October has in recent times been a month of sorrow, pains, anguish,
and also a month of bundle of joy; joy unspeakable for the Obioma
Ogukwe family of Ufuma in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anmabra
State.
On October 15, 2013, the first son of the family, Austin,
was murdered at Ideal College, Ghana. On the night of October 2, 2015,
preceding the day of his burial, Austin’s mother, Augustina, was
delivered of triplets, all males.
At the burial ceremony of
Austin at Ufuma, when the news of the birth of a triplets was broken,
mourning turned to jubilation, dancing, celebration and revelry.
The Ogukwes, who felt that the world was collapsing on them, are now singing a new song of praise to God.
Mr.
Obioma Ogukwe is the General Manger, Finance, The Sun Publishing
Limited, while his wife, Augusta, is manager with AIICO insurance and
also into fashion business.
Narrating her experience with Saturday Sun, Augustina said she was overwhelmed with joy.
According
to her, Austin was her first child; a boy they loved so much, and was
sent to Ideal College in Ghana, and in less than 12 days, he was
murdered there.
This, she said, led them to different
authorities, including the National Assembly and believing that
something would come out of it, but for almost two years, even to
retrieve the corpse was very hard because of the amount of money she
said they were asked to pay, which they couldn’t afford.
“I cried
myself to death; something was missing in my life; even Austin’s
siblings couldn’t be comforted. I thought the word had come to an end.
Few
weeks ago, God used the Managing Director of The Sun Ghana, Mr. Shola
Osunkeye to facilitate the retrieval of my son’s corpse and he was laid
to rest last Saturday. I couldn’t travel for the burial because I was
so heavy, it was my husband who went for the burial in our village,
Ufuma in Orumba North, Anambra State.”
Mrs Ogukwe said that her
becoming pregnant was a miracle, noting that, when Austin was
murdered, many pastors consoled and told her that God was going to
replace in hundred folds what has been lost, which, she said, she
doubted.
She said: “It was when I travelled to the United States
with my husband that I discovered that I was pregnant and I couldn’t
believe it.
I was supposed to deliver the babies in the US, but
towards the due date, as I was about entering my car, a motorcycle hit
me and broke my leg, so I couldn’t travel again.
“Penultimate
Friday, I wasn’t feeling comfortable and it was a day before Austin’s
burial, so my husband dropped me off at the hospital, before he
travelled and in the midnight, I was delivered of triplets, all males.
The first came, they said the second was coming, and the third came.
To God be the glory, we are happy and full of joy again.”
On
why she didn’t know through scan that she was carrying triplets, she
said she went for scan and it revealed twins, but they were not sure of
the third one, “ but we were believing God’s will to be done in our
lives.”
According to her, she had five children, and with the
death of Austin, they remained four and now there are seven – four males
and three females.
Austin, she said, was her first experience in
life as a mother, noting that she married at a very tender age, and so,
he was more or less like her mate and they were very close, and grew
together.
Before his death, Austin, she said, was as tall as his
dad, and they had already started calling him engineer, because he was
already fixing many technical problems at home.
“I was becoming
insane; I could neither sleep nor eat. I was seeing him every now and
then and I thought that the world was collapsing on me because this was a
boy we sent to school and even gave them instruction that he was just
there to prepare for exams and not to be involved in other activities.
“They
just called casually to tell us that our son was dead. It was a rude
shock. Moreover, in a family of nine and about 40 grandchildren, we
have not had such experience, he was the first to die.
“It was
heavy on me that I asked God what my sins were that I should deserve
that. Each time I sat with the other children, I felt something was
missing. It even affected one of the children that he started acting
strangely that we had to send him to a school where they were
counselling and rehabilitating him to put Austin’s death behind him. It
was really very difficult.”
She pointed that the failure of
Nigerian authorities to act in the case of Austin led to such other
tragedies to Nigerian students in foreign countries – Dubai, London,
etc.
She noted that since Nigeria kept quite and Ghana got away with it, other countries followed suit.
When
it happened, they met with many people but at the end of the day, she
said it was all disappointments, and thought that God has left them and
that it was all over.
“I was never really myself again, but today, the story is different, Augustina said.
Mrs.
Ogukwe said this development has taught her a big lesson. The first is,
never to give up, and secondly to realise that God is not man, you
might be thinking in one direction but at the appointed time you don’t
know what God has in store for you. Focus on God and in His time he
would put a smile on your face.
