Dei-Dei’s mysterious beggar mums of triplets

Often, Abuja’s pedestrian bridges are taken over by hordes of beggars some carrying children on behalf of whom they appeal for help. But at Dei-Dei Bridge, our reporter writes that three mothers of three sets of triplets have been taking turns to beg on the bridge raising questions about who they are and the triplets […]

Often, Abuja’s pedestrian bridges are taken over by hordes of beggars some carrying children on behalf of whom they appeal for help. But at Dei-Dei Bridge, our reporter writes that three mothers of three sets of triplets have been taking turns to beg on the bridge raising questions about who they are and the triplets they carry.

Pedestrian bridges in Abuja have become a draw for different kinds of spectacles and people, from traders with colourful wares to beggars from far and near who eke out a living from the alms they receive from generous passers-by.

At the bridge that straddles the 10-lane Kubwa-Zuba expressway at Dei-Dei Junction, a peculiar kind of spectacle has been quietly playing out, unobserved by the multitude who use the bridge often as most of them dash to and from work in the rush hours.

Here, three mothers of three sets of triplets have been taking turns to beg at the bridge. As Daily Trust observed, the three mothers appear with their triplets on different days with only one of them being at that station at a time.

Having spoken to one of the mothers, our reporter returned the next day to find a different woman with another set of triplets in the midst of other beggars. This one, who gave her name as Chidoka Okoro, had a niece with her, who she said helped with the children. The niece holds up the umbrella to shelter the triplets from the harsh Abuja sun as their mother appeals to passers-by for change. When the day is done, she also helps in carrying one of the triplets on their way home.

The mother, Chidoka, said she is from Agwu area of Enugu State. She wound up under the bridge with her children after their father died when she was three-months pregnant with them. The burden of caring for them, and her four other children, was something she couldn’t shoulder. But the triplets were not her first multiple births.

“We were blessed with a set of twins during my first delivery,” she said, “And later, through my second and third delivery, we have two other children, before these very ones that you meet me with.”

With that many children and a departed bread winner, one would expect Chidoka’s spirit to break, but she is grateful for the children she has.

“I thank God and I consider it a blessing,” she said of her children. “There are many other couples that are praying hard to be blessed with children, but are yet to realize their dreams.”

Her husband was a mason, she said. After he died, his corpse was taken back to his native Enugu State where he was buried. After the appropriate mourning period, Chidoka returned to Abuja to continue to pursue the life she and her husband had hoped for their children. But this time, she would have to do it alone.

Initially she was assisted by the church through which she started a trade in vegetables at Utako market. It was a small-scale business that was soon swallowed by the huge demands the children’s upkeep placed on it, she said.

“That is how I resorted to the street again looking for assistance, which I do occasionally,” she said.

What she makes from begging she uses to also cater for her mother who studies at a school in Nyanya, where she lives. Of course, her children, live off her current engagement.

Of her triplets, Favour and Munachi are females and have been doing relatively okay. It was the male, Daniel, who had given her a scare recently when he came down with a bout of vomiting and stooling.

“He was treated, and now he is responding better, but I don’t have anything left with me to eat and take care of them. That’s why I came out looking for assistance,” she said.

But the bridge was not her first port of call.

“A woman had directed me to her church where I was assisted with some food stuff, and now she promised to assist me with some clothing materials for these children,” Chidoka said.

Touching as her story is, the suspicion has always been there that some of the beggars fabricate stories and often rent children as prop to aid in their elaborate schemes. Chidoka’s story has also been questioned by the other people who frequent the bridge alongside Chidoka.

Umar Muhammed Nahuche has been affected by Polio. The Zamfara-born is one of four people who sweep the bridge in exchange for tips from passersby. They make the work drag on all day so that bridge users would see them busy at all times and tip them.

In the course of his activity, he said he had been observing the mother’s relationship with her children and has not been entirely convinced. He is familiar with the idea of some beggars hiring children to pose with so as to elicit sympathy from kindhearted people.

For him, it was Chidoka’s approach to breastfeeding the children that had raised questions in his mind.

“You will find that one or two of the triplets are being fed through a bottle, while one would be the only one being breast fed by their supposed mother,” he said.

“And at times, some of the older women that we stay here with, who know much about these things, have declared that this child or two of the children genuinely belong to the woman among them, while expressing doubt about the other.”

Also, the manner in which the mothers appear on different days, as if by agreement, has raised questions among the other beggars. Sometimes, there would be one mother for at most two or three days running and then another would take over.

“And at time none of them would show up for a while,” he said.

Since the interviews, weeks before, the mysterious mothers have not showed up at the bridge. The other beggars suspected it might have something to do with the reporter asking questions.

“One of them showed up the other day, but she closed early,” our reporter was told when he went back to inquire.

Perhaps someday, the mystery of the triplets in the sun on the Dei-Dei bridge will be resolved. For now, Chidoka’s space on the bridge is vacant waiting for the day she would return with her triplets.