How we were made pregnant, by Abuja teenage mothers

Angela Ifeanyi (not real names) a 14-year-old girl carrying a four months old boy was at the gate of a bottling company recently begging the security man to tell her lover to come out and meet her left but the guard refused until Angela threatened that if she with the baby, she will poison him. […]

Angela Ifeanyi (not real names) a 14-year-old girl carrying a four months old boy was at the gate of a bottling company recently begging the security man to tell her lover to come out and meet her left but the guard refused until Angela threatened that if she with the baby, she will poison him. This drew some response from visitors around the premises who sought to know what the matter was.

“Since I had this baby, this man has not given me a kobo and I have been selling sachet water on the streets of Abuja to survive, but officials of Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) seized my consignment and I have no money or food to survive with my baby,” Angela wept. She narrated further that she came to meet the father of the child so that he could give her N4,000 to enable her return to the village to stay with her mother.

The crowd of visitors instantly contributed money for her which amounted to N6,000 and one of them lectured her not to harm the child as he may become the president of the country in future.

Another 14-year-old girl in Kubwa, Oluchi Ani (not real names), had a steady life as a student in a secondary school as well as being a devoted member of a church. Her problem began one day when the church’s pastor said he wanted to see her and later took her in his car to somewhere and made love to her. From the hangout, the love making moved to the pastor’s house for months until the girl missed her period.

“When I told him I was pregnant, he gave me money to abort but I refused to do it,” the teenage girl said. The pastor was arrested by the police in Kubwa and his case was later transferred to the FCT Criminal Investigation Department, but in the end, he was released, while Oluchi had a baby boy to contend with. She lives with her father who is a labourer and mother, a housewife.

The pastor has denied the baby and ignored the advice of his Church elders. Fanny Collins (not real names) is a 15-year-old girl, who lived with her aunt at Mararaba and had a bright future until she started a relationship with the next door neighbour of her aunt. The relationship metamorphosed into pregnancy, which her lover denied outrightly, leading to Fanny being bundled back to the village to continue life from there.

If Angela, Oluchi and Fanny’s lives went the wrong way, two female human rights lawyers, Barristers Esther Uzoma and Eze Ann Obiageli (Mrs), are bent on ensuring that a 15-year-old teenage mother’s  (names with held) life is not destroyed.

They have instituted a case in a customary court at Dutsen-Alhaji, where they are asking the court to compel the alleged father of the child, Nwachukwu Ikechukwu, to take responsibility for the baby and mother, as well as pay the mother’s education bills when she is fit to continue school.

Kathe (not real name) was a Junior Secondary School student as well as an operator of a phone call stand, where she sold recharge cards. The two lawyers have also compelled the police to investigate the alleged father, who is 37-year-old, so that a criminal suit can be instituted against the man for taking advantage of a minor.

While giving evidence in court, the 15-year-old mother said that the defendant (Nwachukwu) is a friend to her uncle and came to their house on a certain day and chose to wait for the uncle who was not at home.

The teenage mother told the court that while waiting, the man asked her to be his friend and she did not answer, after which, he asked her to put it in writing. She said when her uncle was admitted in the hospital, Nwachukwu asked her to come and collect something from his house and he tried to sleep with her but she refused.

The teenage mother said the man rebuked her saying why was she behaving like a small child as what he wanted to do to her was a good thing which her aunt practiced with the husband. “Since then, I started going to his house and he slept with me many times, but the first time, my stomach started paining me and he gave me N50 to buy Andrew Liver Salt,” she stated.

Kathe told the court that when she told her lover of the pregnancy, he promised to meet a nurse friend of his so that he will know what to do before her uncle finds out. She said her uncle later confronted her with the question if she was pregnant. The person responsible before the matter was taken to court.

In his defense, Nwachukwu denied paternity of the child and told the court that he made love to the teenage girl but did not have sex with her.

Barrister Uzoma then asked the defendant if he would agree to a paternity test to determine the actual father of the baby and he agreed. His agreement did not go down well with the defense counsel, who objected to the paternity test on the grounds that the plaintiff did not request for it in their claims. The plaintiff’s lawyer in her application to the court, agreed to the paternity test, arguing that the test is the crux of the case as the plaintiff wants the defendant to take responsibility for the baby girl and look after her mother.

Judges Omavuezi E.O. (Mrs), chairman, Zubairu A. Safiya (Mrs) and Eze Charles have however ordered that the paternity test be taken at the National Hospital and the bill be picked up by the defendants before the case can continue.Reacting to the ruling, Princess Glory Okeke of the African Women Initiative Against Violence and Poverty, said it will determine quickly who the child’s father is and help to quicken the case.