Tag Archives: Victim

Rann Bombing: 54 victims stabilized in 3 Maiduguri hospitals

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At least 54 victims of the military bomb misfire in Rann, headquarters of Kala-Balge are hospitalized in three hospitals located in Maiduguri with all of them in stable conditions, the Borno State Commissioner for Health, Haruna Mshelia, said in an update released on Wednesday.

Mr. Mshelia said of the 54 victims, 32 persons are receiving treatment at the State Specialist Hospital; 16 victims are being treated at 7th Division Military Hospital in Maimalari Barack while 6 persons are hospitalised at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.

The Commissioner said that all the 54 hospitalised victims are in stable conditions with medical experts from the state, humanitarian partners and the military attending to their health needs.

The Commissioner said it was still too early to give an accurate number of deaths because as at the time of issuing the update, evacuation of survivors was still ongoing using four helicopters provided by the United Nations and the Nigerian Air Force.

Mr. Mshelia also said that bodies were being recovered.

The Commissioner said humanitarian partners like the MSF, International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, the United Nations and different stakeholders have been extremely dedicated to the emergency evacuation and medical response.

He also said Governor Kashim Shettima has since morning deployed his Deputy, Usman Mamman Durkwa, and the House of Representatives member, representing Kala-Balge, Bama, Dikwa and Ngala federal constituency of Borno State, Mamman Nur Sheriff, and the Assembly member among other officials to scene of the incident at Rann, headquarters of Kala-Balge local government area in order to assess the situation and supervise evacuation of victims to Maiduguri.

While the Deputy Governor was at Rann, Governor Shettima was scheduled to meet officials of the Nigerian Air Force to get formal brief on the incident. The Governor was also remained in Maiduguri to coordinate responses from different quarters and ensure all appropriate steps were being taken.

While in Maiduguri, Governor Shettima received a Presidential delegation led by the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, who came alongside the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, Minister of information, Lai Mohammed, Chief of Defence Staff, Gabriel Olanishakin, Chief Army Staff, Lt-Gen TY Buratai, and other military officers operating within and outside Borno State.

?”The President and C-in-C is very distressed about the incident, and has instructed us to embark on this condolence visit. This kind of incident happens occasionally in war, especially when dealing with terrorists like Boko Haram who arbitrarily and in cowardly fashion hide among civilians. The President deeply regrets the incident. The Armed forces will take extra care to ensure this doesn’t happen again. The Federal Government is working with the State, Local, and International partners to ensure speedy resettlement of IDPs” the Chief of Staff said.

Governor Shettima said the incident was an unfortunate tragedy and a painful price of war.

“It is most unfortunate and wasn’t meant to happen. Nothing can justify this tragedy but going memory lane, incidents of friendly fire is unfortunately as old as history of wars in the world. There are many incidents of friendly fires since the 1st and 2nd World Wars down to ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan, Syria and other parts of the world.

“It is gratifying that nobody made any effort to hide anything or sweep things under carpet. In years gone by, people would have resorted to blame games. I am happy that rather than blame game, information was made public with sincerity, mistakes were accepted and focus was channelled into evacuation and rehabilitation of victims. ?War comes with different kinds of very terrible prizes and this is one of such painful prizes. We pray this crisis ends and we shall remain forever grateful to all stakeholders for their support,” Mr. Shettima said.

?Our correspondent reports that following the unfortunate situation at Rann in Kala-Balge local government area of ?Borno State, Governor Kashim Shettima had ordered the State Ministry of Health to set up medical emergency response units and coordinate rehabilitation of victims.

Governor Shettima had received the news with shock and very deep concern. The Governor had particularly commended the MSF for its rapid response in providing first aide treatment to victims at the scene while also thanking the ICRC and the UN.

 

Source: Premium Times

Hoodlums attack Ogun hospital staff for delaying treatment of accident victims

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Hoodlums, commonly known as area boys, on Wednesday disrupted medical activities at the Ogun State Hospital, Ifo, in Ifo local government area for almost one hour.

