| A lunatic’s plight
She is pregnant and nurses two kids,
yet heartless men keep pestering her for sex
By THERESA ONWUGHALU
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
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Iya
Ahmed and her kids. Inset is the location where she
stays
• Photos: Sun News Publishing
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She lives in a decrepit shack, nurses two toddlers and is
due to deliver another baby soon. Under normal circumstances,
that wouldn’t appear too strange in a place like Lagos
where anything can happen. But Yemisi Olajire Olalekan’s
case is definitely strange. Reason? She is a lunatic.
The fire incident which ravaged Ijegun in Alimosho Local Government
area of Lagos State early in the year must have been a forgotten
issue to some people. But to the residents of the area, the
memory has refused to go away. It has even taken another dimension
with the arrival of a new tenant. And the people are now worried.
The residents are not worried because Mrs. Yemisi Olajire
Olalekan is not mentally sound or sets up camp close to refuse
dumps. They are concerned because one of her kids, Sadiq,
is very ill. They are also worried because the woman is due
for delivery of another baby or babies soon. Apart from having
another three-year-old girl, Mariam, to cater for, men perpetually
pester her for sex.
Iya Ahmed’s case is, indeed, very pathetic. Many people
insist that her insanity persists because men keep putting
her in the family way. Her ‘office’ is at a corner
of Ijegun High School. There she stays with her two children
from morning till night before retiring to her house inside
Ijegun. But these days, she hardly goes home again. Her reason
is that her house is now full of snakes. Her house is a big
refuse dump. Loads and loads of trash dominate every space
in the house. And since there is virtually no more space in
the room, her children now sleep on top of the load.
More worrisome is the fact that she usually packed drugs from
dustbins to administer on her sick child. The child is about
a year old but cannot crawl. The woman ‘nurses’
her children with medicines and rotten meat picked from the
dustbins. Her condition is also unstable. Sometimes, she is
hostile, exhibiting the traits of a lunatic. At other times,
she is calm and speaks coherently.
In a chat with Daily Sun, she says she was married to Mr.
Olalekan from Isenyin, Oyo State. According to her, she is
38 years old, has five children. She calls the refuse dump
her office and the shack, her home.
The mad woman, Daily Sun gathered, could be violent at times
and threaten passers-by with a knife. She was said to have
attacked two ladies passing by her house, thinking they were
discussing her situation.
One of her neighbours, Mrs. Alade, revealed that Iya Ahmed
was a neat woman who once lived with her husband about six
years ago at Ijegamo, Ijegun before her insanity started.
After Iya Ahmed fell sick, she started staying in the open
until she became pregnant (not the one she is carrying now).
The landlords association in the area later built her a small
home to protect her newborn baby. But since the fire incident
at Ijegun, she has pitched her tent close to the fire scene.
Alade revealed that after watching Iya Ahmed closely, she
noticed that her madness comes up intensely each time she
is close to delivery. According to her, the woman might be
suffering from what the Yorubas call abisinwin meaning a brief
madness or stress before childbirth.
She explained that the case of Iya Ahmed’s insanity
is persisting owing to constant pregnancy since men do not
stop pestering her for sex.
She appealed to men to have pity on the lunatic and stay away
from her.
Iya Tosin, another neighbour, confirmed that Iya Ahmed’s
sickness might be abisinwin, which comes to an end once she
delivers.
According to her, Iya Ahmed was a very nice and neat woman
who used to be very fashionable.
She urged the government to rescue Iya Ahmed’s children
for proper upbringing as well as assist her in the delivery
of her current pregnancy. |
