Though Dr (Mrs) Adenike Onibokun, the Head of Department of Nursing, University of Ibadan, usually drives through the main gate of the institution to get to her office, little did she know she had several times  in the past few months bypassed someone whose disappearance had caused her a lot of worry. The Oni family, into which she was born in Ijebu-Owo, Ondo State, had been looking for one of them who is her brother, 43-year-old Mr Oluwole Oni, and had not been able to trace his whereabouts since his disappearance from Akure in Ondo State, four months ago.

However, a call from the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) Unit, Ibadan, restored the joy and hope of the family on Thursday December 15, 2011, as they learnt that their son and brother had been found and he was calm enough to remember his place of abode before he found himself in Ibadan, as well as his wife’s mobile phone number.

According to information gathered from police sources, as SARS operatives put a call through to the wife to confirm Oni’s claim, what the wife replied the officer who called her with were shouts of “Oluwa e se o, nibo le ti ri? Oluwa ema se o”. (Thank you Lord! Where did you find him? Lord, glory be to you).  Unable to contain her joy, the woman immediately put another call through to her sister-in-law in Ibadan, that is, Dr Onibokun, to intimate her of what she just heard and to tell her to go ahead of her to SARS to confirm what she was told by the police. In order not be the only one to behold the good tidings, Dr Onibokun called another sister of hers, who is also the immediate elder sister of Oluwole Oni, and the two women joyfully went to SARS office at Dugbe to see their brother.

Immediately they got there and saw him, they hugged him tight, not minding his dirty and unkempt appearance, and burst into tears of joy. When Sunday Tribune sought to know what led to this scenario, a police source revaled that the SARS operatives received an information about some supposedly insane men who the people noticed were being given food and other gift items by men and women who were coming to them in the dead of the night  in exotic cars, while the reason for the interaction between the two groups was unclear.

In order to investigate the information, a team from the SARS had reportedly raided the Agbowo Shopping Complex area in Ibadan on Monday and Tuesday, December 12 and 13, from where they picked some destitutes whom they brought to their base for screening to know whether they were pretending or were genuinely insane. Oni was picked on Tuesday and for two days, he kept mute and looked blank that the police had to make gestures to know what he would want to eat.

However, on Thursday December 15, a remarkable change was noticed in him, as he exhibited a level of calmness and sanity. He was approached for an interview and surprisingly, he was able to give his name and some information about his background. Acting on the information he gave the police, they contacted his family members and it was this that led his sisters to the SARS office to pick their brother.

Speaking with Sunday Tribune, the man stated: “I am Ebenezer Oluwole Oni . I am 43 years old now. I am from Ijebu Owo in Ondo State but reside in Akure. I attended Methodist High School, Owo and later went to Technical College, Owo, where I read Automobile Engineering. I started  working at General Hospital, Igbara-Oke as an health assitant in 1999. I am married with two children.

“I can’t say precisely when this ailment started or when the last one hit me. All I know is that I would just feel like walking about. I had been going to hospital and was placed on drugs and I had been using the drugs. I was living in Akure with my wife and children but used to go to Igbara Oke daily with my boss. Since I left Akure some months back, I had been moving about and whenever my clothes were dirty, I would go to a river and wash them, and wait until they were dry before putting them on again.

“I didn’t know how I got to Ibadan. I was just sleeping somewhere which I now learnt is called Agbowo. I usually received money from people without soliciting for it and that was what I was surviving on.  I didn’t know how I got to the police station but at a time, I was asked of my name and wife’s name and I was able to respond to the questions. I also gave them my wife’s telephone number offhand.”

Also speaking with Sunday Tribune, his immediate elder sister, Mrs Ibukun Oguntola revealed that “his problem started around 1983. After series of treatment and prayer, he became normal again. It was after this that he secured a job and later got married in 2004. The family did the wedding for him. Suddenly, he just became sick again and left home for three days. He came back and we took him to General Hospital, Akure. He was taken care of and he became well again.

“He started work again but at a time, he said he did not feel like going to work. The doctor started treating him again and we had to inform his office that he was sick, though we did not disclose the nature of his illness. We kept on managing the situation until Monday September 12. The day before, he had demonstrated wellness and had even gone to church. On his return from church, he played very well and the following morning, he was part of the prayer meeting usually held where he was staying.

“In his office, workers were asked to show their faces for pay-at-site and he was asked to go and do that on that Monday. Even, our sister, the first born of our parents who took over his care, gave him N1,000 in different denominations so that he would not have problem with change. When our sister expected him to have returned and she didn’t see him, she called his wife, thinking that he had gone home to pick some of his things.

“His wife however replied that she did not see him. Our sister called his boss and that one also said he did not show up in the office. That was how the trouble of looking for him started. We went on Ondo television to announce him missing but nothing was heard about him. The family even went to his office environs to notify the okada riders and people there that they should get in contact with the family if they should sight Wole anywhere.

“There had been no positive response since then until this afternoon when we received a call from Akure that he had been seen in Ibadan. My sister and I live in Ibadan but had never come across him. I live at Iwo Road. Each time I passed through the place, I would be looking round as if I lost something. The same thing happened if I passed through Agodi Gate.”

Giving praises to God for helping the family to link up with Oni again, Dr Onibokun said, “this is the miracle of the year. It shows the awesomeness of God. At a point, God gave me a word about my brother and I sent text messages to family members to pray that God should give Oluwole a second look, like He did to Bartimaeus, the blind man in the bible, and the man by the river of Bethesda. God has answered our prayer.

“By the time we took him home after he was released to us by the police, he took his bath and shaved. You needed to see how he looked like a 20- year-old man and talked normally. The family will start his treatment all over again. Can you imagine that I had been going into U.I. every time through the first gate without knowing that my brother was right opposite the gate? I believe that God who made it possible for us to see him again would perfect his healing. I really want to appreciate the SARS operatives whom God used for us to see our brother awesome.

It was gathered that Oni had since Monday December 19 re-united with his family members and friends in Akure to start life afresh. God is, indeed, awsome.