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Life has dealt me a blow. Sometimes, I just want to lie low and nurse life’s wound on me, other times, I feel inner strength to stay on my toes
My life has been one that people wished they lived though that was before I received multiple life’s blows.
I had a good life growing up, my siblings and I were all doing well after our university. My father used his influence to secure us good jobs. He showed us love like a good father would. He’d call us on our birthdays, buys us gifts even as adults and always wants to know what’s happening in our lives.
My mom is a good woman and my dad loves her so much and in a bid to give her a good life, he stopped her from working and pays her more than what she was earning. My mom tried all she could to join my dad in his business but dad refused because he wanted her to relax and enjoy herself.
Things were going well until mom became sick and died. My dad became a different person. He would neither eat nor drink. He became a shadow of himself. We tried to help him but he wouldn’t get over the death of his wife. My siblings and I decided to get him a wife to help erase the memories of my mom. At first, he didn’t agree but we persuaded him to and we found a woman in her early forties through a radio match making program.
That was the beginning of our problems.
She came in well disguised in the pretext of a humble woman.
We thought we won a lottery, we were happy my dad will get back to his feet. We were checking up on them almost everyday.
My dad seemed to be getting back to his usual self and resumed his business. At the time we met this lady, she said she lost her job not knowing she had no job in the first place. Seven months after her dowry was paid her mom came to live with them. My siblings and I objected to that but my peacemaker dad said I should leave the matter. My elder sister had to calm us down because we wanted to come force her out of the house.
My sister and I got married before our mom’s demise and I was shuttling between my house and my dad’s to always check up on them because we all stay in Lagos but I was staying closer to them than my siblings.
My father’s wife started insisting on a court wedding and this is someone we told that we’re not a family of drama and we just want to do the low key traditional wedding which we did and settled the list their family gave us. The mother was still living with them when she started making demands of a court wedding. I and my siblings told her it won’t happen.
A month after that conversation, I saw her post pictures of a court wedding with my father. I became mad, called my siblings to know if they were aware but they weren’t. We went to see my dad, to check on him and know why a wedding will take place without our notice.
My dad asked us out of his house. We couldn’t comprehend such a change of behavior. My sweet loving father became a stranger to his children.
My siblings and I were looking for a headway to know why our father will suddenly change his behavior towards us. On our way back from a pastor’s church that a friend referred us to, we had a terrible accident and my elder sister lost her life while my brother had a spine injury. I came out of the accident with minor injuries. My brother had undergone several surgeries but he didn’t make it out alive.
During that period, my husband developed hepatitis and we didn’t notice it on time and I lost him. I was devastated. My father stopped communicating with us. He came to my sister’s burial but the in-laws didn’t allow him stay because he was the reason my sister died and he didn’t come to see the husband and kids and suddenly decided to come for the burial.
I cried my eyes out because my siblings that I share the good and bad moments with are no more. I and my brother are the only ones remaining. I wanted to die but death was far away. I cursed the day I was born. I cursed my father’s wife for coming into my family to destroy it. I tried to kill myself but each time someone or something distracts me.
Nothing to live for except my brother and my sister’s two children. I didn’t conceive in my three years of marriage because I wasn’t settled. Family issues didn’t let me concentrate on myself and husband. My brother is always afraid I will harm myself, he took me to his house so he could have his eyes on me.
It’s been five years now and I have not fully recovered. My dad is sick, my brother and I refused to go see him since he rejected us. His wife has been calling and we blocked her everywhere to avoid reaching us. We care less about what happens to him. I’m trying to recover from the pain life has given me. It’s been terrible losing loved ones almost same time. I can’t imagine how I pulled through all these.
I don’t know if my life will ever be complete again!
I don’t know if I can forget this part of my life!
I don’t know if I can forgive my father!
I know I’m alive but I’m not who I used to be!
Life has dealt me a blow!
Life has shattered my dreams!
Our decision to get my father a wife marred us!
I have learnt to weigh my decisions before taking actions!
Our decision got us to this point!
My name is ……., that is my story!
Aloy Ejimakor, lead counsel for Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has accused the Department of State Services (DSS) of denying the agitator access to his legal team and visitors, in violation of existing court orders.
Ejimakor expressed growing concern over Kanu’s health and wellbeing following the DSS’s latest refusal to allow his legal team to see him. The incident occurred during a routine visit to the DSS headquarters in Abuja on October 14, 2024, as part of a court-ordered visitation schedule.
“We were blocked from seeing Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in direct violation of subsisting court orders,” Ejimakor revealed in a statement. He further noted that Kanu has been denied visitors since his last court appearance on September 24, 2024, when the IPOB leader demanded that Justice Binta Nyako recuse herself from his case due to a lack of confidence. Although the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, overruled the recusal, the DSS has consistently blocked access to Kanu since then.
