𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐁𝐔

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𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐁𝐔

By Assam Abia

I was returning from the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of EMOIMEE, on Tuesday, as invited stakeholder of Host Community Development Trust (HCDT). The event was hosted at Villa Marina Hotel, Eket. For those who don’t know, EMOIMEE Is an acronym of the seven Oil producing Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom State, captured under the Petroleum Industrial Act, PIA.

On reaching Oron Road, after Afaha Uqua junction, i saw a sizeable crowd of about fifty people. Acting on my intuitive perception, and as a journalist, i pulled over and got out of the car to find out what was the matter. At first, it looked like an accident scene. But No, it wasn’t. In the middle of the crowd was a very beautiful little girl of about 18 years old. Trapped beside her was a little boy of about 16 months old. She wore a blue gown that looks like a gift from an old woman, probably her mother’s gown. Worn-out by years of constant washing, the gown was wearing her, but one can still recognize her stunning beauty inside the dress. Her eyes bore a tale of hardship, woes and misery.
I moved closer and gazed at her. She held my gaze with alert attention and suddenly fell down in tears. Onlookers were busy taking pictures and videos of the hapless poor girl. “What is the problem?”, I asked. A middle aged woman said the girl was asking to be taken to the police station, insisting that she wants to go to jail with her little boy. “For what offense?”, i asked. The woman narrated how the girl came into her eatery and ordered for food for herself and her baby boy. “After eating, she walked out of the restaurant in an attempt to go. I accosted her and demanded for money. Instead of her to plead, she said i should call the police, claiming that she has no money”, the woman narrated. “How much is the cost of what she and her baby ate?”, i requested to know. “Just two thousand Naira but my annoyance is not about the money, having looked at her outward appearance, my anger stems from her audacity of asking me to call the police. I won’t call any police, i need my money”, the woman quipped in furious anger.

I paid the woman off and asked the young girl to get into my car, at least, for me to rescue her from the scene and know more about her.

𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲: She gave her name as Mary Bassey, a native of a very popular village in Eket (name of the village withheld). After her secondary school education, while working as a sells girl in one local hotel in town, she got impregnated by a married man who disowned the pregnancy. Her mother sent her away from the house. She had nowhere to go. Her secondary school girl friend took her to a local maternity home where the woman in charge of the home took her in with an agreement that if she gives birth to a baby girl, she will be paid #100k and the girl taken away from her forever but if its a baby boy, she will be given #150k and will forfeit the baby boy forever. Deal was sealed. She had no option.

Even while inside the maternity home, she was fed just once a day with just one skirt and a blouse to keep her body warm. “I suffered. I was working in the woman’s farm like a slave with no food. I ate only in the evenings”, she said. She couldn’t visit anybody for fear of being spotted or seen by her mother. She had lost her father at a tender age. Her mother had laboured alone for her upbringing and education.
Nine months after a tortuous predicament, Mary gave birth to a baby boy. She named him after Bola Ahmed Tinubu, president of the richest country in Africa, with over 150 million poor people, out of a population of over 230 million people. A country reeling under the belly of food insecurity and hyper inflation. A country that once invited the world for dinner, in 1977 (FESTAC) because money was not its problem but how to spend it. A country still crawling after assisting South Africa and Zimbabwe stand on their feet. A country where corruption walks the streets of major cities with black suit and red tie. A country where its future leaders are PhD holders in yahoo yahoo business. A country where leaders are dealers in the debasement of institutions and constitutionality. “Go to court” has become their escape route because they have debased the judiciary with their filthy lucre. Mary didn’t tell me why she named her son after president Tinubu but she told me that the owner of the maternity home named the boy “Unyime Abasi”.

Mary and her little Tinubu remained in the maternity home for 16 months, time that was fixed for the agreement to be executed. She has to forfeit her son and leave the home with #150k. On this fateful day, Mary ran away from the home and was about going to the police station to report herself. She stopped over at the restaurant and gave her baby food while also eating to her fill, with no money on her. “Why did you prefer to run away to the police station”, i asked with curiosity. “I wanted the police to take me to prison where i and my son can eat free food everyday”, she responded. It was then i discovered that Mary was suffering from emotional and psychological trauma. She has been broken. The scars in her soul has affected her brain and her view of life. She has become a psychiatric patient out of no fault of hers. She has become a victim of a lost humanity. A casualty of a failed State. And has given birth to a child who will become an enemy of society, tomorrow. She has given birth to a Tinubu who will be very wicked, because he came to the world through a man who has shown wickedness to his mother.

Having taken her to my house, my wife advised that we take her to her mother, not to the police. She stayed with us for few days. Yesterday, myself, my wife and a pastor friend took Mary to her mother. On sighting her daughter, Mma Nko fainted.

Lets keep the follow-up story for another day. There are so many Marys and little Tinubu scattered all over the country. There are also many “labour houses” maternity homes in Nigeria, buying and selling children, today. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞. Is there any hope for this country?. A renewed hope of president Tinubu has given birth to “Little Tinubu” in Eket, Akwa Ibom State. I have taken it as a duty to ensure that my wife goes to see Mary and her little Tinubu on regular basis. What a sad story. What a country called Nigeria.

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