i got this from the sun news. and i had to bring this here. guys what do you think.






Steve Uhegbu, a graduate of Economics of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka left Nigeria for overseas when it was obvious that things were not getting smoother for him.

He in life was a peculiar child. His mum died just hours after his delivery and it was so precarious a situation that the dad had no alternative but to hand the baby over to a motherless babies’ home for care. He remained there till he was four when the father took him back to grow with his only sister.

Later in life, Steve grew and got educated to the university level. After his graduation in 2002, things didn’t turn out rosy in Nigeria therefore he decided to try his luck elsewhere outside the shores. With the assistance of his only sister who resides in USA, he got papers to travel to France. That trip to France that later took him to Germany is what his return even while packaged in a casket and speechless is becoming doubtful.

In a feat of rage, a decrepit octogenarian German landlord pulled his gun and shot Steve dead pointblank. He was not done as he also got his (Steve) German wife down before police took him.

The issue of the killing is over. Steve is stone dead, his body chilled and frozen stiff in a coldroom, but the next agony for the family is that the time the German authorities gave them to take his body may elapse. The family has not found an equivalent of N2m to pick the body back to Nigeria. And the Germans threaten that if they don’t hasten to take the body, it would be fed to the flames in a crematorium. In Germany today, it is common to cremate (burn) bodies than bury them, especially the commoner who could not afford a burial space. But poor Steve’s family says it is unthinkable that the body of a man from their part of the world would be burnt as last rite. To them, it sounds absurd and akin to roasting in hell. While they ask for more time, the Germans won’t have that. Their word on the last date is definite and the grieving father in Nigeria is still asking them to see his plight and give him more time.

In tears Pa Uhegbu, a distraught bereaved old man said: “My son is supposed to bury me. But after my efforts to train him and Steve died this way, I accept my fate, but only plead that I be allowed the grace of seeing his remains and interring it in my ancestors’ soil. That is the way of life of my people and I would be glad to have that request granted.”

After Steve spent years in France without securing permanent residency, late Steve relocated to Germany where he met his untimely death as his landlord, a German reportedly shot him and his wife over an argument. The suspect has since been arrested and jailed.
Steve’s body is still chilling in a morgue in Germany. But not only that, the corpse may soon be burnt to ashes as the German authorities have threatened to cremate the body if his family fails to take it on or before July 19.

In an emotional plea, his only sister, Juliet Nwoga called on the German authorities to give the family more time to raise money and transport his remains back home.
Juliet who is based in US recalled that his late brother, Steve left Nigeria for France sometime in 2009 when things were not working out for him in Nigeria. “He left Nigeria sometime in 2009 after his graduation from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 2002. After working for years in Port Harcourt barely saving money to fend for himself and their aged dad, that was why he did not hesitate to leave the country when the opportunity came. He filed his papers repeatedly in France and they refused to grant him green card. He later moved to Germany when he met a lady who agreed to marry him.

“When he moved to Germany, he told me that he had met someone and that he would soon get his papers. I was glad because he had threatened severally that he would return to Nigeria when all efforts to get permanent residency failed. I told him to be patient, as he would surely get someone that would help him get his papers. Luck smiled on him, as he met a German lady who agreed to marry him. When they met, he was visiting her from France and eventually moved to her home in Germany. The lady who was a mother of two, started processing a German passport for him. Last month he told me that his papers were about to be completed and promised to visit me as soon as he gets his visa before I got news of his death.
“Earlier, he complained severally that he had been having issues with his landlord over repeated increase in the house rent. In one of the instances, he asked his landlord to include his name in the contract as requested by the authority to ascertain his permanent address: having lived there long enough but his landlord turned down the request. This development severed their relationship, as they were always at loggerheads.”

On that fateful day when he was shot, Juliet said: “Steve received an outrageous water bill and decided to sort it out with the landlord. Serious argument ensued and the landlord who is about 81 years old brought out his gun and shot him. Steve staggered out from the landlord’s house and went to meet his wife downstairs. Alarmed, his German wife picked up the phone to call the police and an ambulance. Unfortunately, the trigger-happy old man was not satisfied so he came down and shot the wife before she could make an emergency call to the police.

“The two kids in the house who saw when their mother was killed ran outside shouting for help. It was then that the neighbours who heard them called the police. The police arrived the scene and discovered the landlord calmly waiting for them inside his apartment. He admitted to the killings and handed over his short gun. He is currently in jail pending the determination of the case.

“I am yet to understand why they take so lightly the case of a man that was shot by a German citizen. Rather they are threatening to cremate his body and throw away the ashes. They do not care that the family of the deceased has rights to see the body and bury him according to their traditions. I want his body to be transported to Nigeria. I am pleading with the German people and Nigeria government. He is the only son of my father and my dad would be devastated if they cremate his remains. I saw him last when I came home for my wedding. He was soft spokes and caring and took people’s problem to heart. I was actually looking forward to seeing him as soon as his papers were ready before he was shot.”

The grieving father pleaded with the German government to grant him a last wish of seeing his son’s remains before it is buried. He said Steve travelled to France in quest of a better future. “I have been a single parent all my life as I lost my wife few hours after Steve was born. I had no choice but to send him to a motherless babies home where he was weaned for four years while I took care of his sister who was of age then. I struggled to train him and his sister up to university level. After his graduation, his sister Juliet assisted him to travel to France. I can still remember his words when he was leaving that he would soon be back to turn around my life. If it God’s will that I should bury my son I accept my fate.”
He called on Nigerians to help bring his son’s remains to Nigeria so that he can honour him by burying him in his father’s house. “I retired from government work in 2003 and since then I am yet to get my gratuity. I have been suffering and its like I am meant to suffer more with death of my dear son Steve. Please help me beg anyone that can help to enable me receive the body and bury it properly.”

The plight of the Uhegbu family was drawn to the attention of Eddy Duru, the coordinator of a humanitarian organization - Home Sweet Home in Germany. Duru is on the neck of the German government and the Nigerian Embassy in Berlin to consider the nature of the case and extend the deadline.
“I am personally on a mission which is re-educating Nigerians on the risk and dangers of unplanned journey abroad. I got the information from a Ghanaian and stepped into the matter. So far, we do not have any issue over the justice system as the man that killed him is already in jail. We might have cause to demand compensation for the family if the man is under any kind of insurance. Meanwhile we are pleading with Germany to stop further plans to cremate the body.

“I confronted them and they insist that they could give us up to July 19, but his sister is begging that the date be extended to August so as to raise about 10,000 Euros which is about N2m to transport the corpse back to Nigeria. They are saying that on no account can they keep the body until next month. They told me recently that it is no longer in the hands of the morgue but that the court would decide whether the body would be kept longer. I have visited the Nigerian Embassy in Berlin and pleaded with the office to do everything they can to help transport the body back to Nigeria for the family to pick up or make sure that the body is kept until August, as this is an exceptional case.

I spoke with Ambassador Okoye; He made me understand that the embassy cannot pay for transporting the body home to Nigeria, that it is not its duty. What they could do is to put the paper and logistics together; the family or Nigerian community could take care of the expenses. Let them consider the fact that this man did not die a natural death and deserved some respect at least for his family to see the remains and pay their last respect to their son.”



http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/living/2011/july/16/living-07-16-2011-001.html

what have we done to the world. I've heard so much about Germany that i wonder if human beings live there.