National Issues
The Buried Case of Gloria Okon and the Death of Dele Giwa -By Oyekanmi Abdul Warith
Dele was sitting across the table from Kayode examining the photos taken of “Gloria Okon” (Chinyere, Richard Chandler’s wife) at the naming ceremony in London. Maryam Babangida was there. And then, a letter parcel was delivered to him (Dele Giwa) and he said excitedly that it must be from “Mr. President”, referring to the discussions he had with IBB days earlier. The bomb exploded and severed his lower abdomen; he died a few hours later.
Many Nigerians can remember vividly, the incident that occur on the 22nd of April 1985, when the national security arrested a 35-year old woman at the Aminu kano international airport, smuggling substances like heroin and other type of hard drugs, she was about to leave Nigeria for England before she was caught with 53.60 of the substances. 301 dollars, 60 pounds sterling, N20,000 and 19,000 Italian lira.
The story of Gloria Okon was everywhere across the country, that everyone wished to hear something about then, her news flooded both the local and international media, and then the fate of anybody who did such is death as this was written in decree 20 of General Muhammad Buhari during his regime in the military. But on April 28, 1985, six days after Gloria Okon was arrested, she died in a very mysterious and controversial manner while in custody.
Gloria Okon
The medical report stated that the cause of her death was food poisoning. It was said that she didn’t show any sign of illness when arrested until a day after. A custom officer who kept Gloria Okon in custody said that on the day she was arrested, she requested for rice and beans and she was given, and later she started complaining, then died. Before her death, she was interrogated but refused to talk. She only left a very slim clue; she mentioned the name Bassey but without a second name which dragged the investigation to a dead end. Oldnaija.com gathered that none of Gloria Okon’s relatives showed up to claim her corpse and that further shed light on the dark part of the saga.
After Babangida removed Buhari from power, Gani Fawehinmi, a prolific lawyer, set to revive the investigation of Gloria Okon’s case but ended up crashing into the walls of Haliru Akilu and Kunle Togun, top security agents of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.
Maryam, Gloria Okon and Ibrahim Babangida
In the absence of no conclusion on Gloria Okon’s case, several speculations began to spread like wildfire among Nigerians. Some believed that Gloria Okon was working for the first lady, Mariam Babangida, and Okon was killed so that she won’t reveal the secret. Some people also believed that Gloria Okon’s death was faked and the corpse sent to her family was not hers. It was also said that she was living her normal life over the seas while portrayed dead in Nigeria.
In June, 2009, Professor Taiyemiwo Ogunade, in an interview with The Nation, said: “Gloria Okon is actually Chinyere, that’s her real name. She married Charles “Jeff” Chandler, the fellow who killed Nzeogwu and was killed a day later. Chinyere, Maryam and Princess Atta were young friends who hung out together. They all married into the military, because the military was a proud and respectable profession then. Charles Chandler, who was Tiv, married Chinyere who I think is from Imo State. IBB married Maryam from Asaba and Mamman Vatsa married the princess. So Chinyere became a widow and resorted to trading between UK and Nigeria.
And then she was caught with drugs; Mamman Vatsa was the person who put Chinyere on the next available flight from Kano to London – and then claimed that she was dead by parading a dead woman picked out of the mortuary. Dele Giwa later found out that she was in London having delivered a baby by another man. He sent a French photographer to the place and they saw Maryam Babangida at the event. Kayode Soyinka brought back the photographs.
Dele was sitting across the table from Kayode examining the photos taken of “Gloria Okon” (Chinyere, Richard Chandler’s wife) at the naming ceremony in London. Maryam Babangida was there. And then, a letter parcel was delivered to him (Dele Giwa) and he said excitedly that it must be from “Mr. President”, referring to the discussions he had with IBB days earlier. The bomb exploded and severed his lower abdomen; he died a few hours later.
Oyekanmi Abdul Warith
Till today, the mysterious case of Gloria Okon has not been solved and no one seems to be interested in re-opening the closed case; permanently closed case? A question worth asking!
Hummi’s Pride is a 100 level English language student of UDUS.