Ejimakor raised alarms about the DSS’s actions, suggesting that they may be related to Kanu’s successful bid to have Justice Nyako step down, even though her recusal was later overturned. He added that previous attempts to enforce court compliance through legal applications have been ignored, leaving the impression that the DSS is acting above the law.
“The DSS should remember that court-ordered visitations are meant for Kanu’s relatives and lawyers to ensure his wellbeing. Now that access has been completely denied, one must ask: What is the DSS hiding? Is Mazi Nnamdi Kanu hale and hearty?” Ejimakor questioned.
This latest development has fueled ongoing tensions, as the legal battle surrounding Kanu’s trial intensifies, with the DSS facing increasing criticism for defying judicial orders and infringing on Kanu’s rights.
Three kidnappers suspected to have attempted to kidnap the wife of a member of the Delta State House of Assembly have been killed by the police in a fierce gun duel.
According to the information on PUNCH Metro, it was gathered that the hoodlums had failed in an attempt to kidnap the woman on September 2, 2024, at the Okoloba Junction, Jakpa Road, Uvwie, where the suspected kidnappers killed two policemen and the driver, Mr. David Imela, during the incident.
However, the police spokesperson, Bright Edafe, confirmed this to the PUNCH Metro on Sunday in Asaba, the Delta State capital.
He said, “Following the failed attempted kidnap of the wife of one of the members of Delta State House of Assembly where the suspected kidnappers murdered two Mobile Policemen and the driver, the Commissioner of Police, Olufemi Abaniwonda, immediately ordered a water-tight deployment around Warri and its environs as well as narrowing the roads and blockage of all exit points.
“Police operatives of the Ebrumede Division led by the DPO CSP Iwok Ndifereke strategically deployed and created an artificial hold-up at the DSC Roundabout and sighted the vehicle as described with a matching registration number.
“On noticing the traffic and sighting the policemen, the hoodlums opened fire on the team which the team equally responded professionally owing to the busy nature of the area.”
He said the hoodlums immediately abandoned the vehicle shattered with bullets and escaped with bullet injuries while three AK-47 rifles and their operational vehicle with registration no. WWR-436-GZ were recovered.
According to Edafe, the CP who was not satisfied with their escape, directed that the DPO Ebrumede should go all out and ensure the suspects were arrested and brought to book.
“Armed with available information and exhibits found in the abandoned vehicle, on October 3, 2024, the DPO Ebrumede Division, CSP Iwok Ndifereke, led operatives to their hideout in Agbarho where the police engaged the suspects in a fierce gun duel.
“The policemen who prepared for the battle ahead overpowered the hoodlums, three of the suspects sustained serious gunshot injuries while others escaped and another AK-47 rifle was also recovered.
“The suspects were taken to the hospital where they were confirmed dead. A manhunt for the other fleeing members of the gang is ongoing,” he said.
Edafe said Olufemi also commended the bravery the DPO and his men displayed during the operation and urged other officers and men of the command to emulate them.
The Ogun State police command on Monday said that its Igbeba Division, Ijebu-Ode, arrested one Shedrack Olawale Olayemi, who had been on the police wanted list for armed robbery and alleged rape of some female students of Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun, in July.
The spokesperson for the state police command, SP Omolola Odutola, disclosed this in a statement sent to journalists on Monday.
Odutola said that Olayemi was picked up after an intelligence report revealed that the 33-year-old alleged armed robber and rapist was sighted at the university area, Ijagun, where he has been trying to conceal his identity.
The statement said, “The divisional police officer of Igbeba Division has arrested a wanted notorious suspect for armed robbery.
“Following a tip-off, that one Olayemi Olawale Shedrack, aged 33 was sighted in Ijagun, trying to conceal himself among other citizens, but his identity was immediately confirmed by intelligence, and the police were contacted. In swift action, he was apprehended.
“Olayemi Olawale Shedrack has been on the police search for armed robbery and rape. He was fingered as the prime suspect for an alleged crime of armed robbery and rape in which he participated actively on the 21st of July, 2024, where he and his cohort broke into a female Royal Villa accommodation area in Tai University of Education Ijagun, where he robbed harmless female students of their luxury educational devices, including laptops, iPhones, sports wristwatches and cash, and further had unlawful carnal knowledge of the innocent female student and has since fled.”
The police said that a preliminary investigation has commenced, and the suspect has been immediately taken to the Igbeba police station for interrogation and will soon be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for discreet investigation and prosecution.
