The Nation Newspaper

Tag: couple

  • 19 years after marriage, couple gets triplets

    In 1994 when Mr. and Mrs. Chris Ekweozor got married, they looked forward to the day they would hold their first child; they never knew it would take 19 years for the day to come.

    In those long years, an unhappy Mrs. Ifunanya Ekweozor severally asked her husband to take another wife.

    Their faith and commitment to each other finally yielded fruit with the arrival of not just a child but triplets -two boys and a girl – Somtochukwu, Nmesomachukwu, Kosisochukwu.

    The babies’ dedication was held on June 23 at St. Andrews’ Anglican Church, Rumuobiokani in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.

    Expectedly, the ceremony attracted friends, relatives, family members and well-wishers, who trooped in their numbers to rejoice with the couple.

    Recalling the trying times, Mrs. Ekweozor praised her husband, whose faith and trust in God helped her get through her pain and suffering.

    She said: “After waiting for 18 years, one day as my husband was sleeping I woke him up and said please my husband, you have tried waiting for me but I am not a good friend because I could not get you a child, from today go and re-marry.

    “I will support you and I will be with you. But my husband responded and said, ‘you are my wife; I will not marry another woman, don’t worry you will have a baby for me and it will be triplets then you will have rest. I am telling you now because it is a prophecy from God.

    “But his reply didn’t make sense to me, so I moved away from him and went to the other room, locked myself inside and started crying.

    “I didn’t know that God was about to listen to me,” she said with a smile that lit up her face.

    Continuing, the happy woman said: “Another lesson I have learnt from this experience is the need to wait on God.

    “It was not easy but we must wait upon the Lord, the encouragement of my husband gave me more courage because if I were to be in his position, I wouldn’t have been able to handle this issue the way he did, he is indeed a real child of God.

    “Nineteen years is not 19 days; no man or woman can restore your hope, except God.

    “I want to use this opportunity to thank my in-laws for their understanding throughout my trial, if I have the opportunity of coming to this world again I will definitely get married to this family. They are wonderful.”

    The father of the triplets, who also presented a book titled: “The Essence of family altars”, said as a child of God he decided to enter into a covenant with God.

    “I was in a programme last year when God reminded me of his promises and said He will grant my heart’s desire but I must do His own part and then I said okay I will.

    “I told my wife about my prophecy that she is going to deliver triplets and she didn’t believe it. As a covenant child of God my life is full of testimonies.”

  • Groom, grand-mother, uncle die in road crash

    A family of four who were on their way to a marriage introduction have been killed in a road accident that occurred last weekend at Iruekpen village along the Benin-Auchi express road.

    They were said to be heading to Uromi, headquarters of Esan North East Local Government.

    Occupants in the vehicle included the man whose marriage introduction they were attending, his grand-mother, uncle and uncle’s wife.

    Sources said they were travelling in a Toyota Sienna bus and had a head-on collision with a heavy duty truck conveying sand dust.

    It took some time before the trapped corpses of the victims were removed from under the truck.

    The bodies have been deposited at a morgue while the Toyota Siena was damaged beyond repair, as engine of the vehicle and its body fell to different directions.

    Head of Operation, Iruekpen Unit Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Mr. John Omokandugba who confirmed the report said the accident was caused by dangerous over taking on the part of the Siena Vehicle.

    Identity of the victims could not be confirmed as at press time.

  • Couple ‘buys’ twins for N1.8m

    Couple ‘buys’ twins for N1.8m

    Operatives at the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) in Ikoyi, Lagos, have arrested a couple, who allegedly bought twin babies and attempted to smuggle them out of the country.

    Adenuga Soyibo and his wife Elizabeth allegedly bought the babies for N1.8million from a woman in Rivers State. The Police said yesterday that they were yet to trace the baby trader’s location.

    The couple were arrested following a tip-off on April 15 by the American Consulate. The Police said the Consulate reported that the couple applied for American visas and their application was deferred on the suspicion that the babies they claimed to be theirs appeared to have been stolen.

