Uche, 39, fled home when he learnt that his expectant wife was carrying a set of twins – the family’s third.
Where is Citizen Emeka Benjamin Uche, a Lagos factory worker?
That was the big question yesterday as his wife, Ruth, 34, from Abia State broke the news of his
disappearance since February.
Mrs Uche was at the Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa yesterday with her six children, pleading for help.
Not many knew what she wanted as she stood under a tree, close to the
Press Centre, carrying the babies. Her first two sets of twins, much
older, stood close to their mother, and did not in any way seem
intimidated by the sea of cameras and faces focusing on them.
Mrs. Uche was receptive when our reporter approached her to narrate her ordeal.
In 2009 when she first conceived, she was delivered of two girls –
Goodness and Godnews. The second conception, two years later, produced
another two – a boy and a girl, named John and Joyce.
But when her husband, Emeka, learnt that the third pregnancy was
another set of two he fled their number 32, Awori Street, Agege home on
the outskirt of Lagos to an undisclosed location in Ikorodu, Lagos.
The third set of twins arrived last month. They were named Daniel and Daniella.
Mrs. Uche said she could no longer cope with widening needs for food, clothes, drugs and school fees.
Her meagre earnings as a teacher in a private school in Lagos can no longer meet their needs.
Her story: “I met my husband in 2002 but we got married in 2008. We
met in the village at Umuahia. I don’t want to leave the children and
run away. This is why I want government to help us,” she said.
She recalled that she never wanted the third pregnancy, but her use
of traditional means of family planning (counting fertile and infertile
days) failed her.
“I was using traditional way of family planning where I calculate
some days before having intercourse. It was working for me. You can see
my first set of twins is four years old.
“You know as women, we cannot deny our husband that thing whenever
they request for it. Whenever I mistakenly take in, he would say that I
was pretending. Sometimes, I would go through long process to abort the
pregnancy. After that, another one would happen. I would still have to
go through the process again to abort it. When this one happened he
still insisted that I was pretending until the pregnancy became
obvious.”
“My Church was responsible for the payment of the first delivery. The
church paid N120, 000 for the delivery of the first set of twins. The
two deliveries of the twins have been through Caesarean Section for
which we paid N120, 000 each. The last twins are through normal
delivery”.
Mrs. Uche explained that her husband, a factory worker in Iju Road,
Agege, has since refused to pick her calls. She learnt that he stays in
Ikorodu.
“Since I gave birth to the children, I have tried calling my husband
but he would not pick once he knows that it is me. I contacted his
mother and other relatives to tell them that he has run away. They
promised that they will call back. Since then, none of them has called
me. It is not easy for me at all.
“I know only two of his relations. One of them lives in Ikorodu; the
other one lives at Ajegunle. My elder brother, who could have also
helped, is very angry with me for giving birth to another set of twins.
He warned me before not to have any other child after the two sets of
twins, especially with the kind of husband I have.
“I cannot put my hands in blood shedding by committing abortion. I
want Nigerians to help me because there is nobody to pay their school
fees.
“I went for immunisation some days ago and I told them my condition
and why they have not been seeing me. It was there that they advised
that I should come to government. Government should please help my
children; no one to help me with house rent, electricity bill, school
fees, food and so on,” Mrs. Uche said.
