Lagos pastor fleeing economic hardship embraces deadly voyage
A man, Thankgod Opemipo Matthew, who claims to be a pastor in Lagos, has revealed why he decided to embark on a deadly voyage on the Atlantic Ocean. Opemipo is among the three Nigerians Brazilian coastguards rescued from the rudder of a ship they hid themselves for 14 days while on the journey.
Matthew, 38, said he decided to embark on the life-threatening journey to seek greener pasture abroad, after flood destroyed his farmland. He said the flood left him and his family homeless. Matthew expressed the hope that his family would later join him in Brazil, where he had applied for asylum.
The two other Nigerians with whom Matthew embarked on the deadly journey have returned to Nigeria, based on their own request.
One of them is Roman Ebimene Friday, 35, from Bayelsa state. He said the journey was his second attempt at leaving the country.
Friday’s second migration attempt began on June 27, when a fisherman friend rowed him up to the stern of the ship docked in Lagos, and left him by the rudder.
To his surprise, he said three men were already there, waiting for the ship to depart. Friday said he was terrified. He had never met his new shipmates and feared they could toss him into the water at any moment.
Reuters reported that the three men had covered a distance of 5,600 kilometres (3,500 miles) on their ocean journey before the rescue.
The men said they ran out of food and drink on their tenth day at sea, and survived another four days by drinking the sea water crashing a few metres below them.
The men spent two weeks cumulatively on their voyage.
