The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Woman

  • Panic as woman allegedly vomits cash in Warri

    There was panic Sunday on Ogaga Street, Effurun in Uvwie council area of Delta state when a lady, Mariam Abdul, in her 20s was allegedly found vomiting cash early Sunday morning.
    The Nation gathered that the husband of the lady, whose name was gathered to be Taye Adekunle, raised the alarm at about 3:45am, calling neighbours to come to his aid as his wife was behaving strangely.
    According to an eyewitness, who is a resident of the area, Mariam had recently been a victim of the suspected ritualists who go around collecting female panties and other underwears in different parts of the state.
    “Recently, Mariam’s panties were stolen by some unidentified ‘Yahoo Boys’ and she raised the alarm that her panties she spread after washing had been stolen. You must already know that this has been a trend in the state in recent times.
    “But at about 3:45am, we heard a strange voice of ‘help me o’ from their apartment. The man was calling for help. Many of us could not open our doors until we heard the voices of some vigilante men in the area. When we got there, the saw the lady vomiting N500 notes.
    “I would have doubted if I had not seen her myself. We’re all dumbfounded because we don’t know what to do. The N500 notes were coming out one after the other. It was through the effort of the pastor and some residents who were praying for her that she stopped.
    “Three weeks ago, she and her husband announced that her pant which was hung in front of their apartment was missing. No one claimed to see the pant. We suspect that whoever stole the pant might have used it for ritual purpose since it is the reigning thing,” the source said.
    Meanwhile, when reached for response, the Warri Area Commander of the Delta state police command, Alhaji Mohammed Shaba, narrated the much he had been informed of the situation preceding the alleged vomiting of cash, adding that the matter would be investigated.
     “Today, according to the DPO (B’ Division), he received a distressed call this morning. That one Taye Adekunle of Ogaga Street Warri reported to B’Division that three weeks ago his wife, Mariam Abdul, washed two pants and a rapper and spread them outside their apartment. That the two pants and the rapper was stolen by unknown thieves.
    “That Saturday 22nd December, his wife started experiencing strange spiritual attacks and then he invited a pastor and when he started praying for her, she started vomiting water including 14 pieces of N500 notes. The victim had been taken to hospital but when they are done the case will be transfer to state CID,” he said.

  • Woman, three children allegedly set ablaze

    The police in Lagos have arrested a man, Shola Adewunmi, for allegedly igniting fire in the home of a woman he quarrelled with.

    The incident occurred yesterday morning at Powerline Road, beside Lawyer Raji Street, Alagbado.

    Adewunmi, currently being held at the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba, was arrested by policemen attached to Alagbado Division after his phone gave him away.

    It was gathered that the suspect at the wee hours of yesterday set fire on the shanty occupied by the woman, Iya Ayo and her three children, Ayo, 17 years, Esther, nine years, and Nifemi, five years.

    While Nifemi was said to have died as a result of the fire, it was learnt that the woman and her two other children sustained severe burns.

    Police Commissioner Imohimi Edgal, who led reporters to the scene, described the incident as man’s inhumanity to man.

    He said the Divisional Police Officer, who responded to the incident, discovered a phone and when it was traced, it was found out that the phone belonged to Adewunmi.

    Edgal said: “This is where the woman and her three children live. They were sleeping; suddenly there was a fire outbreak. They sustained burns and have been taken to hospital.

    “The DPO and his team searched the house and recovered a phone, which was traced to Shola Adewunmi, who had quarrelled with the woman.

    “He has been arrested and I have ordered that he be taken to the SCIID for investigation. He will be investigated and arraigned. I will direct DCP Panti to give you access to the suspect when we have completed investigation.”

  • Police arrest woman for ‘child abuse’

    The police have arrested a woman, Mrs. Chioma Obi, for allegedly beating up her 13-year-old housemaid, Ngozi Mba, with an electric cable.

