wanted to know how Moses dared to approach his residence.

The hospital delayed the surgery that was to be carried out on him, saying he was unstable. They demanded over N400,000 for an operation. It was eventually scheduled for Sunday, August 3rd, but postponed to Monday, August 4.

The surgery lasted six hours, and though unconscious, he survived. But by Tuesday, complications arose. He fell into a coma and was placed on oxygen. From then until Friday, he remained unconscious.

Doctors said he needed blood urgently — five pints of a rare type, costing N100,000 each. We struggled to provide it. Each transfusion caused him terrible pain. Unknown to us, he had severe internal injuries from the brutal assault.

How did he die?

On Saturday night, nurses requested forms and photocopies before administering drugs. Later, my husband and I went home briefly, leaving my elder sister with him. Suddenly, she called, crying that Moses was gone. He had screamed in pain, saying he was tired, before giving up. We rushed back, only to confirm he had died.

Was any government official there?

We called Emmanuel Dickson, who identified himself as a chief of staff or special adviser to the governor. When we informed him, we discovered some security officers disguised as patients, and they all started leaving when it was confirmed that he had died.

Red Cross officials came around 11 pm that night. Finally, on Sunday, August 10, at 4 pm, we deposited Moses’ body in the morgue, paying N54,000. Dickson promised to assist, but only sent part of the money. So, we completed it ourselves.

What happened thereafter?

The following day, Monday, August 11, officials, including Dickson and some policemen, went to the Commissioner of Police, then to the morgue, without our consent, to view my son’s body.

The morgue staff called us to say security personnel insisted on seeing him, though it was against procedure. Since we were not the ones, we were not going to give them the go-ahead to see the body. We refused.

This was because they had already started claiming that my son was mentally unstable. So, I knew something was wrong. We told them no. After that, Emmanuel Dickson called my husband and I on the phone and said we should start coming to State CID Calabar, and that the Commissioner of Police wanted to see us.

I said, ‘No, no, no. You killed my son; you did not sympathise with me. You are now ordering me to come and see the Commissioner of Police?’ We told them were not coming, and suggested that if they wanted to see us, they should come and meet us in our lawyer’s chamber.

Before then, my husband and I had already begun receiving threats through calls from many of them. So, we understood the implications of what they wanted to do.

Did you inform the police about the development?

We wrote a petition to Zone 6 in Calabar. Then, the AIG in Calabar sent a signal that those men who were on duty the day my son was shot should come to Zone 6 to write their statement. The men, who were at the hospital where my son was admitted, were also asked to come to Zone 6 to write their statements. It’s now close to three weeks, and nobody has given us any feedback.

Each time we went there, they kept sending the same signal over and over. We couldn’t even understand what was happening. It was only inside the police station that someone explained to us that nothing was being done about the matter.

They advised us to run to social media or reach out to anybody who could help, saying that was the only way the matter could be handled. As a broken mother, that was when I turned to social media in search of a solution. I was advised not to bury my son immediately.

But this case is a murder case. But I said I wanted to bury my son. For all my sweat and struggles to get to this level, I deserve to bury my son in peace — and to have peace myself. Yet they are depriving me of that.

I even received a memo, which indicated that the state government is satisfied with us, and I appreciate that. But in reality, the government has no regard for us. Nobody has cared enough to look our way. Instead, their people are calling and threatening me.

But was your son having any mental issue?

They said my son was mad. I knew they were wrong. This was the boy who wrote JAMB exam for the first time and scored 196, and they’re saying he had a mental problem.

I will send you those proofs. Yes, this boy was supposed to gain admission in Nsukka. He already processed his aptitude test form. I paid for the post-UTME form. We will send you that form. His JAMB score was 196.

What did he want to study?

I think Business Administration or one of those courses.

Why was he just sitting UTMB at 22?

He was sitting UTMB at 22 because we had a financial crisis some years ago. I was sick. I had a serious injury on my left leg. I needed surgery and treatment in India. There were many complications around me.

My boy was my helper. He made sure I took my medicine and did everything. During that period, we couldn’t put him in any school. I was sick for about three to four years.

How many children do you have?

I have four children. He was the first child. The next one is 14 years old.

Has he always been preaching and doing evangelism?

Right from when he was 10 years old, he was that kind of child who always asked about God. All his life, he wanted to serve God. He even wanted to go to Bible school. We kept encouraging him to just finish his education first.

He was always told that after completing his education, he could go to Bible school. With the knowledge from education, any invitation he received from churches or schools would help him build up his ministry.

He had always carried a strong passion for evangelism. He was a kind of person who, even while eating the simplest meal, would always play Christian music. That was his motivation, his joy.

He never drank alcohol. He believed firmly that God healed him.

The only way to know he was ill is if you touched his body and felt his temperature. If you gave him earplugs at the same time, he would listen to gospel music with them. That was the kind of person he was. He didn’t smoke.

Is it true that one apostle asked him to go and preach at the governor’s former residence?

The apostle was more of a spiritual mentor or somebody he looked up to. The apostle is not my pastor. His church is not my church. It was a church he saw and felt like attending their fellowship once in a while after church service or when there was no service.

The apostle was the one constantly urging my son to go into Bible school. He kept telling him to leave university for Bible school since he had a calling from God. But we told the apostle, ‘This is not what we want as parents.’

Did that apostle visit your son while he was in the hospital?

Yes, he did, and the pastor was in the hospital with my son until he died. He was helping us in the hospital until the end.

Was your son accompanied to the governor’s gate by any person?

No, my son went there alone.

How would you describe your son?

I would describe my son as a loving, peaceful boy. He’s a peacemaker. He would even wish I put an end to this interview I’m doing as a mother. That was the kind of person. He never liked problems.

He was a person who could give everything he had and stay hungry the whole day. He was a simple boy who loved giving to a fault. He gave without considering the consequences, without even knowing if we had anything in the house to eat.

My neighbours are here; he would collect their clothes and use the washing machine to wash them, and return them to the owners. He was the kind of person who would pump water for the whole compound. Currently, everybody is feeling his absence.

What do you want from the government?

I don’t need their dollar bills. We are poor. I just want to know the people involved in his death and how this boy can be buried. Am I demanding much? I’m not demanding anything.

I’m not even asking for compensation of millions. But I think I have a right to see the people. Let them give me their reasons by telling me what he did. I only want them to say, ‘I am sorry. How can he be buried?’

Why didn’t the police allow you to bury the boy?

The AIG said we had written a petition and that it was a murder case. So, the boy won’t be buried until an autopsy is done. So, I realised we had to reach the stage of an autopsy. I said, ‘Okay, if you withdraw the autopsy, the truth will never come out.’

It will stop the process, and they can take away the corpse of the boy, especially if they only see it as an opportunity to make money, because they have no human feelings. Nobody from Cross River or anywhere called me or any member of the family.

Also, the state Commissioner for Information never called me. Nobody picked up the phone to call. Nobody came to my house to say, ‘We heard what happened.’ Not a single word. So, are they saying I don’t have the right to ask what killed my son, who killed my son?

How are you and the siblings coping?

He was shot on August 1st and died on August 9th, around 11 am. It was horrible. I couldn’t sleep at night. Each time, I feel like he’s even around us. I can’t even stay in my kitchen. I take sleeping pills to sleep at night. My pain is just rising like hell. I’ve been trying to get help for my kids. (Saturday PUNCH)

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