By Danjuma Amodu
As a son bred and raised in Okpo, Olamaboro LGA, Kogi State, the Okpo we call home is a land of peace, camaraderie, and love in its purest form.
For decades, we have settled quarrels with dialogue, not with batons. Except for that dark day when youthful exuberance and gang-like clashes claimed the life of Onuche Omede, and the other brazen killing two months ago by vigilantes who were called to mediate a mere fight between a brother and his sister, this town has never raised a hand against its own. We do not spill the blood of our brothers. But these successive tragedies demand that men and women of goodwill rise to stop this. Today, Okpo bleeds, and the land weeps for its own in a sombre state.
Andrew Ahmenson is dead. Not by armed robbers. Not by strangers. But in the hands of men paid to protect, on the grounds of a school built to heal. A young man in distress, battling mental health challenges, unarmed, known to his killers, was beaten and shot. This is brother against brother. This is a wound on the soul of Okpo.
We have read the press statement by the institution. It is good that one finally came, but it left a bad taste. It was not diplomatic enough to calm the nerves of a grieving mother and siblings who lost another son this year and are already battling life without a father figure due to death.
We have heard “intruder.” We reject it.
You do not call your brother an intruder when he is in pain. You do not call him an intruder when he lies lifeless. That word is deceit. That word is a second death.
To Nana College of Nursing, Okpo: Your admission of “excessive force” is a start, but it is not enough. Return to your table with men of goodwill and fashion a response the family can accept, without ridicule or the guilty conscience of not doing enough for the repose of their son.
I urge us to avoid a media war of “we versus them” between the youth, the students, and the family. No lies. No cover-up. Stop the deceit. Stop polishing tragedy with grammar. The youth of Olamaboro will not watch truth be buried with Andrew. We know ourselves. We know who did what.
Borrowing The Guardian newspaper’s motto, “Conscience is an open wound, only truth can heal it,” let me say this: openness is the only apology that heals. Okpo is bleeding, but Okpo can heal. Openness is the only apology that heals. Accept wrongdoing genuinely, not with legal maneuvering. The school has the names of the security men on duty that fateful night and those at the gate. Hand those names to the appropriate security agency. If they have disappeared from duty after the act, let the law take its course. Suspension is not justice. Prosecution is. That, I believe, will calm the nerves of the aggrieved.
Let Andrew rest in peace. The family deserves comfort, not press releases. Paying for burial is not atonement. Look his mother in the eyes and say, “We failed you.” Mean it. Own it. Do it genuinely, alongside men of goodwill in the community. Death is inevitable for us all.
Okpo has always been peace. We settled disputes under trees, and in those days on farmlands or during palm-wine gatherings tapped from the palm tree which stands as our logo, a symbol of unity like the Eiffel Tower in France. It stood firm at the triangle of our unity in Olamaboro at Okpo centre, not with guns. We do not want this town turned into a battlefield of press statements and propaganda.
The only way to keep Okpo peaceful is truth. The only way to honor Andrew is justice. The only way to comfort the family is genuine remorse, not public relations or media war.
We lost Onuche Omede once. We lost another soul when vigilantes summoned to mediate a family dispute turned on our own. We must not lose Okpo to silence, indolence, and lies now.
Let the dead rest.
Let the living speak truth.
Let brothers not kill brothers again.
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Danjuma is a member of the Okpo Community, a publisher and public affairs analyst based in Abuja. He writes on governance, politics, digital infrastructure, and public policy.