“My kids were saying since Austin
was no more, we needed three more. I would just dismiss them because
they are kids, they don’t know anything.
I was asking God even if it were twins, but I wasn’t expecting triplets.”
Her message is for people to look up to God, the Author and Finisher of their faith; to believe and get closer to Him.
“Again,
my husband was always there for me. When he came in from Ghana, he told
me, ‘Mummy, stop crying, Austin would come back’. That was what also
helped to keep me going. That statement was always ringing in my ears,
that my husband said Austin would come back, he was not dead, and when
he comes back, we would still name him Austin. That encouraging
statement kept me going.
Assuming he wasn’t there to console me and
give me that hope and made me believe that Austin would still come back,
it would have been worse for me.”
Her husband had consoled her
that another Austin was coming, and now it is triplets, would they be
named, Austin 1, Austin 2, Austin 3? She answered: “Maybe, we share his
names. He was also called Ebuka, and Chukweneme.”
Raising
triplets is not easy, asked if they will solicit public support, Mrs
Ogukwe said she had read stories of parents of triplets soliciting
public support to raise the babies, and even some husbands running away
when their wives gave birth to triplets.
These ones, she said are in the right place, and to the glory of God, we are capable of raising them.
“The babies arrived on the night breaking into the day Austin was to be interred, to announce that Austin was back.
Even
in the village where the atmosphere was gloom, and people were mourning
as Austin was to be interred, the announcement of the birth of triplets
threw the mourning crowd into jubilation, dancing and celebration.
Augustina
said for sure, she blasphemed God, and even at a time she didn’t want
to go to church again because she questioned the reason for praising God
when He was there and her son was murdered.
“Yes, I thought I
was so closed to Him, and when this happened, I found it difficult to
comprehend why He should allow someone to murder my son.
“But
when I realised that without God, it is death, I started going closer
again and asking for His forgiveness because He knew why such a thing
happened in the first place.
“My last baby, the fifth, is close
to nine years. So, I had stopped and wasn’t even ready for any child. We
had closed everything about child bearing. Though we were not
expecting another child, we left it to God that if it was His will to
replace Austin, He should go ahead.
Even the fifth child that is
getting to nine, I named her Angel, because when I was told that I was
pregnant, I said it was not possible that it must be an Angel that came
visiting. After her, I tried to close the chapter but God said it was
not over.
Also speaking with her husband, Obioma, who couldn’t
contain his joy, told Saturday Sun that he was very happy because he was
very depressed when they lost Austin.
Highlighting on the death
of Austin, he said, when they called to tell them that he was dead, “we
enquired about the cause of death, the Ghanaian authority said it was a
case of drowning. But, we asked why wounds all over his body and the
photograph taken by the police showed that he was foaming in the mouth.
Again, why he drowned and the body found on the shore just three hours
after they said they were looking for him. I didn’t believe it was a
case of drowning. I believe there was a foul play, but the Ghanaian
police felt otherwise. I disputed the autopsy report, since that time,
it became an issue until the Nigerian Embassy asked me to withdraw all
the suits so that it would pave way for the Ghanaian authority to
release the corpse.”
He expressed the family’s gratitude to Mr.
Shola Osunkeye, MD, The Sun Ghana, the Nigerian Ambassador in Ghana and
Femi Falana SAN, and also Hon Abike Dabiri, who also visited Ghana with
the House Committee on Diaspora on this matter.
“We thank God
that eventually we got the body of Austin and buried him on October 3.
While we were mourning in the village, my wife announced to me that we
have been blessed with three boys. My joy knew no bounds. Right from
that moment, I stopped mourning, and in the village we were caught up
with jubilation and I returned to Lagos to see the babies and they were
hale and hearty with my wife. All of them are in good health.
“Very
soon, they would return to our house and I’m making arrangement for
people that can assist us in taking care of them. With the exigency of
my work, it will be hard for me to have a leave of absence at this
time.”
Mr. Ogukwe admonished people not to mourn as if they have
no hope and should in everything give thanks to God because He knows why
certain things happen.
“He took one and blessed us with three.
It is only God that can do it and not man. We should look up to God if
He has not finished with you, you should not be disappointed, because He
would always have you to laugh last.”