    She may be arraigned today for alleged child abuse and domestic violence.

    A non-governmental organisation (NGO), the International Charitable Initiative for Girl Child and Woman Development Foundation (ICI-GWODEF), is pursuing justice for the injured maid.

    The incident was said to have occurred last Friday at their 7, Maxwell Street, Ago Palace Way, Okota, Lagos home.

    The Nation gathered that the maid had cut the finger nails of her boss’ children and threw them away.

    On their mother’s return, Ngozi, on enquiry, said she cut the kids’ nails.

    A source said Mrs. Obi accused her of planning to use the nails for ulterior purpose.

    The proprietress of the maid’s school, Mrs. Helen Nwafor, sought to know what happened to her when she got to school the next day.

    The proprietress took her to Century Police Station on Ago Palace Way, Okota to lodge a complaint.

    The maid has told the police she would not like to return to her boss’ home.

    But her mother is pleading with ICI-GWODEF to forgive Mrs. Obi because she was taking care of and educating the girl.

    The matter has been transferred to the Gender Desk of the Lagos State Police Command.

  • Woman gets N1m bail for ‘selling own baby’

    A Chief Magistrates’ Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has granted bail to a 32-year-old woman, Lilian Jaja, who allegedly sold her two- month-old baby.

    Jaja, a widow and mother of seven, allegedly sold her two-month-old baby to Agnes Agu for N250,000.

    She allegedly committed the crime on October 29 at Ikokwu, Mile 2, Diobu, Port Harcourt and was arrested by the police.

    Mrs. Jaja was arraigned on November 15 and she pleaded not guilty. She was remanded in prison custody by Magistrate Osaro Gonna, who adjourned the matter till yesterday for bail consideration.

    Prosecutor Godwin Nwinam said the offence contravened sections 30(1) of the Child’s Right Act 2003 and 516(1) of the Criminal Code 37, Vol II, Laws of Rivers State Nigeria 1999, but punishable under Section 30(3) of the Child’s Right Act 2003.

    At the resumed sitting yesterday, the court considered in her favour, the bail application earlier made by her legal representation and granted her bail in the sum of N1million with two sureties.

    One of the sureties, the court said, must be a traditional ruler and a public servant on grade level 10 with either the federal or state government.

    The magistrate said the sureties must be resident in Port Harcourt and must present two coloured passport photographs each with an affidavit of means.

    She adjourned the matter till December 4 for hearing.

     

     

  • Woman batters son for refusing to eat ‘fufu’

    A mother of four has injured her son for refusing to eat ‘fufu’ (a cassava meal).

    The woman, simply identified as Mrs. Celestine, was said to have beaten up her son, Tochukwu, until blood gushed out of his head.

    The incident occurred on Tuesday at 18, Olu Irolu Street, off Adeshina Road, Ijeshatedo in Surulere.

    It was gathered that neighbours, who intervened and stopped her from further beating up the boy, accused the woman of always venting her frustration on her children.

    The boy, who confirmed that he and his siblings usually suffered physical abuses from their mother, however, pleaded that she should not be arrested.

    A neighbour, who identified herself as the landlord’s daughter, said there was a night Mrs. Celestine beat up one of her children until he bled from ears.

    She said neighbours reported the incident at the police station and Mrs. Celestine was arrested, cautioned and released.

    The landlord’s daughter went on: “The latest incident occurred on Tuesday morning. I was sleeping when neighbours informed me that she had started beating up her son again. I asked what the matter was and they said because the boy refused to eat ‘fufu’.

    “I refused to intervene because I had reported her to the police and even to her pastor. The police told me to leave her alone; that they would caution her.

    “When she learnt that I had reported her to her pastor, she attacked me and accused me of denting her image.

    “Since then, I stayed away from her and her family. That was why I refused to intervene on Tuesday.

    “But I cannot continue to keep quiet. I left my home in Iwaya, Yaba, Lagos last August for my father’s house because of an issue involving the murder of a child. I don’t want anything like that to happen in my father’s house.

