The Edo State Government has successfully repatriated a 27-year-old indigene, Godstime Uwoghiren, who was reportedly poisoned by his friends in Burkina Faso after purchasing a motorcycle.
Uwoghiren, who was said to have been paralysed as a result of the poisoning, arrived at the Benin Airport on Wednesday in the company of the Director-General of the Edo State Migration Agency, Lucky Agazuma, and other officials.
He was immediately taken in an ambulance to the Edo Specialist Hospital for urgent medical attention.
Briefing journalists, Agazuma explained that the agency’s intervention followed a directive from Governor Monday Okpebholo, who was informed of Uwoghiren’s condition.
“The governor insisted that we must rescue him even when it was difficult to get cooperation from his family. For four months, his sister refused to lead us to the family, and at some point, they even rejected our efforts. But the governor stood firm, and today, he is back home alive,” Agazuma said.
He advised parents to discourage their children from embarking on irregular migration, stressing that many Nigerians were facing severe hardships abroad.
Uwoghiren’s mother, Mrs. Susan Uwoghiren, expressed gratitude to the state government for coming to her son’s aid after months of anxiety.
She recounted, “He left the village to learn truck driving in Benin, but suddenly, he told his father he was travelling abroad. The next thing we heard was that he was in Burkina Faso. We kept in touch until recently when we couldn’t reach him anymore. Later, we discovered he was very ill. I told my pastor, and we began to pray. I thank God and the governor that he has finally returned.”
The rescue follows the agency’s recent operations, which saw the safe return of a young woman trafficked to Mali under false pretences and two minors intercepted in Kaduna on their way to Libya.
The Edo government has in recent years intensified its clampdown on irregular migration, criminalising the practice after reports revealed that many girls trafficked abroad were forced into prostitution. Governor Okpebholo has also pledged to continue rescuing victims stranded in foreign countries.
