Mr. Innocent or Oga Inno, as he was popularly known, was a gentleman. He had a quick smile and laughter was never far from his mouth.
Like most Nigerians, Oga Inno lived a hard life.
He couldn’t go to school in his younger years. So he learnt a trade and set up a shop afterwards in Umuahia. He struggled hard but he maintained an honest lifestyle, relying on hard work to get by.
On this particular Monday in early 2021, Oga Inno woke up feeling sluggish and not in the mood for the day’s hussle. He, however, forced himself to get moving as the thought of unpaid children’s school fees, accumulated rent and several other financial challenges kicked their way to the fore of his brain.
Oga Inno had no sooner opened his shop for business than he got a call that immensely excited him.
Little did he know it was a doomsday call.
A customer wanted an item he didn’t have but he knew where to source it and make a 2k profit.
He mounted his motorcycle and headed off to Obowo.
Shortly after entering Imo state, he was accosted by a group of thugs. The thugs were enraged that Oga Inno had defied their supreme leader’s orders to sit at home. Oga Inno, for once in his life, had no ready smile, no quick laughter.
All the poor terrified man had were tears.
All his cries and pleas to be spared for the sake of his young children fell on deaf ears. He even presented his heavily pregnant wife as a reason to be spared but to no avail.
Finally, Oga Inno thought, surely, everyone has a mother they feel affection for. The plight of a sick, aged mother who fully depended on him as her only son must sway these hardened hearts.
Oga Inno learnt the hard way that not all hearts can be softened.
Nothing mattered to his would-be executioners except that their supreme leader was disobeyed.
They clobbered poor Oga Inno to death and left him on the road like a meaningless road kill.
Today, a then-heavily pregnant young woman is a widow. Four little children are fatherless. An old woman is undergoing a baptism of fire since the news of her only son’s senseless violent death was broken to her.
All that poor Oga Inno did was try to win the bread for his family.
Oh, poor Mr. Innocent!
This is a true life story although the name was changed to protect the privacy of the family.