    “How can someone beat up a child mercilessly because he refused to eat fufu?

    “There was a day she beat up one of her children. Blood gushed out of his ear. I reported at the station and the police told me to leave her alone, saying they would warn her.

    “During the Ramadan fast, she repeated the act. She beat up her child from 12am to 3am. No one could sleep. I reported the incident to the church near our house that they should counsel her. Consequently, she became annoyed with me.”

     

  • True colour of a woman

    Now this is a tricky one. Even Hardball knows enough to step gingerly around this one; a wise man must handle the matter of the opposite sex with uncommon equanimity and the measuredness of a sage. If only because you are a man and in some way or the other, you would need a woman or her service. So matters of femininity must be treated with the delicateness they require.

    Now, do not take the above title literally; it’s not about the complexion and tone of the fair sex. Notwithstanding that most of us African men now have a bit of difficulty discerning the real texture and coloration of the skin of the typical African belle. Over the years Western civilisation – not to mention cosmetics – has eroded the rich tonality of the original African woman’s skin. The much-cherished luscious glister of the female dark skin was organic aphrodisiac of sort, especially in the half dawn moments of conjugal co-efficiencies.

    But this is not about new-day African woman skincare methods; far from it. Hardball is troubled here today, about the make-up (again, not cosmetic), character and constitution of the average Nigerian woman. Who is this person? What is her psychological state? Is there a common glitch bordering on the pathological and homicidal?

    Now consider this story before we return to the question of the true colour of the African woman: a housewife in Owerri West Local Government of Imo State reportedly forced her niece to eat a dead chicken raw.

    As recounted by a neighbour, she was returning from her shop and overheard the woman (Ugochi) telling someone to finish that thing. She was going to pass by but the anguished cry of a little girl ignited her curiosity. She stopped to look and behold, she saw the little girl (Chiamaka) eating a dead fowl raw. She was aghast and beckoned on other residents. According to the witness’s account, the little girl, who looks like a seven-year-old even though she is 12, is subjected to perpetual torment by her aunt.

    The accused (Ugochi) denied that the chicken was raw: “It is not true that I asked her to eat the chicken raw, although I was angry. I came back and met my fowl dead. When I asked her what happened, she said she didn’t know. I forced her to cook the chicken and eat it.”

    Hardball asks again: what is the true colour of a woman? Some have wagered that it only comes alive when you keep her in charge of another woman’s child.

    Recently, cases of hot water baths, hot iron burns, solitary confinements, sometimes in chains, are rife – always against the other woman’s child. This psychopathic tendency would stand a good academic study; Hardball recommends.

     

    • First published July 26, 2018

     

  • Woman ‘steals’ boss’ five-month-old baby

    I have been married for three years now and have not been able to have my own child. I love having children around me and it was that love that pushed me to steal my madam’s baby.”

    Those were the words of 22-year-old Sulyiat Badmus, arrested by the police in Lagos for child theft.

    She told detectives that she stole the toddler at 1, Adeyiga Street, Odogunyan, in Ikorodu where she applied as an apprentice under the child’s mother, Shukurat Opeoluwadu.

    Badmus said a native doctor had told her she would never conceive and that led to her being desperate to have a child.

    The suspect, a resident of Sabo, Ikorodu said she kidnapped the baby when she noticed a neighbour her mother left her with was distracted.

    Parading the suspect yesterday, Police Commissioner Imohimi Edgal said the case of the missing child was reported on September 27, adding that he mandated the anti-kidnapping unit to find the toddler and the suspect.

    Edgal said the baby’s mother left her in the care of a neighbor, Oluwakemi Amosun, 50, in order to hawk local herbs.

    “Sensing that Amosun was busy outside her room, the suspect sneaked in and stole the baby. She absconded thereafter.