The attackers stormed the hospital when some commercial motorcyclists were brought in to receive medical attention following a crash which occurred at Papalanto along Abeokuta-Lagos Road.

On arrival with the ?victims, the area boys were asked to obtained cards for the patients, but they revolted, insisting that the victims must be attended to immediately before obtaining hospital cards.

Shortly after, they began to beat up some of the hospital staff, just as many of the workers hurriedly abandoned their duty posts to avoid being attacked.

A staff of the hospital, while narrating their ordeal, said the area boys wanted all the accident victims to be treated the same time even though there was only one doctor on duty.

Pandemonium broke out at the hospital as the invaders threatened to set the hospital ablaze.

They were stopped by a team of police Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, arrived the hospital to deposit a corpse.

Some of the hoodlums were arrested and taken away, but later released after few hours, a witness said.

When contacted, the Medical Director of the hospital, Taofeek Somade, confirmed the incident, saying the quick intervention of the police saved the situation.

Mr. Somade said the hoodlums were arrested and whisked away by the police.

Similarly, Ogun State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the attack.

How I was duped inside Lagos taxi – Victim

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A victim of a three-man syndicate that specialises in swindling unsuspecting members of the public by pretending to have their goods seized by the Nigerian Customs has told the police how she was duped of N9,000.

Chiwenu Ibeh said she was going to Ojodu Berger from Ojota, in Lagos, when a taxi driver, in an ash-coloured Toyota Camry 1997 model with registration number SMK 886 DK, stopped at the bus stop to pick her.

“As he drove along, he picked another passenger on Kudirat Abiola Way,” said Mrs. Ibeh.

“We were still on Kudirat Abiola Way when the new passenger started a conversation in something like French language with the driver.”

Mrs. Ibeh said the driver then pleaded with her that he wants to take the new passenger to Custom’s Office on Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, where his goods were seized.

“It was here that their story changed and I became the subject of their manipulation in connivance with a Customs agent and a pastor,” she said.

“Under the pretext that the four of us assist the man whose goods were trapped with the Customs over export duties, they brainwashed me into releasing my ATM card, led me to withdraw the last N9,000 from my account.

“After this, the pastor prayed for me and told me to go home and get more money my family kept at home.”

Mrs. Ibeh said the incident occurred last week.

“On Thursday, my husband and I were standing at the Maryland Bus Stop,” she continued.

“I saw the same Toyota Camry with same number plate and a new driver, but beside it was the former driver that lured me into fraud, pretending to be passenger.

“I alerted RRS officers stationed in Maryland and they arrested them.”

In a statement on Sunday, the police said they arrested the driver, Kenneth Umukoro, 36, and his accomplice, Uba Utokcha, 41.

The police said they also arrested two other suspects, Joseph Onuoha and Ikechukwu Okeke separately but in similar circumstances on Tuesday and Wednesday last week respectively.

Mr. Onuoha told interrogators that he belonged to a fraud syndicate led by one man simply identified as Toronto (who is now at large), who trained over 40 of them to go out daily in search of would-be victims, the police statement said.

“When we hit jackpot, we share it into five parts. Toronto takes two parts. Two of us in a team share two and we would share the remaining part to others,” the statement quoted Mr. Onuoha, 40, as saying.

“Presently, our office in Ajegunle has been busted by the police. Toronto as I was told has relocated to somewhere in Surulere. Whenever we have issues with the police, he comes around to secure our bail.”

Dolapo Badmus, the Police Public Relations Officer, said the police would not relent in their duties of making the state crime free and warned members of the public to be wary of suspicious dealings.

The police said the four suspects have been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti.

We capitalise on victims’ greed to defraud them – Suspects

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Two suspected fraudsters, Donald Adodo and Dapo Adejumo, who were arrested by the police in Abuja, for defrauding some residents, claimed that they exploited only greedy victims.

