WE NEVER ABANDONED OLIVER UTUAMA - FAMILY

BY Festus Ahon
UGHELLI - Utuama family in Otu-Jeremi, headquarters of Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State, yesterday, said they would not abandon the burial of their late son, Mr. Oliver Utuama, to a third party.

In a statement by Mr. Andrew Utuama and Mr. Emmanuel Owhodiame, the family will bury late Oliver after police investigation was completed and post-mortem report released.

The statement said: 'We are constrained to respond to reports in sections of the media on the death of our son, Oliver, who died in a road accident on October 20.

'Ordinarily, we would have ignored the said reports in view of the family's present mood. But since the said publications, the family had been inundated with several calls by well meaning persons, who strongly feel we should disabuse the minds of the public.

'First, we wish to state that the death of our son on that fateful day was not out of want of care neither from the family nor from the Deputy Governor. He was given as much attention by the family and Prof. Amos Utuama during his lifetime.

'Besides, that he died in an auto crash in itself is not the making of the family nor is he the first to die in that manner. The rich and poor die in accidents.

'Death is a necessary end that would come when it would come, which no mortal has control over. It is also not in the place of man to decide when and how he or she would die. To that end, we see nothing strange and unusual in the manner of our son's death. It is only God Almighty that decides the circumstance of a man's death.

'It is baffling to suggest and insinuate that the action and inaction of the family or the Deputy Governor was responsible for the unfortunate death of Oliver.

'It is a common place practice in most Nigerian communities for sympathisers, friends and relatives to give out money to spouse and children of the deceased in their period of bereavement. That does not and cannot translate to contribution towards burial.'