“That very night, my husband returned from an outing with his twin brother a little late because of a religious programme that obstructed movement on their way back. When I called him at about 10.00 p.m. he said he was in a barbing saloon and would soon be home and truly he got back at about 11.00 p.m. He took his bath and ate and we went to bed shortly after,” she stated. Then the gunmen invasion. And being the first person in the family to notice them, she added: “I ran out to inform my husband that armed robbers had entered and we immediately put off all the lights in the house.”
According to her, the intruders started breaking into their neighbour’s apartment downstairs while she was busy calling people on phone to inform them about the development but many of the contacts were not reachable including an uncle, retired Brig. General Dominic Oneya. She kept making the calls until the hoodlums entered their apartment. “I tried my mum’s number too and it was not going.”
She was gripped with fear and not knowing what else to do as the hoodlums started “breaking into our compound and I was afraid that they would soon enter our flat. My husband tried to pacify me, saying I should not panic since he had some money in his room. Truly, he went into his room and brought out N100,000 and I brought out another N30,000 and my laptop.”
The suspected robbers, according to her, spent over one hour in the premises while they were pleading with them to take it easy, “that the door was already opened but, unknown to us, they were breaking the wall and not the iron door. They asked me to open the door which I did and I was begging them not to shoot. They were six in number but four of them entered while two others stayed at the passage, apparently keeping watch. They instructed me to lie face down and my husband was pleading with them, saying he would cooperate and give them anything they wanted. I was there on the ground praying God to take control.
“As my husband was pleading with them, one of them said he was talking too much and he shot him. I could not see what happened because I was lying face down but I felt my husband slumped to the ground. I started shouting `Jesus’. I heard footsteps moving to my kitchen and they opened the fridge and took out drinks which they drank while my husband was bleeding profusely on the floor. “When they finished, they asked me what I had to entertain them and I went to my husband’s room and gave them two foreign wines. They drank one there and left with the other. They asked me to lock the doors with a stern warning that if I shouted, they would come back and finish me.”
Knowing that time was not on her side, she made for her room where she could peep through her windows to observe whether they had gone and she saw them entering the neighbouring compound. Still afraid that they could return to make good their threat.
, Maureen, perplexed by the pitiable sight of her husband lying on the floor, took out a towel to administer first aid treatment, at least, to reduce the flow of blood from the husband’s bowels while trying again to make calls.
“With a towel, I began to stop the blood that was coming out. He was already tired by then. I started calling my brother-in-law. I was shouting for help but no one answered me. I asked my son to go downstairs and ask for help. Some of the neighbours later came and we took him first to nearby Ekpan General Hospital, but we were told that medical workers were on strike. My brother-in-law caught up with us there and they took him to another hospital and that was the last time I saw my husband,” she narrated amid tears.
Born on August 11, 1963, the late Arhere was a staunch Catholic who worshipped at St. Jude Catholic Church, Effurun GRA.
On a day where everything refused to respond to save a life, his twin brother, Chief Duke Arhere, who initially opted to go wherever his brother was going because he just couldn’t believe that his better half was no more, managed to shed light on his brother’s last moments that fateful night.
He narrated how the twosome had gone out for a party at Ayagha, that Friday night, and they returned at about 6.00 p.m., but decided to hang out with some friends in the neighbourhood and, after a while, “I asked Richard to take me home because my car was not in good shape. But we pushed it and it started.” At about 10.00 p.m. he called his twin brother to ask after his welfare and that one told him that he was having a hair cut, after which he would go home, only to be awakened at about 2.00 a.m. that Richard’s home was under attack by armed robbers.
“Immediately, with panicky eyes, I made a few calls and woke up neighbours to help me push my car and I rushed out to G. Agofure Motors with the hope of alerting soldiers on guard there but I could not see any. The car disappointed and I had go back to the house only to discover that my wife’s car had no fuel and I had to wake up my neighbour to give me his car; but before I could get to my brother’s place, I was told the robbers had shot him and left. On my way, I met some policemen who, instead of following me, advised that I should wait,” he said.
Eventually when he got to the hospital, it was the lifeless body of his brother that was in his elder brother’s car and every attempt to resuscitate him proved abortive; immediately he went hysterical.
“He was shot in the belly after they had collected all his jewelries, money and other valuable items, even when he was begging them not to shoot,” he said with tears rolling down his cheeks. “After the shooting, they still asked for drinks and they were given canned drinks but they refused until they were offered foreign wines with alcohol.”
The death, which could have been avoided if the elements did not cooperate with the hoodlums, actually devastated the entire family as the elder brother, Chief Sam Arhere, testified. He was one of the few persons contacted on phone after the attack and he immediately rushed out to the scene with his wife to begin a merry-go-round in search of an hospital to save the dying man. “Thinking that Richard was still alive we rushed him to a private hospital, but there was no light. Before the nurses could leisurely wake up and set things in order, he was gone. I shook him and called his name but he did not answer again.”
As a member of the PCRC in the neighbourhood, he had called the DPO at Effurun Police Station and the anti-robbery section and got assurances that they would be at the scene of crime immediately. “As I approached my brother’s house, the police warned me to stay away because there had been a shootout between them and the robbers but my wife was communicating with Richard’s wife. It was then that she told my wife that they were rushing Richard out to Ekpan General Hospital where we eventually met them.”
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