    It was gathered that the Consulate ordered a DNA test to ascertain the biological relationship of the babies with the suspects.

    The Commissioner of Police, Tunde Ogunsakin, told reporters: “The Consulate invited them when it received the result of the DNA, which revealed that the babies do not belong to the couple as both lack appropriate genetic marks.

    “During investigations, detectives travelled to Port Harcourt, Rivers State where the woman claimed she gave birth to the twins in a private small house. On getting to Port Harcourt, the woman claimed she could no longer identify the place; she also stated that she had no antenatal record anywhere as she did not attend any.

     

     

     

    “She stated further that the total sum of N1.8million was paid to the woman who administered “Agbo” local herbs on her that eventually produced the babies. Soyibo, the claimed father of the twins, stated that he was also given “Agbo” that boosted his sperm count that produced the babies. Both suspects claimed they can no longer trace the woman whom they paid the N1.8million for the “Agbo” and the delivery of the baby. They also could not produce anyone who knew about the conception and the subsequent delivery of the babies”.

    Soyibo, an American citizen and a cab driver, said he and his wife had been childless for 15 years, adding that a woman introduced them to Mrs Helen Okoronkwo, based in Port Harcourt.

    “We visited her in November 2011 when I came into the country because the woman insisted on seeing my wife and I. When we got there, she gave us some native medicine (Agbo), which was to help us in our quest to get a child. I was in the country until around April 2012. As at that time my wife was already pregnant.”

    He stated further: “On November 24, 2012, my wife was delivered of the twins in Port Harcourt. I was in the country but I did not go with her. I came in on November 19 but was too tired and was also busy with some other things. I was surprised when I went to the Embassy to process their visa to take them with me back to the US and we were asked to go for a DNA to ascertain if we are their biological parents. I could not believe it when the result came out and we were told that the babies are not ours. I know my wife got pregnant, so I do not understand what they mean.”

    When asked if any other person apart from his wife was around when the babies were delivered, he said “no”, adding that it was only his wife and the woman that gave them the native medicine. He said a relative of theirs accompanied his wife on that journey, but was not allowed into the house.

    On why his wife could not recognise the house, where she claimed to have been delivered of her babies when detectives took her to Port Harcourt, the man said it was because they got there at night.

     

  • Ease into your social life as a couple

    When you and your girlfriend move in the same social circle, presenting her ex-boyfriend as your new man requires some delicate maneuvering. ‘The crowd reaction can be a lot more hostile because a pack mentality takes over,’ explains Quinn.

    ‘If you have one outspoken friend who’s vehemently opposed to your new relationship, she can affect how everyone else in the group responds, even if they might have been fine with it.’ You may get a better (less judgmental) reception if you plan small get-togethers with just a few friends at a time.

    ‘Do it at your place, on your turf, and it won’t feel like you’re imposing your new status on the group,’ says Paz. Don’t push and the crowd will likely welcome you back in time. But if you continue to feel frozen out, spend time with friends who support you and seek out some new friends who don’t know your backstory.

    Don’t share relationship details with her

    You may have shared the minutiae of your past relationships with your gal pal, from the weird way the last guy you dated chewed his food to that thing he did with his hips that drove you wild. But when it comes to her ex, silence on matters both sexual and not really is golden.

    ‘Even in the best case scenario where you get your friend’s blessing, tread really lightly on how much you share,’ advises Paz. ‘Even if we’re over someone, we can still be a little territorial and competitive, so something as minor as you getting along well with his mother if she never did can really sting.’

    Be patient

    In situations like these, time really is on your side. Although your relationship with your friend’s ex may start out a little bumpy, if you behave gracefully and honestly and the relationship remains strong, your guy will eventually come to be known as your boyfriend rather than your pal’s ex.

    ‘These things get forgotten as your relationship becomes more serious,’ says Quinn. ‘People will eventually see this wasn’t just some fling, and that you made the right choice.’

