Posted by By CHUKS ONUOHA, Umuahia on
Between 1967 and 1970, when the civil war lasted, fate brought together a Yoruba soldier, who fought on the side of the federal troop.....
Between 1967 and 1970, when the civil war lasted, fate brought together a Yoruba soldier, who fought on the side of the federal troop and a pretty Igbo lady. This union had produced two kids. The place was Amaokwe Item, in Bende Local Government Area, Abia State. The people involved were Mercy Owoh and Ezekiel Akintola.
Although the union of the soldier and the lady did not get the blessing of the latter's family, the two left Amaokwe Item for the soldier's place of origin, in the South western part of the country soon after the civil war in 1970. The marriage however, broke up sooner than later, making the woman to return home with her two children, whom she left with her mother and travelled to the town for greener pasture.
Daily Sun gathered that the soldier had traced the woman to Amaokwe, where he managed to get the custody of the boy, named Oluwatoyin. The girl, Oluwafunke, was left with her maternal grand mother, who brought her up. She grew up as Nkiru.
Today, the girl is 32, married to a Kwara indigene and has a kid. She is however, not fulfilled. Her pains is predicated on the fact that she does not know her father, Ezekiel Akintola and his only brother, Oluwatoyin. The only thing she can say of her father is that he is from "somewhere in Ikirun, Ikire or Ikare" in the South West. She said that as a three-year-old kid, her mother had told her the name of her father's village on her sick bed.
"Even if my father is dead, I want to be reconciled to his family. I was told that I have a brother, I want to see him too," Oluwafunke said amid tears. 'And unless this is done, memories of the civil war and even the war itself will keep on ragging in my head," she said.
"My father was a soldier who fought on the side of the federal troop during the Nigerian civil war that lasted between 1967 - 1970 his name is Ezekiel Akintola alias Ajagbe. He is a Yoruba man who fought under 28 Lion Battalion, which operated between Alayi in the then East Central State and Asaba in the Mid Western State.
"During this period Ezekiel Akintola met and fell in love with one Mercy Owoh, my mother, a native of Amaokwe Item in the present day Bende LGA of Abia state. This relationship resulted in a pregnancy, even though the consent of my mother's parent was not got," she said.
Oluwafunke said that when her mother was at the point of death, she told her about the father and the village he came from.
"As a child I could not make out what she was saying, whether Ikirun or Ikire or Ikare, because she was too sick to speak. I could not really get the name rightly.
"Now I am 32 and married. I am married to a native of Kwara State and we are living in Umuahia, the Abia State capital. I do not feel fulfilled with all these. I still want to be united to my roots. I want to see my father, brother and probably other relations.
"I have faced much taunting and ridicule. It is becoming unbearable. Sometimes ago, I prevailed on my husband for us to go in search of my father, Ezekiel Akintola. All our effort failed us.
"If I had found my father, he would have been at my wedding. My wedding ceremony was an important part of my life, but my father was not present. There is need for me to see my father and know him. I want to see and know my root. I have suffered enough ridicule from friends. My heart is not at ease and will not be until I trace my root.
"I appeal to traditional rulers in Yorubaland, well meaning Yoruba people, Nigerians and anyone who can help me locate my father, Ezekiel Akintola aka Ajagbe or his relations or anyone who knows my brother, Oluwatoyin. I can be reached through The Sun newspaper office in Umuahia or on phone no 08035816474. I never enjoyed the love of a mother, neither did I enjoy that of a father and brother Oluwatoyin ."