If the world ever remember me, tell them I wasn't a bad person, tell them I only followed a promise because I believed in good people.Tell them I dreamed of being more than my struggles, and if this is how my journey ends ,let my story protects another boy like me, Let no child trust darkness wearing the face of help...lwuchukwu Amara Tochi.
Tochi was another Nigerian boy, born without a silver spoon, but determined to become great in life, despite his background.
Another Nigerian child who decided to seek greener pasture in foreign lands, leveraging on the gift he was born with, football.
Another Nigerian child, who trusted wrongly and fell into a pit he never rose from.
Born in 1985, Tochi always wanted to play football.
He saw it not just as a passion ,but also as a means of escape from the poverty he was born into. At age 5, he move in with a relative and he attended St Anthony's Mission School in Ohafia, Abia state.
At 14, Tochi had the opportunity to move to Senegal, where he played for Nigeria in the West Africa Coca-Cola cup championship. He was making some money for himself, a larger part of which he was sending home to help his family.
In a bid to further pursue the dream, Tochi decided to move to Dubai, he believed the city would get better chances of making a name for himself in football, he decided to first go to Pakistan, a with the assumption of getting a visa and a train ride to Dubai from there, how he came to assume this is still unclear, because there was no such train, but he didn't find out, until he landed in Pakistan.
He sought refuge in a church in Islamabad, it was while he was there, that he met one Mr Smith, a fellow Igbo man, who presented himself as an Angel, who was going to help him realize hiss life dreams, help him secure a move to Dubai, this never came to pass, but Mr Smith went on to change the course of Tochi's life in ways he never would have imagined in his wildest dreams.
When the Dubai move didn't happen, Mr Smith asked Tochi to travel to Singapore, where he would meet Smith's sick friend and deliver African herbs to him.
He said his friend, Olele Nelson Malachy would be flying in from Indonesia to recieve the African herbs and also give Tochi $2000 for the gesture and not only that, Tochi can also be applying to clubs for trial why in Singapore.
The deal sounded so juicy to Tochi, and he accepted.
On November 27,2004, Tochi flew into Singapore's Changi airport at about 1:45 pm, and was patiently waiting for Malachy to arrive to pick up his delivery.
But he had to wait, for ah long time,he waited and later he got a call from Smith, stating that Malachi would be arriving late due to a missed flight.
Tochi then decided to go at the Ambassador Transit hotel, but there was no room at that particular time.
He decided to wait in the transit area until rooms are available at the hotel...he ended up waiting for close to 24 hours.
According to procedure, the receptionist on duty called to inform the police of a passenger who has been waiting in the transit area for about 24 hours... that was the beginning of the end for Tochi.
The airport police swept in on Tochi, and without fear, knowing he had no reason to fear, he explained that he was required to have $2,000 before he can be granted entry into Singapore which he did not have at the moment. He told them of his plan to talk with the football federation for assistance in securing trial chances with any of the clubs there.
Tochi was searched, and about 100 capsules were found in his possession...when he was asked, he boldly told them it's African herbs which are meant to give energy when consumed, he told them he was to deliver it to one Mr Malachy, and to prove himself,he boldly swallowed one of the capsules... this didn't go well, and he has to be rushed down to the hospital where they administer laxatives on him to expel the drugs from his system.
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