Lois Apollos was
born in Mubi Local Government Area of a Adamawa State 18 years ago, but
left home in 2015 in search of better life in Gombe.....
With only primary
school education, she got a job as a restaurant attendant on the
outskirts of Gombe metropolis, but later fell out with the restaurant
owner, one Madam Rhoda, and left for Alkaleri in Bauchi State.
“There, I met the father of my
child, Lawal,who sells Suya at a place called Junction Masuri. I later
moved to his one-room apartment,” Lois said.
“When I told him that I was pregnant,
he agreed to be responsible, but when he was convinced by his friends,
he asked me to go and find the father of my child,” she added.
Confused on where to go next, Lois
returned to her parents in Mubi, but according to her, they sent her
away, saying they would not harbor her with a pregnancy outside
wedlock. She then returned to Gombe, where she revealed her predicament
to one Haladu, a yam seller at New Mile 3 along the Gombe-Yola highway,
and confided in him that she would also abandon the child after
delivery. But Haladu introduced her to a woman, Hadiza, who agreed to
take the baby when she put to bed.
“When Hadiza came, she told me that
she wanted the baby. I thought she was joking, but when the pregnancy
reached nine months, she persuaded me to go to a hospital where a
medical doctor induced the labor and I delivered the baby. After the
delivery, she settled the bills and gave me N10, 000 and left for an
unknown destination with the child. She also asked me not to return to
Mile 3.” But Lois returned to Mile 3, and people started asking her
about the baby.
“With no answer to their inquiries,
I had to leave the place, to stay with my friend at a village called
ACG. But for three weeks after delivering the baby I could not sleep
well, so I returned to Haladu and asked him to take me to the woman who
took my baby away,” she said. The police later helped her trace Hadiza
and recovered the baby.
“The police recovered the child from
the woman and gave me a letter to the state Ministry of Women Affairs
and Social Welfare which reunited me with my child and brought us to
this village in the ministry’s official vehicle,” she said.
The police then invited Lawal, the
father of the child, who agreed to take responsibility for the child’s
upkeep, but he was not seen afterwards.
“When the police invited him, he
came, and agreed that he was responsible for my pregnancy and would now
take responsibility for the child’s upkeep. Hadiza was crying when they
took the child from her, begging us to leave him to her,” she added.
When Daily Trust visited Lois at the
ACG village along the Gombe-Yola highway earlier this week, she was
cuddling her one-month-old baby under a tree at about noon, singing
softly. She said she was starving, having not eaten since the previous
night. Lois also said the baby is not named yet.
“Since my reunion with the child and
subsequent relocation to this village about two weeks ago, neither the
officials of the ministry nor the father has visited me. Baby is ill and
I don’t have enough breast milk to give him. Because he was away from
me for about a month, the breast milk has ceased and I do not eat good
food to stimulate the flow,” she said.
When Daily Trust contacted the
Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare, the officials denied
knowledge of the case. The Director of Social Welfare at the ministry,
Mr. Endiley Mailafiya, said his office was not aware of the case.
However, the Gombe State Police
Command Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Obed Mary Malum, confirmed
the incident, saying the command actually recovered and handed over the
child to his mother, Lois.
“We have since reunited the baby
with his real mother through the state Ministry of Women Affairs and
Social Welfare,” DSP Malum said.
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