News Obiaks News

On June 13, 2015, a baby was dumped at Obazuaye Street in Evbuareke Quarters, Uselu, Benin City, at about 11am. Residents, including Mr and Mrs Osarhiakhi Ebohon, went to the scene to catch a glimpse of the little girl, wrapped in a black nylon bag. The Ebohons, among other residents, placed curses on whoever might have thrown the child away. The police was invited to take away the baby who was later sent to the Ministry of Women Affairs in Edo State. But later that night, Mrs. Ebohon observed that their eldest daughter, Joy, was feeling uneasy. She tried to find out what her daughter’s problem was, to no avail.

However she went to inform the husband to probe Joy to know her problem. At about 5am the following day, Mr Ebohon woke her daughter up and threatened her to tell him the cause of her unease. It was there that Joy opened up to her parents that she was the one who dumped the child on the street. Her angry father went to the police to report the matter. Mr Ebohon then handed over the daughter to the police for prosecution. She was arraigned before a Magistrate Court in Benin by the police on June 17 and was remanded in Oko prisons.

Now, Mr and Mrs Ebohon are appealing for the release of the daughter whose first son is barely two years old. Narrating the incident, the father, who is a farmer, said: “I decided to go to the village to farm because of the difficulty to get money to train my children. My daughter, Osarhiakhi Joy, left secondary school some years back. She is my eldest daughter and she is 28 years old. About five years ago, she wrote her SSCE and passed all her papers and got admission into the College of Education, Ekiadolor, but I couldn’t pay the fees. I begged her to be patient till some other time. Before I knew it, she became pregnant. I called the boy responsible and told him that I didn’t want any stupid act and asked if he was going to marry her and he said yes. Then I told him the condition that my daughter wanted to further her education by studying pharmacy and he said okay. So she gave birth to the first child, a boy, who is about two years now. After that, she told me she couldn’t be staying at home, that she wanted to learn a trade before gaining admission and pending when the husband, or myself would be financially okay to send her back to school. I said it was okay. That is how she started learning fashion designing.

"She told her husband to come and beg me so that, at times, she could be staying with me because her place of work is closer to us and they don’t have their personal house. That is how she stated living with us again. I never knew she was pregnant this second time because I don’t stay in Benin; even the mother that stays in Benin never knew about it. I didn’t know she will be this clever to cover-up without our notice. However, I appeal to the police authority to kindly release our daughter."