“Governor Rochas Okorocha Puts Me In This Mess” Father Of Seven Says…

By Akpabio Aniema

It was a state of confusion yesterday in Owerri, as a father of seven children, tied them, which includes his triplets to a wheelbarrow and was heading to an unknown destination before officials of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development intervened. It was revealed that the father of seven, 44 years old Isreal Dike, who tied his children hands firmly to a wheelbarrow and drove them about soliciting for buyers for the children, saying that he was fed up with his deteriorating economic fortunes is a native of Odenkume, Obowo LGA of Imo State, but resides in Ugwu Ekwema, Egbu Road, Owerri.

One of the staff of the ministry who rescued the children said, ‘‘Following a tip off, a high powered team led by the Commissioner of the Women Affairs, Mrs Nma Onyechere, quickly went and rescued the children.’’ Apart from disclosing that he planned on selling some of them with a view to enable him take proper care of others, Mr Dike equally lamented that Governor Rochas Okorocha put him in the mess he has found himself today. He said, ‘‘Owelle Okorocha is the cause of what I am passing through today, he made a promise in the past and has failed to redeem it till today.’’

The Commissioner of the ministry described Mr Dike as a ‘‘depressed man, who is mentally deranged.’’ The Commission also advised his wife, Mrs Dike, to go for a family planning programme and equally promised that government will carefully ascertain the level of the man’s mental state. The Commissioner said that the ministry would find a way of giving out the children to foster parents with a view of providing adequate care and education for them.