    “After directing the anti-kidnapping squad to take charge of the matter, investigation led to the arrest of the suspect at Sabo in Ikorodu.

    “The baby was rescued from her and has been reunited with her parents. The suspect has confessed to the crime and on conclusion of investigation, all the people involved in this crime will be prosecuted.”

     

  • Woman, others win Physics Nobel prize

    A TRIO of American, French and Canadian scientists won the 2018 Nobel Prize for Physics yesterday for breakthroughs in laser technology that have turned light beams into precision tools for everything from eye surgery to micro-machining.

    They include the first female physics prize winner in 55 years.

    Canada’s Donna Strickland of the University of Waterloo becomes only the third woman to win a Nobel for physics, after Marie Curie in 1903 and Maria Goeppert-Mayer in 1963.

    Arthur Ashkin of Bell Laboratories in the U.S. won half of the 2018 prize for inventing “optical tweezers”. Strickland shares the remainder with Frenchman Gerard Mourou, who also has U.S. citizenship, for work on high-intensity lasers.

    “Obviously, we need to celebrate women physicists because we are out there and hopefully in time it will start to move forward at a faster rate,” Strickland told a news conference, shortly after learning of the prize.

    The Nobel prizes have long been dominated by male scientists and none more so than physics.

    Strickland is the first female Nobel laureate in any field in three years.

    The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in 2017 it would actively encourage more nominations of women researchers to begin addressing the imbalance.

  • Woman arrested for ‘selling baby’ for N350,000

    The Anambra State Police Command has arrested a 28-year-old woman, Oluchi Mba, for allegedly selling her seven-day-old baby for N350,000 in Ogidi, Idemili North Local Government Area.

    Oluchi allegedly sold the baby, who she reportedly claimed was a stillborn, to a 55-year-old woman, Edith Obiakor of Akudo Street, Nkpor.

    The Nation gathered that Obiakor resold the baby to her in-law, Vitus Aniunoh, 50, of Patterson Street, Fegge in Onitsha, for N650,000.

    Police spokesman Haruna Mohammed, a Superintendent of Police (SP), said the suspects had been arrested while the baby had been recovered.

    He added: “ At 5.30 p.m on September 15, following intelligence report, detectives attached to Ogidi Division arrested a 28-year-old woman, Oluchi Mba, of Ikenga Ogidi.

    “The suspect confessed to have sold her seven-day-old baby (who she earlier claimed was a stillborn) to Edith Obiakor, 55, of Akudos Street, Nkpor, for N350,000 paid into her account.”

    The spokesman said the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigations were concluded.

  • Woman threatens to jump into river

    A 28-year-old housewife, Mautin Idowu, yesterday urged a Badagry Customary Court to dissolve her five-year-old marriage to Michael to prevent her from committing suicide.

    The petitioner threatened to jump into a river if the court did not grant her request.

    Mautin, a teacher, said she was tired of her husband’s disrespect for her family, his intolerable behaviour and lack of love.

    She said: “I was in 300-level at the Lagos State University Distance Learning Programme when I met Michael Idowu in 2012.

    “He was a teacher and I was teaching with my National Certificate in Education (NCE) then; he proposed to me but I rejected because he was older than me.

    “Michael told me that his wife divorced him with two sons and out of pity, I fell in love with him. Few months after, he took me to meet his family. When I got pregnant in 2013, we got married and he paid my dowry.

    “But when I was seven months pregnant, I discovered that my husband had two wives and six children which he hid from me during our courtship. He lied to me, my world broke down but I survived the trauma.

    “Michael kept me in a two-room apartment in a bushy area, but I still managed to have my baby, “the petitioner said.

    She told the court that her husband abandoned her and her baby. The petitioner added that he disrespected her parents by shouting at her mother and hanging up the phone on her father.

    The respondent was not in court.

    The court’s President, Mr Sakirudeen Adekola, adjourned the case till October 18 to give room for amicable settlement of the case.