‘I GOT HIV WHILE LOOKING FOR A CHILD’

When did you get married?
We got married in 2004
Did you do HIV tests before you got married?
Yes, we did. It was a compulsory test before getting married. We were both HIV negative.
When did you realise you had the virus?
It was in 2007. I got pregnant and was asked to do some random tests. That was how I found out I was HIV positive.
 
Do you know how you contracted the virus?
Sometimes, it’s difficult to tell because there are so many ways through which one can get the virus but you can trace it if you vividly remember the activities you engaged in for some months and years.
Can you explain what you mean by activities one engages in?
In my case, my husband married me a virgin and like I told you earlier, I was HIV negative and so was he when we got married. Certain things happened to me that exposed me to unhealthy practices and I believe strongly that that was how I got HIV.
 
Unhealthy practices?
I could not conceive when I got married. My husband was not worried because it was a young marriage, but his family members were not happy with me. They said all sorts of nasty things to me and tried to get my husband to send me out of the house. It created tension in my home. I went to different churches and herbalists within and outside Lagos. In the herbalist’s home, I was given incisions with a razor blade. I received the incisions on two different occasions. Then in 2007, my mother-in-law arranged a new wife for my husband behind my back.
 
Did he tell you about the new wife?
No. In fact, I didn’t know until much later. It was one of my friends in the village that told me what my mother-in-law had been up to. My husband just told me that he was going to our village to see his mum. I did not suspect anything. It was on that trip they introduced the new wife to him. He rejected the wife and came back to Lagos but he did not tell me anything. One day, one of my friends called me and asked me if I knew what my husband came to the village for. She narrated the scheme to me and I confronted my husband. He said he didn’t tell me because it would hurt me. He reasoned that since he didn’t take the wife, I would be happy not knowing what transpired in the village.
 
It was that same year my in-laws wanted to get another wife for my husband that I got pregnant. That is why I counsel women that patience is everything. I got pregnant when God was ready to give me a child. It wasn’t the herbalist or white garment churches that made it possible. They gave me some very horrible concoctions to drink in those churches after praying on them. They took me to rivers to have my bath. When I saw that all those things were not working, I stopped. Several months after, I just discovered I was pregnant. In fact, I remember vividly that at the herbalist’s place, I didn’t give them the blade that was used for the incisions. That was the least thing on my mind, I just wanted a baby.
How many people did you see at the herbalist each time you went?
Quite a few, mostly women and it was the quest for children that took them there. They also got incisions.
 
Was it with the same blade?
I’m not sure about that because we went in at separate times
How did your husband receive the news of your status?
Towards the end of 2007, I got pregnant. He felt very bad when he heard about my status. He was downcast. I thought it was the end of our marriage. I thought it was the end of everything I struggled to keep. He shocked me when he said he was not going to leave me and it wasn’t the end of the world but that he needed to do the test too. He did it and he was negative. I gave birth to our child and she’s negative.
 
Do you experience any sort of stigmatisation?
No, my status is known to only my husband and I, and he has never used it to taunt me in any way. That is how I know that he truly loves me. Of course, it took him some time to get over it, it was very gradual but he took it calmly. We were both very sad. We went for counselling together. I told him that it was my desperation to have a child that forced me to seek alternative measures. He didn’t know I went to all those places. He’s very understanding and I sometimes wonder if he’s for real.
What steps do you take to ensure he remains negative?
 
We have two children now and they are both negative. He uses a condom and whenever we are trying to procreate, we are both placed on drugs to ensure that he doesn’t contract it.
I have spoken to a few women who share similar experiences with you. What advice would you give to women, especially the married ones that are yet to have children?
I wish our society would just leave couples alone and stop interfering with whether they have children or not. That is the problem, everyone feels they should have a say in one’s marriage. The first step is that couples should not allow family members or friends tell them what is best for them. Also women should be patient. Just look at me, if I had been patient, all these would not have happened to me. Couples should know that God’s time is the best. I also want to say that HIV does not kill. What kills is depression and laziness. Some people will say because they are HIV positive, they will stop working and start being dependent on others. Being dependent on other people will affect one’s psyche, lead to depression and eventually death. In addition I will advise people, spread the news, but don’t spread the virus.

MAN SETS OWN WIFE, CHILD ABLAZE IN IBADAN

 “He brought out his manhood and asked me to look at it. He said his wife infected him with a disease and that was why his manhood was small. The wife accused him of stealing her money (N14, 000) and he admitted it. He told her ‘didn’t you know I’m a thief?’ Then, he told her she would not live to see the New Year. Then, he picked up a stone and threw it at his wife. Then, we went inside. Soon, we heard the cries of the woman that Baba Gbolahan (Gbolahan’s father) had locked them inside and set the house on fire. The door was forced open. She emerged from the room with just her panties on, clutching her stiff, dead daughter.” 