     

  • PhD is expensive, says couple

    PhD is expensive, says couple

    After three years of hard work to earn a doctorate, Dr Temitope Oluwaseun Samuel (nee Oguntade), can now relax.

    The 31-year-old was announced the best among the 47 (including her husband) that received their doctoral degrees during the golden jubilee convocation of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) last Thursday.

    However, she spent a fortune conducting research for the programme.

    Getting married to fellow doctoral student, Olusegun Samuel, while undergoing her PhD in Micology (study of fungi) meant she had little time to enjoy the niceties of a new marriage. She also could not enjoy full maternity leave because her thesis needed her full attention.

    “It’s been a while I have been able to relax. I got married in the whole process of this PhD and I have not had time to enjoy my marriage. The research was not easy. Even the day I put to bed I was in the laboratory until 7pm. I didn’t know that I would put to bed. Six weeks after giving birth, I was back,” she said.

    When working on her thesis titled: “Studies on dermatophytes isolated from patients at two tertiary health institutions in Lagos State, Nigeria”, Dr Samuel did not know that her research to determine why fungi infections reoccurred in patients after repeated treatment would be adjudged the best for the 2011/2012 academic session.

    Now that her research work has caught attention, she hopes that health authorities will review the methods for diagnosing fungal infection.

    She said: “My thesis is a current challenge in the demacology unit of the health sector. I realised that over the years when people have different skin diseases after taking oral and topical prescriptions, they reoccur after sometime. I found out that almost all the mycology section use conventional laboratory method in diagnosing the disease. But it is not enough. In the 21st century advanced countries use both the conventional and molecular method. With both methods you get more accuracy about the exact organism causing the infection. Two organisms may look alike but by the time we use the molecular method and check the genetic make up. We can identify the particular organism.

    “The molecular method is in three stages involving: DNA extraction, Running a PCR on the extraction and using a DNA Sequencer to determine the make up of the organism. But the DNA sequencer is not available in Nigeria. The only place they have it is at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) but it is not for commercial use.”

    “Before I started this research, I took permission from the Lagos State Health Service Commission to access patients with fungal infections. They made me promise that I would give them a copy of the thesis so I hope with it they will review the method they are using.”

    Seeking more financial support for doctoral students, Dr Samuel who lectures in the Department of Botany urged government to provide an enabling environment for research.

    “PhD is not something you can achieve with a million naira. It is very expensive. I used all my salary and my husband had to take a loan for me. I was sending my samples to Maryland, United States because there is no DNA Sequencer in Nigeria. I packed it in an ice rack and sent by DHL and they would send me the results,” she said.

    Like his wife, Dr Olusegun Samuel also invested heavily on his thesis studying the effect of heavy metals discharged by industries into the lagoon on periwinkles. “You start getting loans from all sorts of places to carry out research,” he said.

    He looks forward to a time when the industry would sponsor research in Nigerian tertiary institutions which will ease the financial burden. From his experience working on his thesis: “Heavy Metal Contamination of Ologe Lagoon, Nigera and biomarkers of Oxidative Stress in Pachymelania Aurita”, he said without support of industry and government monitoring their activities, researches will remain on the shelf.

    “In foreign countries, industry sponsors this kind of study because they want to know the impact of their activities on the environment. But in Nigeria industries don’t want you to come near them because they feel they will be indicted. If you go there with letters they refuse to open their doors. Those things make you start changing the orientation of your research. Since I couldn’t get the effluent from a particular company I visited, I decided to look at the heavy metals in surrounding waters,” he said.

    Samuel, who is an eco-toxicologist in the Department of Marine Sciences, added that when industry backs research, it would create employment for various experts.

    He said: “If the industry sponsors research, they will know whether their in-house treatment of waste water is effective and what to do about it. The process of managing their effluent will create jobs. They must employ a chemical engineer to design the treatment stages; a microbiologist will check the kind of microbes that will act on the waste, while an eco-toxicologist will check whether the treatment is effective.”