 

Adodo, 46, said he traded in fairly used clothes, popularly known as okrika, but was defrauded by a customer. He said the incident ended his business venture.

 

The father of two, in an interview on Friday in Abuja, said he was no longer involved in fraudulent activities, noting that he was walking along the road when he was arrested by the police.

 

Adodo said, “Since the last time I was arrested by the police, I stopped engaging in 419 business. But the fact is that we only play on the greed of our victims. Nigerians should know that you cannot fall mugu (victim) if you are not greedy. So, the advice I have for Nigerians is, ‘Don’t be greedy and you won’t fall mugu.”

 

Adejumo, 27, who also admitted to have defrauded many FCT residents, identified Kubwa-Zuba Expressway as his area of operation.

He confessed that he used to pretend to be a taxi driver to defraud his passengers by talking about a dubious quick money business venture to lure unsuspecting victims.

 

The suspect said, “I have about three business partners; what we do is to paint the impression of a great business venture that could bring quick money and the moment a passenger indicated interest, we would ask him to contribute his share of the business capital, which we would run away with.

 

“If people are contented with what they have, they won’t fall victims; I am not involved in ‘one chance’ robbery and I don’t force people to give me money, what I do is petty 419 and only greedy mugus fall victims,” he said.

 

Adejumo stated that he had defrauded only three victims this year, adding that he got about N15,000 from the operations.

 

The police, he said, arrested him on account of a disagreement he had with his business partner, which he said had nothing to do with their criminal activities.

Policeman sexually abuses 15-year-old rape victim.

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A Metropolitan Police officer who had sex with a 15-year-old rape victim he met online has been dismissed from the force and jailed.

26-year-old James Evans, was sentenced to four years in jail in August and he will be on the sex offenders’ register for life.

Court heard how the ‘vulnerable’ girl performed a sex act in Evans’ car while he drove her home from a session with child mental health services.

He later had intercourse with her at his Ruislip flat after they matched on dating app, Tinder, in January this year.

Although the girl told Evans she was 16, he said he knew she was 15 years old and still at school.

she said, “I now know he took full advantage of my vulnerabilities.

“I told James I had been sexually assaulted the previous August and now I know he should have acted differently as a police officer,” Metro UK reported.

The report also says the girls mother discovered the relationship after reading her daughter’s diary and finding pictures of Evans in police uniform and reported to the authorities.

Assistant Commissioner Helen King said, “PC Evans exploited a girl he knew to be vulnerable and, as she knew he was a serving police officer, abused his position.

“Sexual exploitation of young people, particularly by those in positions of power and influence, has long been very seriously under reported.

“For a police officer to commit such offences is inevitably going to have a serious detrimental impact on the confidence of victims and the wider public to report concerns.

“PC Evans has undermined the work of colleagues to build that trust. Critically he has victimised a young girl and broken the laws he was entrusted to enforce on others.

“The only outcome in this case is for him to be dismissed without notice.”

From The Horses Mouth: I’m A Sexual Assault Victim Who Still Supports Trump

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This week America was subjected to a tape of Barack Obama flashing his erection to women on a plane. With a proud smile, he spread his legs, so the ladies could see the solid outline of his penis beneath his khakis.

It brought back a memory for me. A terrible one. When I was 16, I was working in a drug store behind a counter where we sold makeup, jewelry, and watches. A man came into the store. He was scraggly, thin, wearing a faded tan T-shirt and loose gray sweatpants. He was wearing a grin, too.

The man walked to the counter and beckoned me over. He asked to see one of the watches in the cabinet. I bent over and pulled out the watch. I handed it to him, and he looked at it for a moment.

He asked me for another, and I bent down again and retrieved it. He took it from my hands, his fingers leathery and his nails dirty. Clearing his throat with a phlegmy cough, he handed it back. He did this several more times, and I was getting frustrated by his repeated requests. Finally, I asked him if he wanted to purchase a watch.

Proud and roguish, he grinned, his watery eyes twinkling as if he knew something I didn’t. And he did.

