Pathetic story of two mentally sick siblings in Delta

The rate of mental disorder among young people in Warri and its environs in Delta State is alarming. EBENEZER ADUROKIYA takes a close look at the conditions of two siblings who are out of their minds in Agbassa (Agbarha) community in the heart of the commercial city.

OKIEMUTE and Brorien (surname withheld) are two young men born of the same parents. They hail from an extended family (name withheld) at Otovwodo Agbarha community in Warri, Delta State.

The elder, Okiemute, constantly appears more in tattered clothes. He is sometimes sighted in clean but funny feminine clothes such as micro shorts and tops, high heel female footwear and earphones, strolling along Warri-Sapele Road and adjoining streets. Neighbours said the clothes are used waers donated by sympathisers. Okiemute is dark-complexioned, tall, lanky and handsome. He possesses some muscle which some neighbours usually capitalise on to send him on errands such as vending water for local restaurants and domestic use. Sadly, he often does these chores with his private parts uncovered in broad daylight, at Ginuwa Junction. Sometimes in the course of these errands, he moves across Ginuwa T-junction by sides of commercial vehicles and tricycles unconcerned by the danger of such an action. Feelers have it that those who engage him in such errands are responsible for his daily feeding.

The younger, Brorien, appears in similar attires but is hardly engaged in chores. Although he is more handsome, he looks frail. His fragile frame, it was gathered, stemmed from acute hunger. To confirm the claim of the neighbours, Saturday Tribune watched him several times as he searched for victuals in light refuse bins in his sagging trousers. Both siblings have no shelter, which is the reason why they pass the night wherever night falls.

Saturday Tribune sought audience with some distant relations of this troubled duo. Miss Ikele Praise traced their mental illness to what she described as a generational curse. She claimed that even before their father, whose name she gave simply as Solomon, died, people had conjectured that he was also mentally unstable. “When their father died, they were both living with their grandmother. When they brought in their younger brother to live with them in their family compound, after some time, that one started behaving abnormally but they quickly took him away,” she said.

Another distant relation who identified herself only as Madam Gweke disclosed that their father was childless after being married to many women until he married their late mother, Juliana, popularly called Julie, who eventually had four children for him. Two of the quartet died, she added. Afraid of losing the two surviving boys remaining, she took them to Sapele to live with her mother.

Madam Gweke said after spending some years in Sapele, Julie returned to Warri with the boys hale and hearty. But as of this time, her husband (the father of the boys) had died. “She continued caring for the boys until she died as well,” Madam Gweke said. According to her, the aftermath of their mother’s death was hunger and neglect and the older of the two brothers, Okiemute, under the influence of peer pressure in the neighborhood, taking to the consumption of weeds and other mind-bending substances. Soon, the drugs caused changes in his behaviour as he began to wander from street to street picking litters. As of the time the elder went into psychiatric disorder, the younger, Brorien, had just finished his secondary education. He was said to be preaching the Gospel in the neighborhood until he started behaving hysterically and muttering strange words.

Some concerned neighbours took him to a church which was holding a special programme and the guest cleric was said to have prayed for him. He was said to have got his healing instantly. But a few months later, the mental ailment returned.

Saturday Tribune stumbled on a friend of the mother of the two young men who identified herself as Florence (surname withheld). She described Julie, the men’s mother, as a close pal but gave a different version of the probable cause of the mental illness plaguing the men. “Julie was very close to me when she was alive. She hailed from Oghara town. As wives in Agbarha community, Warri, we are known as Egvweya (committee of wives) of Agbarha. Out of all the wives in the community, she was the closest to me. According to Julie, she had four children but two of them, a boy and a girl, were not fathered by Mr Solomon, her husband. They were children she had for another man before getting married to Mr Solomon. Because she was having issues with her husband, she left for her mother’s place at Sapele to stay and cool off for a while. While in Sapele, it was alleged that the older of the boys, Okiemute, stole his grandmother’s ‘meeting money’ but unknown to the grandmother that her grandson was responsible for the theft, she placed a curse before a family idol that whosoever stole the money would run mad as well as generations after him or her.

“But before she placed the curse, the grandmother pleaded with her grandsons to confess if they stole the money but their mother defended them that they were innocent and had never been accused or found pilfering. Some years after the incident, Julie returned with the boys from Sapele to Warri. The boys were doing fine. They were even done with their secondary education. But Okiemute suddenly started behaving strangely and before they realised what was happening, he had completely gone mad.

“The mother started taking him from one church to another seeking solution to her son’s illness. It was in one of those churches that she was told that the sickness of Okiemute was as a result of a curse that was placed on him by his grandmother. But unfortunately, the grandmother had died years before. The mother said she couldn’t do anything because only her mother could break the curse. Some years later, she took ill and was admitted to a hospital where I was working then. When she was there, it was the younger one, Brorien, was bringing food for her. She died months later.

“After her death, due to lack of care, Brorien also became mentally ill. He was like that until a pastor that was invited to a church in the community prayed for him and delivered him. He was well for some time. After about five months, the mental illness returned, perhaps worse than the first time,” Florence said.

A paternal uncle of Okiemute and Brorien, Pa John (surname withheld), also gave Saturday Tribune an insight into the plight of the young men. He said although he was not living in the area during the period, he learnt that a curse placed on Okiemute was responsible for his mental illness. He said he was, however, at a loss as to why Brorien got affected by the curse.

“It was Okiemute who stole the money. And it was not supposed to affect the younger one. Brorien was a very lively boy. He went around preaching the Gospel. From what I have seen and what people have said, Brorien is a very brilliant boy who was always taking the first position in his class throughout his primary and secondary school education. The few times took the second position, he cried. He started doing evangelism after his secondary education. After some time, after the mother died, the illness came upon him. As family, we tried. We took him from church to church. We had a challenge with finances then so it wasn’t easy at all. He was delivered in one of those churches but after some time, the illness came back. These are young men but we don’t have much. I am not sure of their ages but Okiemute should be about 26 years old while Brorien can’t be more than 22,” the septuagenarian, who expressed optimism about the recovery of the men, said.

Psychiatrist speaks

Saturday Tribune spoke with a psychiatrist at the Central Hospital, Warri, Dr Emmanuel Gbiaye, on what could be done to salvage the situation of the brothers and several other mentally-ill people in the city. He attributed mental illness being suffered by many like Okiemute and Brorien to neglect and frustration due to the economic downturn in the country. He denounced the spiritual narrative, describing it as false and superstitious.

Dr Gbiaye described as laughable, the alleged curse plaguing the two young men. “That does not make it spiritual. Now you would ask why would somebody would go and steal. It is because the person cannot earn a living; he is trying to survive. Most of the time, it is poverty, although affluence can also cause it. If people are too wealthy, their children would want to experiment on things. But poverty is the major cause. It is not spiritual.

“The majority of young people are unemployed. They went to school but have no place to work. For that reason, out of boredom and frustration, they indulge in substances. So, the economy contributes mainly to the mental illnesses of our youths,” he insisted.

Asked if Okiemute and Brorien could be cured, Dr Gbiaye said there was still hope for them if their relations could take them to a psychiatric hospital for a medical examination. He said though not all mental cases could be completely cured, that of the two brothers could be different.

“They can come and see a doctor. We will treat them. Their case is not spiritual. If the grandmother really had a potent idol, how come it didn’t prevent her money from being stolen?” he wondered.

The medical expert decried the incidence of mental illness in the society and urged families to always take their members who exhibit strange behaviour to hospitals for proper attention. He appealed to government at all levels to alleviate poverty and hardship among the citizenry through redistribution of wealth and creation of jobs.