 The above is about a woman residing at Labiran area of Ibadan, Oyo State, Mrs Felicia Olalere, with her eight-year-old son, Gbolahan. Both lost their lives in the early hours of Friday after the room they slept was engulfed in fire from an unknown source. However, residents of the area are alleging that the woman’s husband, known as Muyideen Olalere, carried out the arson. He was said to have locked each of the rooms in the house with padlocks to prevent occupants from leaving their respective rooms. Saturday Tribune gathered that the deceased and her husband had a quarrel at about 8:00p.m. when the man, whose source of livelihood was unknown, came to the house. The woman was said to have accused her husband of stealing a sum of N14,000 from her bag, which the man reportedly admitted, calling her bluff. Neighbours said that the woman raised her voice in anger and said that she knew the act of stealing would mean nothing to her husband who was in prison two years ago for criminal acts. The man reportedly became angry, saying that the woman exposed his secret to everyone and added that it meant nothing to him because he went to the prison with her brother. He was said to have threatened that he would make sure that his wife did not live to witness 2014. 

Olalere reportedly demanded for his son, Gbolahan, a request rejected by his wife. Efforts by neighbours to settle the matter proved abortive as the man was reported to have hurled a stone at his wife, hitting her on the thigh. He was said to have left in anger, after which residents of the eight-room storey building went to their rooms to sleep while two of them left for vigil services in their different churches. They were, however, woken up by shouts of fire which broke out from the deceased woman’s room on the first floor of the house. The man, who is said to be on the run, was suspected to have poured petrol round the room where his wife and child slept and ignited it. An occupant of one of the rooms on the same floor told Saturday Tribune that he was woken by a burning smell and discovered that he had been locked in from outside when he attempted to open the door to escape. He said he forced the door open and went to rescue the deceased, whose room had also been padlocked from outside, when he heard her cries. An elderly woman who is physically-challenged and resides on the ground floor of the house told Saturday Tribune that while the couple was quarrelling, the man brought out his manhood, accusing his wife of infecting him with sexually-transmitted disease which caused the manhood to shrink. “He brought out his manhood and asked me to look at it. He said his wife infected him with a disease and that was why his manhood was small. The wife accused him of stealing her money (N14, 000) and he admitted it. He told her ‘didn’t you know I’m a thief?’ Then, he told her she would not live to see the New Year. Then, he picked up a stone and threw it at his wife. Then, we went inside. Soon, we heard the cries of the woman that Baba Gbolahan (Gbolahan’s father) had locked them inside and set the house on fire. The door was forced open. She emerged from the room with just her panties on, clutching her stiff, dead daughter. “I entered my room with my children and they were watching television. The fan that was rotating was also making so much noise and I told them to put everything off, telling my children that I was afraid of the action Baba Gbolahan could take with the threat he issued. “My children convinced me to forget about it and in the process, I slept off. Suddenly, I heard a knock on my door and the voice of Mama Gbolahan wafted in, saying that I had been locked in and she was almost dead. People helped us to break our door from outside and we escaped from the house. I saw the wife in her underpants clutching her son who had gone stiff with serious burns.” “The neighbourhood youths and the landlords really tried for us. We are grateful to them. They put out the fire and then invited the fire service. All the wife’s belongings were consumed by the fire.” The woman and the child were said to have been rushed to two prominent government hospitals in Ibadan but were rejected because of the severity of the burns they sustained. 

Saturday Tribune learnt that the boy groaned in pains, asking for water. He was said to have complained of stomach pains and later asked to sleep, after which he gave up the ghost. When the woman saw that she could not get medical treatment, she reportedly asked to be taken to her brother’s house at Ogbere Babanla area of the city, where she eventually gave up the ghost around 4:00a.m. A former resident of the house, Taofeek Adesina Olaniyan, who said he recently relocated to a nearby house and lost his refrigerator which he was yet to pick from the house, revealed that Baba Gbolahan was an ardent marijuana smoker. Another neighbour also said that the deceased child pointed out to his mother that he saw his father with a keg of petrol that night before he went out again, unknown that he would use it to set the house ablaze. When contacted, the police spokesperson in the state, DSP Olabisi Okuwobi-Ilobanafor, said that the police were investigating the case and were also on the trail of the suspect towards whom all fingers were pointing. She added that the corpses of the deceased had been deposited at the mortuary at State Hospital, Yemetu, Ibadan, for autopsy.

‘I LEFT DRIVING TO BE MEDICINE MAN FOR KIDNAPPERS’

Until he decided to use his skills and gifts as a medicine man to aid men of shady character, Theo Henry was making his living quite well in another profession. Now, he is a guest of the police.
A renowned native doctor in Enugu State, Theo Henry (not real names) has told the police that working with kidnappers and different categories of men of the underworld is about the most lucrative business he has laid his hands on.
 
Henry, a native of Umuopu Umueze Igboeze North Local Government Area of the state, was named as one of the native doctors who prepared charms for a kidnap syndicate recently nabbed by a detachment of the Anti kidnapping unit of the state police command. Last week, Saturday Mirror reported that nine suspected kidnappers were arrested by the unit over their roles in the kidnap and eventual death of the wife of a traditional ruler in the state, Igwe of Ogogoro, Queen Adiza.
 