“I don’t really want one,” he said in a scratchy voice from smoking too many cigarettes. I could smell them on him, like an old ashtray. “I just like watching you bend over so I can see down your shirt.”

He then stepped back and showed me his erection through his sweatpants. “They sure got a rise out of me. Bet you’ve never seen somethin’ like this?”

The heat of shame spread up my neck and across my cheeks. My heart pounded and my ears buzzed. I panicked. No one was in that part of the store because it was late and near closing time. I didn’t know what the man would do, and I was afraid.

I backed away, shaking all over, and hurried along the counter to the back of the store. I glanced over my shoulder. He wasn’t following. He just stood there with his hand in his pocket.

I found the store manager and told him what had happened. He told me to stay in the pharmacy area while he made sure the man had left. After a few minutes, he came back and said the man was gone. I was still trembling when he walked me to my car to make sure I was safe. As I started the car, the manager told me I should be careful how I dressed from then on. That only added to my shame.

That moment has lived with me all my life. So has another. It involved a car salesman when I was in my twenties. He was one of my accounts when I was an advertising salesperson for the Augusta Chronicle. He welcomed me in his office and shut the door, asked me to sit down, then walked up behind me, put his hands on my shoulders, and reached down and grabbed my breasts.

I bolted from the room, slamming the door behind me. I didn’t report it. I didn’t tell my boss. I shared what happened with a male co-worker, and he told me not to say anything because it might affect my job; he said he’d take over my account so I wouldn’t have to see the man again.

I don’t know if I’m merely unlucky or what, but I wish I could say these were the only incidents like this in my life. They weren’t. There was another, and all I’ll say about that is a woman never really knows how strong a man is, how helpless she can be, until she is beneath him, unable to break free.

Why am I telling you this? I’m sure you can guess. There’s a lot of talk about sexism and sexual assault recently because of tapes released about Donald Trump and several women who have never spoken before—some in more than 30 years—telling their stories of how he sexually assaulted them.

I don’t know whether their stories are true. If he’s guilty and found to be so in a court of law, then I hope he’s punished. I do wonder, however, why his accusers never mentioned these things when NBC hired Trump to be on national television. I wonder why they never mentioned it when he stepped into politics years ago. I wonder why they never mentioned it during the primaries. I wonder why they never mentioned it until October, just before the election.

Was it just because they felt some freedom to do so because of the “Access Hollywood” tape? Maybe, but the timing still seems odd to me. It all seems so—how shall I put it—choreographed.

But who am I to accuse possible assault victims of lying or playing political games? I don’t know their motives or the truth of their stories. I will say that having been a victim of unwanted sexual advances and assault, I do have a sense of when women are telling the truth about such matters.

I also have a keen sensitivity to the hypocrisy of those who say they care deeply about women who have suffered in this way—hypocrites like Michelle Obama. Honestly, I don’t know who’s worse. A man who sexually abuses a woman, or a woman who uses another woman who has been sexually abused, creating another layer of abuse. Part of me says it’s the latter.Last week, Michelle gave a speech in which she said she feels the pain of sexual assault victims “so personally.” Like the fine actress she is, her voice trembled. “I can’t stop thinking about this,” she said. “It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn’t have predicted.”

But Michelle Obama is being dishonest and disingenuous. She supports a woman who has viciously attacked women who say they were the victims of her husband’s sexual deviancy. They are no different than the women coming forward now, except their stories have stood the test of time, and have been corroborated. Yet they get no sympathy from Michelle and Hillary, only scorn and ridicule.

