“I am ready to face the wrath of the law but I need my mother to forgive me. I never wished to make her a widow neither did I pluck out my father’s heart,” 35-year-old man, who allegedly killed his 73-year-old father in Lagos, has stated while pleading for forgiveness from his mother.
It would be recalled that residents of Abesan Estate in Lagos were thrown into confusion after a man, Nelson Oamen who lives in Block 272, flat 4 that stabbed his father, 73-year-old Ehiremen Oamen to death during an argument on September 21, 2015.
His family and neighbours claimed that they got the shock of their lives when they discovered that he also plucked out the heart of his father and fled with it.
However, Nelson, who had earlier escaped from the house reported at the Ipaja Police Division on September 29, and was transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Yaba, for further investigation. Nelson was said to have walked into the police station to report himself during which he allegedly confessed to the crime.
At the police station waiting to be charged to court, Nelson shared some details of that moment that altered his destiny with Saturday Sun correspondents, insisting that he did not pluck out his father’s heart.
Looking sober and holding unto a copy of the Bible, which was given to him by an evangelist, Nelson said that he had made peace with God.
According to him, God told him in the dream to hand himself over to the police if he wants to make heaven.
“I was terrified when I discovered that I had killed my father. I had no choice but to run away in order to think properly. With the little money that I could find at home, I ran to Ikorodu but the next morning, the news was everywhere that I killed my father. I cannot stay around where people know me and most importantly, I do not have enough money with me. I started sleeping under the bridge and in uncompleted buildings. My case became worse and I was also running from policemen who were arresting people living under the bridge.
“It was on September 28, while I was sleeping in an uncompleted house in Sango, that I saw my father in the dream. He told me that he has forgiven me, that I should stop running and hand myself over to the police. The man who was with him, whom I guess was God, told me that my family will forgive me, if I come out and that I will be safe inside the prison.
“I discovered that what they said was true, that is why I handed myself over to the police. I have repented of my sins, even if they send me to prison, my mission will be to serve the Lord all the days of my life,” he said.
On why he killed his father, Oamen, who admitted that he had been a drug addict, said that it was his father’s inability to keep to his promise of buying a car for him. “My father was an engineer at Apapa before he retired. They paid him good money and he promised to buy me a car so that I would use it for commercial transportation. I am a bricklayer, and you know that such work does not give you money. In order to be fit to do the job, I started smoking Indian hemp and other energy giving medicine. Instead of helping, the thing started making me weak and I also started keeping bad friends. I was even arrested by the police when they raided our hideout where we used to gather to drink and smoke Indian hemp. My father asked me to stay at home that he will surely buy me a car. I was always quarrelling with him because he has not done enough for me as his son. The man got a lot of money from his company when he retired and was wasting time. I was worried that he could finish the money.
“I warned him severally, that if he fails to buy the car for me or give me the money I will take it by force. Unfortunately, the devil heard my threats and took over my soul.
“On Friday evening, I was with my friends drinking and smoking. I decided to take excess and see the effect on my body. I suddenly decided to go and steal the money that night. I climbed the wall to the first floor and entered through the window into his room when my father was sleeping. He woke up and wanted to scream, that was when I picked a bottle and stabbed him on the neck and his body. I didn’t know what I was doing until I saw blood everywhere. I was terrified and jumped out again.”
On allegations that he took his father’s heart and escaped, Oamen said: “I did not take his heart. If it is missing, then someone in that house took advantage of the situation and collected his heart. My father was sick and had stroke. What kind of juju can anyone do with such a heart? I am not a ritualist neither was I paid to bring his heart. I was only high on drugs and lost my senses. I was determined to get my own share of my father’s wealth before he would finish it. He had seven children and I am the fourth child. I was not his favourite that was why I needed him to settle me. Unfortunately, it has taken the life of my dearest father and about to send me to prison.”
Begging for forgiveness, Nelson particularly called on his mother, to have mercy on him. “It was not my wish to make her a widow. I love my mother so much and she is aware that I cannot do anything to make her cry. She should understand that I was not in my senses when I stabbed my father. She has never come to visit me even though I am his son. A father can forget his child but a mother should have the heart to love his child no matter what. I want you to help me to beg her to forgive me. I am not asking her to release me from the prison but to forgive me as a mother. I am ready to pay for my sins on earth since almighty God and my father have forgiven me.
“And to my brothers and sisters, I am very sorry. It was not my intention to take away your father from you. I am deeply sorry. I also want to advise all those boys who are still smoking Indian hemp under the bridge to learn from my mistakes and change their ways of life,” he said.
As at press time, Saturday Sun learnt that the suspect will soon be charged to court.
Nelson’s elder sister, who came from Abeokuta, Ogun State shortly after the incident, said that she could not say what caused the argument between her father and Nelson.
She said that Nelson had attacked his father severally in the past. She was quoted to have said: “For about five years now, dad had been nursing a stroke and he could not work again. So, he used to stay at home. Nelson does not live permanently in the house. I was told that he came in through the window before committing the act. It was his younger sister, who has a shop in the area that came in few minutes after the incident to change her clothes that noticed bloodstains in the sitting room.
“She traced the blood stains to our father’s room and found out that he had been killed,” he said.