Why Former DG of IBC Killed His Wife; Says She Is Sleeping

By Charles Igbo

In the 1980s when Sir T.C. Okere held sway as the Director General of the Imo Broadcasting Corporation, IBC, he was clearly one of the best Electronic Media Managers in the South Eastern part of the country.

That was the golden years of the then powerful Imo State Government-owned Radio station. It was unarguably the best East of the Niger.

Sir Okere was a good administrator. Urbane, with a wife and family he adored, but he had since retired. And aged.

At about 84 years, he had no use for life in the city – the city being Owerri, the capital of Imo State. In his active years, that was where he lived. But accomplished and retired, there was no better place to spend his remaining years on earth than his native Imerienwe, in Ngor-Okpala LGA. He lived among his people, with his wife, enjoying the serene, cool and calm environment, away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

At 84, the many challenges of life, associated with old age have set in. One of them is dementia, a difficult condition to manage. It is a family’s nightmare.

For sometime, Sir Okere has battled the disease. But he was being well managed, or so everybody thought. Afterall, his wife of 50 years, herself, a retiree of the College of Agrculture, Umuagwo, now a state Polytechnic, in her 70s.

But on Monday, an unexpected tragedy struck. Sir Okere stabbed his wife to death in their once serene and welcoming home.

It is not known whether the elderly couple had any altercation with each other. Or what triggered the monumental tragedy. But by the time he was through with his wife, she lay in the pool of her blood. Dead.

Sources close to the family attribute it to Sir Okere’s dementia status. He didn’t know what he was doing , or did, they submitted.

Proof: After the bloody deed, he told shocked villagers his wife was asleep.  Nor is this tragedy the only proof.

One Sunday, he reportedly went to Chuch. Church service over, he came out and told everybody he was looking for his car, that it has been stolen from the Church premises where he parked it. But his car was parked at home.

It is not known whether the couple lived alone. At their ages, it will be odd if they did. And it is not known if there were witnesses, or why he could not be restrained, or over-powered by anybody before the deed.

The Imo state Police Command says it is investigating.  It is such a tragic end to a once sunny life.