Read More: thefederalist

 

Nigerian Victim Of S’Africa Xenophobia Seeks Compensation

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Mr. Chika Emehelu, a 36-year-old Nigerian businessman in South Africa, yesterday appealed to the federal government to persuade the South African government to pay him compensation for the losses he incurred during the wave of xenophobic attacks in the country in 2013.
Emehelu, a native of Udi in Enugu State, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Johannesburg that he lost more than R800,000 (N12 million) in the May 2013 xenophobic attacks in that country.
The businessman, who is married to a South African and has three children, said his three shops at Portnolloth, a community in Northern Cape Province of South Africa, were looted during the attack.
Emehelu also said local authorities in the province came and took an inventory of the items stolen and destroyed, promising to pay him compensation.
He however said nothing had been done since then, adding that his family members were going through hard times.
Emehelu also said he had submitted all relevant documents to the South African authorities after the incident, adding that he was running a duly registered business outfit.
He also said officers from the Nigerian Mission in South Africa had visited his shops to take inventory.
Emehelu appealed to the federal government to remind the South African government to pay compensation to Nigerians who suffered losses during the xenophobic attacks.
“As I speak, I lost everything to the mob attack and I need government’s assistance to revive my business,” he said.
Mr. Ikechukwu Anyene, President of Nigeria Union in South Africa, said the body had compiled a list of Nigerians affected in the attacks and submitted it to the federal government through Nigeria’s consul general in the country.
Credit: Thisday

BIZARRE: 4 Year Old Falls Victim Of Human Organ Traffickers Who Plucked Out His Eyes In Zaria (VIEWER DISCRETION)

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This is unfortunate and heartbreaking. A facebook user shared this story on his facebook page with a graphic image. Read the sad story below:

Sometimes, I ask myself if truly my Country deserves me or I deserve this Country called Nigeria. This 4 year old child’s eyes were removed by some heartless and faithless persons in Zaria, North West Nigeria, 2 days ago.

Please let us pray for him and for the arrest of the perpetrators of this unwholesome act. * tears.

May He be healed IJN! Amen

…

Please Share This Until it gets to police!

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Cyril Chinedu's photo.

 

Sierra Leone Ebola Victim Exposed 27 Others To Disease

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A woman who died of Ebola this week in Sierra Leone potentially exposed at least 27 other people to the disease, an aid agency reported.

This has raised the possibility of further transmission as a regional epidemic appeared nearly over.

The victim, a 22-year-old female student from Tonkolili District named Mariatu Jalloh, became ill at the beginning of the year and died on Jan. 12 while living in a house with 22 people.

She had sought medical attention at a local hospital but was treated as an outpatient

Credit: Reuters

#Pausibility: LOVED A SAVAGE. (@Sugabelly and the rest of us) by Adebayo Coker.

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rape

He is already some inches into me. I wriggled my waist severally to free myself from the grip but the more I do that the deeper he gets so I resigned to fate, at least the pain will stop.

Jide had invited me to his room on a Friday afternoon. Everyone in the compound had gone out. His mother and siblings had traveled for the Christmas holiday and he would be joining them the following day. He had come home to see me if not he would have gone straight from his school. But he came to me because the last time we saw was two months ago when he came home to get some foodstuff and hiss stipend. I had seen him off to the park. He looked at me and expressed his love for me the umpteenth time. Even though I felt he was lying I still took him serious; a brilliant young undergraduate for that matter, saying he loves a fresh school leaver like myself.

“I am telling you the truth; I don’t like those campus girls. They are just too hypocritical for me”, he would say each time he saw that I wasn’t really taking his words seriously. How could I have taken those sweet nothings seriously? Many times, I have seen him in an uncompromising state with different ladies. Pictures don’t lie.

Everybody says I have a figure of a full grown woman with the right curves and shape. But I don’t see all of those. They even say my pretty face will give any beauty queen a run for whatever she may profess but I still don’t see that. I have many years ahead of me. I am looking forward to writing JAMB in few months and I must get myself prepared for what lies ahead. Jide showed interest in my study as he assumed the role of an advisor. Thanks to my parents as they would always call him in to seek one clarification or the other concerning my choice course of study and the institutions that offer the programme.

