BY CLIFFORD AGBA
UROMI – Religion seems to have separated a boy, Friday Emmanuel and his uncle, whose name was given as Idion Idemudia, a father of two in Uromi, Esan-North-East Local Government Area of Edo State.
It was gathered that Friday had lost his father, Esezobor Friday, a carpenter in 2010, after he was poisoned
This development, it was gathered resulted in his going to stay with her uncle Idemudia, a muslim in one of the northern states of Nigeria.
Prior to his going to live with his uncle in the northern state, he was living with his mother in Uromi.
However, living with his uncle turned out to be a misfortune for him after he rejected the proposal from his uncle to convert from christianity to the islamic religion.
The uncle’s wife, Helen compounded his problem following her collaboration with the uncle to maltreat him for not heeding her husband’s proposal for change of religion
Matter got worse for Emmanuel when his uncle denied him access to his late father’s property, including houses and landed property.
Idemudia was said to have vowed to kill Emmanuel if he ever set eyes on him, with a promise that his (Emmanuel) predicament can only be reversed if he denounced christianity religion and convert to Islam.
This, it was gathered led Emmanuel to report the matter to the Police, a development which never went well with his uncle, Idemudia, even though the Police said that the matter was a family affair for which they cannot interfere.
While the cold war lasted, Emmanuel, it was gathered had raised alarm that gun men ridding on a motorcycle were on his trail, ostensibly to kill him.
Emmanuel’s predicament got worse when the family of his wife went after him for marrying their daughter, an Ibo by tribe from Anambra State against the wish of the family and tradition of the Ibos.
It was gathered that Emmanuel’s double predicament’s has forced him into hiding and his whereabout unknown for sometime now.
A friend of his in the community who gave his name as Osato told newsmen that Emmanuel has faced several life threatening situation in the last two months.
In one of the occassions, he said Emmanuel was hit by armed men in a motorcycle consequent of which led him to stay in a medical facility where he was rushed to while unconscious
As at the time of this report, the cold war between Emmanuel and his uncle on the one hand and that of Emmanuel and his wife’s family seems to be degenerating and has undermined the peaceful coexistence of Emmanuel and the uncle’s household and the wife’s family
However, while the whereabout of Emmanuel could not be immediately known, his uncle, Idemudia declined comment on the matter and instead, referred this reporter to the Police.
