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| Toyin |
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| The children |
Who will save
these hapless children from their mother?
The love of a mother
for her child is boundless. But that is only when the woman is not mentally
disturbed.
All indications
are that this woman, Mrs. Toyin Abiodun, is mentally disturbed. There is no
other explanation for what she does to her own children, all under 11 years.
In a fit of
rage, she cuts her children with knives and cutlasses. For maximum pain, she
puts the knives into the fire first before using them on her children. It’s the
depressing testimony of the children against their mother.
Neighbours, teachers,
child welfare officials, and even the Baale (chief) of the community where she
lives with her four children in a one-room apartment in Akute- Odo, Ogun State
corroborate the children’s accounts.
The heads and
bodies of the kids also bear eloquent testimonies. They are full of scars. The kids’
hands even bear evidence of dislocations.
The eldest of
the kids, Dejitade, 11, is said to be in primary two, yet cannot identify colours
and numbers beyond 4.
According to
their teachers, when other pupils are eager to go home after school hours, the
kids are reluctant to return home to their mother.
Damilola, 4, repeatedly muttered to the Nation reporter who interviewed her: “My mother is wicked”. She said she does not want to live with her again.
In a society
where the government has abdicated its duties to its citizens, it’s too much to expect that
there will be any succor for these hapless children.
As this is being written, the kids are still with their disturbed mother. Should it be like that?