“I will suggest she goes for Mass Communication as I can tell she likes broadcasting”. He must have eavesdropped on my conversation with my friends one of those times we would argue why one course of study is better than the other. I have always loved broadcasting. Each time I see Abike Dabiri on the NTA network I always wanted to be like her.  Then when Adesuwa Oyenukwe comes on, nothing compares to the joy I feel on the inside: For me it is broadcasting.

“Why don’t you go to Jide anytime you have issues filling your form. He is your brother anyway”, my mother would say. Jide would smile and half-prostrate then leave for the room and a parlour self-contain at the backyard that he lives with his mother and siblings. My parents, 6 siblings I occupied a makeshift two room but originally one room in the face-me-I-face-you tenement in Ijora Badia Area.

The life I see around me is not what I am proud of. I never want such a life. But what can I do if that’s where life itself says that is where my life will start from. The only thing I can do is to better my life through acquiring good education. I don’t want a life in the slum.

Brother Jide as I used to call him is God-sent. Always. Ready to help. Always. We got closer and closer. His tutelage gave me an hedge over my peers and some of them would even beg me to meet him but I hoarded the knowledge. I looked forward to attending a university anxiously. “I would not be like any of those campus girls at all”, I would tell my mentor. “Brother Jide, tell me what it is like on campus?” and my lover would load me with stories of gigs he attended in company of girls. This one wants him. That one wants him. I started getting jealous especially when my friends started showing interest in meeting him. He must be hot I accepted eventually. But how does one determine human hotness? My naivety would not allow me decipher such.

“Anytime we are together don’t call me Brother jor, you make me feel like a paedophile”.

“Paedo…?”

“Paedophile: old men that take advantage of young girls. Or. Am I?”

“Taking advantage of me? No! I love you!”

“I love you too”.

Jide moved closer to me and tried to plant his lips on mine but I drew back.

“What is it?” He breathed into his palm just as many toothpaste ads suggest for a breath-check. “Do I have a bad breath?” he asked.

“Not at all!”

“Then what?!”

“I don’t know how”

“Adijaaaaat! “ he rolled over to the other side as he laughed. “You want to tell me you haven’t done this or more before?”

“No, I haven’t .  I am a virgin”

“It’s a lie?!”, he snouted.

“I am telling you the truth”

He looked at me with much astonishment written all over his face. He only moved closer and held me as both of us kept quiet for a while.

“Then I will love you forever”, he broke the silence. Just at that point a knock came at the door then we both rushed to the sitting room and feigned study-mode before he got the door. I still have my long dress and hijab intact. My father would not allow any of his girls leave the house without observing the Islam usance.  My elder sister would even walk into the bathroom all decked, though my two younger sisters enjoy clemency while I am a bit flexible in my coverings. That’s why I usually doubt the judgment of anyone that says they see beyond the thick cover.

“I will be going back to school in two days time:”, my lover told me at our rendezvous. A pavement just outside of the compound. Anyone sits here but we would be the last to leave the arena; sometimes we would be there till very late in the night and since it is just by the side of the building and since it is Brother Jide and Adijat there is no problem. My father would even greet and walk through us into the house anytime he comes back from his séances. As far as anyone is concerned both of us are safe in each other’s company. It is Brother Jide we are talking about. He is the same age as my elder brother. The only boy in my family. Sule is not given to too much study so he couldn’t put me through like Jide and my elder sister will be writing the forthcoming GCE, in fact, we enrolled together.

Just as we both went in for the night, Jide pulled me to himself immediately he bolted the door behind us and like a ballerina dancer I collapsed into his waiting arms. He kissed me. I responded. It was sweet. I liked it.

The next morning, I couldn’t look straight into his face. He stood in their living room; his usual stand point. He watched me as I carried by bath water into the bathroom. I held on to the tip of my wrapper with my left hand as I  carried the bucket tilting more to my right like a Shylock scale will outsmart whatever that is just. He smiled and I gently returned the smile without looking up his direction. My father was at the backyard performing his ablution. His mother was watching clothes by the window. A neighbour was in the kitchen just by the bathroom and my youngest sister was having her bath outside by the bed of the tap. Nobody saw what was going on. It was just an even for two lovebirds. Just the two of us.

