Merit Elliot Adowei, the one-year-and-four-month-old third child of the late Elliot Adowei, was oblivious of the happenings in the Council Chambers inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja. President Goodluck Jonathan had received families of the deceased members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) that served as ad-hoc staff to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during the presidential poll in Bauchi State.She kept chuckling away and interrupting President Jonathan’s remarks to families by demanding one thing or the other from her teary mother.
Yes, all present, including the President tried to keep a straight face, but it was obvious to all, including the pressmen, some of whom couldn’t hold back tears, that this was one occasion they would rather avoid if they had a choice.
Tessy, the wife of the slain Elliot Adowei, came with Merit and eight-year-old Evans (the eldest of the couple’s children) to honour Mr. President’s invitation. She was heartbroken and not even the announcement by President Jonathan of N5 million monetary compensation to each of the 10 families could assuage her broken heart.
This is one pain this widow had wished she would never experience again, having lost her father in 2002. She is not afraid of the widow’s rites she might have to perform were she to come from some typical culture notorious for that ritual, she is afraid of the future without her loving and caring husband whom she had spent almost a decade with.
Tessy said, “I am relieved that, at least, we have been remembered and have been given N5 million in bank draft, which I have already collected, but I truly wish my four children would be given scholarship up to tertiary level, as their hardworking and loving father is no more.
“In Nigeria of today, N5 million is nothing if I am to give my children the kind of quality education my husband and I dreamt of, in no time it would be exhausted. I am pleading that Mr. President continues in his generosity and grant my children scholarship. I would also like to be employed as a junior staff in the Federal Civil Service. I need to earn an income on a constant basis so that I can train these children. I don’t want to become a nuisance to anybody.
“After Mr. President made the announcement, we were taken to a room where we had one-on-one with the Director General of the NYSC and he asked us to state what we wanted from government. I stood up and pleaded that I would love scholarship for my children and for me to be employed. This, he has noted, and was written down and he did assure me that this request would be presented to Mr. President,” Mrs. Adowei said.
Tessy, who had left their second child, Akene (five years old) and last child, Stanley (nine months old) behind with a relative, is yet to come to terms with the fact that her husband, who dots on his children while alive, was no more.
Recalling her last conversation with her husband before he died, Tessy said, “On the Monday he died, he had called to inform me that he was going to the bank to pay in money into my account for the children’s upkeep. I was waiting for his call so that I could go to the bank to withdraw the money when I got his call again informing me of the crisis and that he would not be able to go to the bank again until the situation normalised. He pleaded with me that he would do all he could to send the money.
I asked him where he was and if he was safe and he said he was taking refuge at a police station; then his phone went off. He called again to inform me that the crisis was getting bad, but promised to call me back. That was our last conversation, as I waited in vain to hear from him, not knowing he was already dead,” she broke down and cried.
According to Tessy, Elliot was a graduate of Computer Science from the University of Calabar. She painted a picture of how her husband survived while in school. “My husband is a genius, I am not exaggerating. And the children, especially my first son has already taken after him. He was a Mathematician and went out of his way to ensure the children got the best. He was not working, but we had an agreement that when he is done with his education it would be my turn to further my studies in higher institution.
He got assistance from his generous uncles, one of who is Chief E. K. Clark, and Colonel Clark, among other relatives, but I was also supporting him and our family from the stipend I make from hair platting and other petty business. We were very close and that is why even my family members are worried that I might harm myself now that he was no more. He had gained admission into UNICAL in 2000, but he had an accident and his education was stalled for a while. He returned to school with a medical report to continue, which explains why he was just doing his service now.
“My husband was very loving and wanted the best for his children. I am very proud of him and I am not sure I will ever get over him. My son got double promotion in school as a result of the foundation he got from the lessons my husband gave him, my son can solve some mathematical problems that even secondary school children cannot solve, and that is why I would want to continue with the foundation he laid to ensure they get the best. He had gotten lesson teacher for them that was teaching them three times in a week for N3,000, which explains why they were all doing well in school. And I don’t want them to drop in their academics at all. IThat’s the least I can do to keep his memory alive.
“I cannot stop talking about my husband’s kindness and generosity, other men would have used their education as an excuse not to drop money for the upkeep of the home and children, but he wasn’t like that. We had our own problems like any couple, he was short-tempered, but would quickly apologise and make amends each time we had disagreements. Any amount he got from his relatives or petty business he would spend on the children and I, and manage the rest on his schoolwork. He used to ensure that I read constantly, at least, a book a week so as to remain sharp and to prepare me for when I would enter higher institution also. We had our plans, we had our dreams and we had everything ahead of us until that Monday when he died. My sister, tell me how am I supposed to go on without him?
“When I lost my father in 2002, I almost committed suicide; he was the one that assured me that he would be my father, my husband and friend and he did not default in any of these responsibilities for one day. We were talking at five-minute intervals each day, God is my witness, I am not exaggerating. We had no secrets; we were very close.
And now, tell me how would I survive without him?
“He left behind his aged mother, Madam Unuedjaye Clark, she has been in constant touch since this incident, encouraging me even though she is crying, too. Out of her lean purse she sent me money once to take care of the kids, his family members have been very supportive because they knew how close my husband and I were. He was the only graduate in the family, a source of pride and joy to his mother in particular, and the family as a whole. Now, he is no more. It is wicked to take her star away from her, no matter the excuse. My children are also bitter, and say things that give me concern for children of their age. They keep asking why those people would take away their father, at times they console me when I cry and promise to take care of me. At such times my heart broke. They keep praying for their father as if he was still alive, covering him with the blood of Jesus, asking God for protection and at the same time telling me he is in heaven looking after them.”
Elliot Adowei, who has been described as the martyr of democracy by the Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, was among the 10 corps members that lost their lives in the senseless killings after the presidential polls on April 16. Others are Adewumi Paul (Ekiti), Okeoma Okechukwu Chibudom (Imo), Ukazeone Amsalem Chukwunonyere (Imo), Olawale Tosin (Kogi), Akonye Ibrahim Sule (Kogi), Gbejo Ebenizar Ayotunde (Osun), Adeniyi Kehinde Jelil (Osun), Anyanwu Agnes (Imo) and Okpokori Obina (Imo).
He was from Kiagbodo, Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State, where he met his wife, Tessy.
Jonathan had in addition to the N5 million, approved that each of the families, which has an unemployed graduate and is a direct sibling of the deceased, should forward the names to Director-General of NYSC, Major General Ismaila Tsiga, for processing and automatic employment in the Federal Civil Service.
Source : www.sunnewsonline.com
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