The Igwe’s wife had reportedly died in the custody of her abductors, said to have been led by one Paschal Onah. Even while she had died, the family was still made to cough out a ransom of N300, 000 with the assurance that she would be freed once the money was paid. Unfortunately, immediately the money was paid, the suspected kidnappers cut off all channels of communications and even reportedly buried the woman in a shallow grave inside the compound of the leader of the kidnappers.
In their confessions before law enforcement agents, the arrested kidnappers had revealed how their activities were enhanced by charms prepared for them by some native doctors scattered all over the state. Once the news of the arrest of the suspects was announced, the acclaimed native doctors and suspected kidnappers in the syndicate took to their heels, while a manhunt was launched for all of them.
 
Though highly revered in his community, Henry’s charms could not save him when men of the anti-kidnapping unit of the command went full throttle after him. Latching on the tips given by the suspects in police custody, the law enforcement agents arrested Henry on Christmas Day, December 25, 2013, in his hideout.
In his confessional statement Henry claimed that he also prepared charms for men of the underworld once they could pay his service charge. When confronted with the efficacy of his charms, Henry told interrogators that aside from helping men of shady characters with charms that make them invulnerable to arrest by the police, he also helped criminals, especially kidnappers, with charms that compelled victims’ relations to agree to quickly pay the ransom demanded, even when the relations did not want to.
Henry also said that he also prepared charms against what he called accident and general protection to avoid being harmed and to escape from any form of danger. Onah had claimed that Henry was always rewarded for his efforts on each trip the gang embarked on with N50, 000.
 
At times, Henry reportedly got more than that depending on the loot from his ‘clients.’ Speaking on his involvement in the kidnap saga, Henry was quoted as saying that, “Long before now, I used to be a driver plying major routes in the South Eastern part of the country.
Although I was not doing badly then, opportunity came for me that I felt I needed to up my intake. “I am also a native doctor by family background and I felt that I could continue in that family trade, especially when I was approached by some people that they needed protections from arrest, gunshots and other charms. With the kind of money being offered me, I felt I could not let the opportunity to make big money slipped pass me.
“That was how I started to make charms for kidnappers, robbers and other men who wanted to evade arrest as well as be secured from gunshots,” he said.
 
Henry reportedly confessed to be the one preparing charm for the arrested Onah and his gang. Enugu State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Ebere Amaraizu, in a statement confirmed Henry’s arrest, saying that the native doctor is helping the police with further information about his alleged role in the gang’s atrocities.

BANKER ARRESTED FOR WITHDRAWING N50M FROM CUSTOMERS’ ACCOUNTS

The Special Fraud Unit, Ikoyi, Lagos State, has arrested an account officer with Guaranty Trust Homes, Adeola Olokojobi, in connection with a N50m fraud at the financial institution.
Prior to his arrest, Olokojobi was said to be working at the GT Homes, Saka Tinubu branch, Victoria Island.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the SFU had received a petition in October 2013, from a customer of the branch where Olokojobi worked. The customer had alleged that Olokojobi, who was his account officer, had “not been forthcoming with his account balances.”
 
A statement by the SFU Commissioner of Police, Mr. Tunde Ogunsakin, said, “The petitioner also alleged that the balance given to him was at variance with his actual balance in the account.
“An internal investigation conducted by GT Homes into the account revealed that Olokojobi in April 2013, forged an instruction, transferring N15m from the petitioner’s account, to an unknown account.
“The bank also discovered other various fraudulent withdrawals made by the account officer from other customers’ accounts in his care through fake transfer instructions. It amounted to over N50m.
 
“He said the funds were used to finance his political campaign, a proposed pure water company and purchase of an uncompleted building at Sango-Ota, Ogun State.
“Olokojobi in his confessional statement said he had fraudulently withdrawn monies amounting to N50,640,748 from the account of the customers by transferring funds into the accounts of fictitious customers and subsequently withdrawing same.”
 
A banking and finance graduate, Olokojobi told PUNCH Metro that he joined GT Homes in 2009.
He, however, denied that he had fraudulently transferred over N50m, insisting that instead, it was N27m.
He said, “I didn’t have to forge the instructions from GT homes customers. All I did was manipulate them. What happens is that they usually send instructions to the account officers by email, requesting that some money be transferred to an account of their choice. All I simply do is add another million or two to the sum the customer requested.
 
“It went unnoticed all this while because after using the money to do some business transactions, I always paid it back. I was into several businesses; I would buy land and resell for profit.
“I got into trouble with this one because I withdrew N15m at once from a customer’s account; I didn’t take it bit by bit, but I meant to pay it back. In fact, I had already started doing so before I was caught and arrested. But the police are not right in saying that the money I had withdrawn from customers amounted to N50m; it is N27m.”
Ogunsakin, however, said the suspect would soon be charged to court, where he could defend himself.