I can’t wait for everyone to go their ways. I can’t wait for the night to come. I can’t wait for the rendezvous. Seated on the pavement under the moonlight by the side of the house at the entrance of Iya Muti’s beer parlour. I can’t wait for Jide to latch the door…

“I will be going very early tomorrow. I have an assignment to submit by 4pm”, my lover dropped and I looked forlorn.

“How long will you be gone for?”

“I can’t tell”

The forlornness became more amplified. I imagined what one of those girls would do with Jide if they had a taste of his lips. They would be willing and ready for him unlike me. I am not ready to go beyond what happens behind the latched doors. Our Imam had taught us it is dignifying to yield our hymen to our man alone.

“I hope you will not go kissing every girl in your school?” I eventually joked but I meant it. For real.

“I swear they are just my friends. I don’t deal more than friendship”, he defended.

Everybody had gone in. We must go in also but not until my father returned from mosque. He is usually the last person that comes home late. Before now he was the one that latches the door but these past few days the onus has fallen on Jide and I. Just as expected, he came back from the mosque and few minutes after Jide latched the door. Ordinarily, I would have walked out of the darkness to go wait for him under the light but I stood close to him as he fastened the final bolt  then I offered him myself. Just my lips. He took it further and cupped by breasts and groped my body. I moaned. He held me close to himself and we were there for some time. We only broke away, hurriedly when we heard footsteps. My father wanted to perform his final ablution for the day. He does that every night after his dinner.

The next morning I heard his movement in the passage. But this time he knocked on our door to inform my mom he is leaving for school. It is my message.

The long wait began.

His mother would only return to give his warm regards to my mom as he had called her office from a NITEL phone in his school. I remembered one thing he would buy in surplus were NITEL phone cards. Each time she gave the message I knew by extension it was for me.

Then he came back home. A month after he left. The school has been shut down indefinitely following a violent protest by students against purported hike in school fees. “What do you mean by indefinite closure?”, my mother had asked him as he stepped into the backyard where everyone was seated.

“It means we would only go back to school whenever the school authority deems fit”, he responded with his bright eyes glowing even in the dark. His mother received him into her waiting arms. He is sure a mummy’s boy. His siblings love and admire him. He is brilliant. His friends mill around him for his warmth and large heartedness. He is love by everybody.

“Adijat, when is your exam?”, he asked.

My heart leapt, “it is some weeks away”, I managed to answer.

“When exactly?!”, my mouther shouted.

“3 weeks”.

“I am available anytime. Let’s hope the school authority will allow me stay around through the period”, he walked into their parlour and shut the net behind him but I can see him beyond the door.  What a glow moment I got back into my life.

“Are you still intact?”, Jide asked me the next day we met.

“As ever!”, I smiled as I presented him loads of poetry I have composed even though I  considered them arrhythmical, they are straight songs  from my heart. He laughed and presented his own rhythm:

Who Says…

Who says love have eyes!

I have seen a sepia

Fallen for a negroid

The mighty

Walking like a dove

In the presence of the weak.

The richest

Who is meant to be riding

On the high horse of pride

But strolling in the miry

With a pariah.

Where does this feeling come from?

I wonder as I see

A little cherubim

Am archer

Firing his arrows indiscriminately

Each arrow hitting a twosome

Opposite sex.

A beautiful woman clapping at the corner

And I asked why so happy at this shot

She says…

I am venus and that is Cupid my son

A perfect archer though blind.

To My Heart

Dearer to my heart

As I go far

Nearer to my mind

As I draw nigh

Priceless to my soul

An invaluable treasure

That you are

For I know

Amor Vinceit Omnia-

Love conquers all.

