*Prof SIJ Onwusonye Pays An Emotional Tribute
By Charles Igbo
More details are unravelling on the tragic end of Lady Beatrice Okere who was stabbed to death, penultimate week, by her husband of 50 years.
You would recall that Sir Theophilus C. Okere, a former Director General of the Imo Broadcasting Corporation, IBC , stabbed his wife to death at their country home, Imerienwe, in the Ngor Okpala LGA, Imo State. While he was in his 80s, his wife was in her 70s.
Nobody knows exactly why Sir Okere killed his wife in such a violent manner. What is known, however, is that he may not have known what he did at the time. He is said to be suffering from a fairly advanced stage of dementia – to the extent that on killing his wife, he was oblivious of what he did. When asked of his wife’s whereabouts after the fact, he said she was asleep.
Second Death In The House
Perhaps, many did not there was an earlier death in the house. That death, some people now say, may have complicated his state of mind.
At the time Sir Okere killed his wife, their son was in the mortuary, waiting to be laid to rest.
This magazine was not able to confirm when he died, or what killed him, but he and his late wife were mourning their son when he had a brain wave, and stabbed her to death.
Professor SIJ Onwusonye, FNIQS, Pays Emotional Tribute
Sir Okere and his wife started out as teachers. Both were Tutors at the famous Holy Ghost College, Owerri. He taught Economics, while his wife taught Mathematics.
One of their students at Holy Ghost College S.I.J. Onwusonye, has been inconsolable since the tragic incident. A renowned Professor of
Quantity Surveying, Onwusonye is now of the Imo State University, from where he is called upon to supervise doctoral students by many Nigerian Universities. Onwusonye is yet to come to terms with the tragedy that befell the Okeres. In an emotional voice, he told The Source that the couple was their role model in school.
He said:”The two were very close. Always together when they had no classes, they were so happy, and very much in love with each other that even the blind saw it. Young then, many of us said we would pattern our married lives after them. I cannot begin to think, or imagine, that he could raise his hand against his wife.” With a shake of the head, the Prof. declared: “Devil is a liar. May her soul rest in peace, and may her husband not realise what he did because he would kill himself too.”
Mrs Okere Was An Academic
The late Beatrice Okere was an academic. She was a lecturer at the Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri. Engr. Chris Ibe, FNSE, a former Chief Inspector of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, COREN, Imo State branch, who was a lecturer at the Polytechnic at same time as Mrs Okere, remembers her as an easy-going woman who loved her job and her students. She was good.
She left the Polytechnic for the College of Agriculture, Umuagwo, where she later became an Acting Rector, then the Rector, before she retired from service.
Devout Catholics
The late Mrs Okere and her husband were devout Roman Catholics. They were founding members of the Catholic Charismatic in Owerri.
Not a few people think their devotedness to their faith, even at old age, may have, ironically, contributed to the fate that befell them.
Even with his dementia-status, he was a regular in their local Church, and he and his wife encouraged everybody in the house with them not to miss morning Mass.
When this magazine wondered if they lived alone at their ages, a reliable source said:”They had people living with them. They must have gone to morning Mass, as usual, because it was like a law in the house, without knowing what would be afoot. If they were there, they would have overpowered him, and saved his wife.”
Sir Okere was arrested after the killing, and taken into custody by the Police. It is not known if he is still in Police custody, or in a health facility, given his health-status.