I read those words and all the virtues in me flew. I wanted to hold him. I held the papers dear to me and hid them where even rats could not locate. They are the first love notes I got from my lover. I have received love letters before. Quite a few. From those young boys that would not get their daily feed if they don’t wash plates in their mother’s kitchen. These were matured lines from a matured man compare to those lines skewed from Mills and Boons then mixed with R&B lyrics diluted with some Hispanic Calypso then laced with Reggae from the golden era through to the new age. You can tell such watery compositions from the mixes and the remixes. What Jide gave me was straight from the heart. Original!

Jide put me through my study. Most times we used their living room. His sibling would be there at times. We would only go beyond the veil if no one is in the house. We would use the inner room.  My exams went well and the result would come sometime later in the year. I would have to wait. We would have to wait.

“You know it is high time we lay ourselves.”

“Lay ourselves?”

“I want to have you.”

“Not yet”

“When?”

“Maybe when I gained admission by that time you would have rounded up your study and married me.”, I told my lover but he went cold. I rubbed his body to calm him as that is what we resorted to each time he wanted me. I watch him shower many times and he watched me too. He said that would help both of us. The first time I went full nude before him, I covered my private and my tiny breasts with my hands but he made me comfortable telling me how beautiful my body is. He made me realize I wouldn’t need the padded bra I have always worn. He likes lacy instead. I exhibited confidence more and more anytime we were together and he had helped administered some ointment around my private at different times. We were discreet. Nobody ever saw our shadows not to talk of our physicality to be in a compromising state. What they could only say is that we held hands.

“My mom too never believed I am still a virgin”

“How do I believe you are telling the truth if I don’t test it?”

“If you would try it then I won’t be a virgin anymore”

“I will be gentle…”, he mounted me, held me down under his weight.

“Noooo! I don’t want….”

“Don’t shout”, he covered my mouth to the point of asphyxiation, he firmed his grip on my hands. He held both of my hands with his left arm pinned to my head by holding few strands of my hair. Altogether, I couldn’t move a muscle around my upper region. He spread my legs with his legs and he went in. Few inches into me I felt dripping moisture from my private. I wriggled and wriggled hoping that I will eject him out of me but he spread my legs the more as he leaned the more on me. I only stopped when I saw that the more I wriggled the deeper he got. Finally, he came out and wet my navel with his water.

I wept!

The clot of blood and water on the bedspread demoralized me gravely.

Pain enveloped my whole being. I felt useless. My ego is bruised. My priceless pearl has been cheaply sought. Trampled. Thrashed.

He said he is sorry. He should respect me. My nay is not aye!

Few days later, I explained what happened to my sister as she noticed my broodiness. Surprisingly, she wasn’t alarmed.

“Just keep it to yourself, it’s a mundane”, she dispassionately consoled. I watched her as she walked out of the room. She must have lost her virginity in her efflorescence. Even to a savage.

*Rape is a social aberrance and rapists are to be castrated.

Taken from yet to be published What Suzzie Wants.

New Ebola Death hits Mali as Liberia Hails Drop in Cases

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A second person from Mali has died from Ebola, just as hardest-hit Liberia hailed a dramatic drop in infections and the last-known sufferer in the United States was declared cured.

The death of a nurse who had treated an Ebola patient from neighbouring Guinea came as a blow to authorities in Mali, just as they were beginning to lift quarantine restrictions on more than 100 people exposed to the country’s first victim of the virus.

The nurse had treated a Guinean patient at a clinic in the capital Bamako who was suffering from kidney failure and later died, medical sources said late Tuesday. Authorities now believe he had Ebola.

The case has raised fears of further contamination in Mali as the infection was unrelated to the country’s only other Ebola fatality, that of a two-year-old girl.

In Liberia there was better news as assistant health minister Tolbert Nyenswah said new cases had dropped from a daily peak of more than 500 to around 50, confirming tentative announcements by experts worldwide of an apparent slowdown in the epidemic.

“The numbers of cases are reducing,” he told AFP, although he added that new cases were still emerging across the country.

Credit: AFP