Looking worn-out and extremely restless as she settled into the plastic chair in front of the bungalow, Moheenat Jumoh could barely utter a word. Since her release from a Department of State Security facility in Abeokuta, Ogun State last month and the subsequent delivery of her son, Abdul-Raman, through a Caesarean Session, life has not remained the same for the mother of six. The primary school teacher is yet to fully recover from the shock and trauma of that experience.
Moheenat and her husband, Ustaz Abdul-Ganiyu, a cleric, were whisked away from their Ijoko, Ogun State home in the early hours of July 5, 2014 by unidentified gunmen. For several weeks their whereabouts were unknown. But on September 10, a relative of the couple, Lukman Oketokun, following an earlier call to come to the DSS office in Abeokuta, found the pair in custody. Through the help of a lawyer, the heavily pregnant woman was released but her husband was not. He remains in confinement. The DSS is yet to peg a crime on the cleric or charge him to court. Counsel to the couple, Musodiq Sanni, said after Moheenat’s release that legal action would be initiated against the secret police for violation of the rights of his clients.
Several weeks have passed since that time and the situation is only getting critical for the young mother and her little children. Aisha, the eldest of the six whose dream is to become a renowned medical doctor in the future, can no longer attend school as a result of lack of finance. It is the same for her siblings, too. Daily living is now a big challenge for the family.
Our correspondent travelled more than two hours earlier in the week from Lagos to a remote part of Ogun State to meet up with Moheenat where she and the children were presently taking refuge. They no longer stay in one location for too long for fear of attack.
“The children and I can no longer sleep at night peacefully because of fear,” she began, showing signs of severe discomfort. The stitches on her stomach are yet to fully heal while continued discharge of body fluids and sometimes blood from her private region compounds her agony. But then that is not Moheenat’s only worry – there are other things that also get her heart pounding these days.
“Every knock on our door is like a death sentence. It is like another set of gunmen has come to take me and my children away. We are all too afraid to answer a knock on our door. We can’t even stay in a particular location for long because of fear,” she said.
Blessed with adorable and intelligent children whose dreams are to become huge successes in the not too distant future, the young mother told our correspondent in tears-soaked eyes what plans she and her husband had for the kids. But the continued absence of the head of the family threatens all of those lofty ambitions.
“The children have stopped attending school. The resources with which to take care of them including their education have been a big burden to me. I used to teach at a primary school before I became pregnant but had to stop last November because of my condition.
“For most of this period, we have stayed with my mother-in-law but even she has her own challenges. Mama is no longer working and she is now completely blind. How would she be able to take care of all of us under this condition?
“After giving birth to Abdul-Raman, the doctors advised that I should eat good food so that my womb can heal fast but because there are no resources to do that, I always encounter pains in that area and in fact I still go for dressing which is not supposed to be so. This is the first time I would be giving birth through caesarean section; all my previous five children came through normal delivery. This whole experience has really caused a lot of damage to my health and general wellbeing,” she revealed.
Suffering series of complications while in detention and falling ill on more than one occasion during the period, Moheenat has lost pounds of flesh, becoming only a pale shadow of what she once was. She shared some of those chilling experiences with our correspondent, while praying for the quick release of her husband and best friend.
“While in detention, I and my husband contended with cold and mosquito everyday,” she said. “We were always restless but our thoughts were constantly on our children and how they were managing without us. Prayer was my only hope. Though, the officers refused to provide me with a Quran all the time that I requested for one, I never stopped calling on God.
“It was a week before I was released that they offered me a blanket to cover myself at night. I and my husband had no extra clothe; I only wore one clothe throughout my stay in detention. After the first two weeks, I told them that I wasn’t comfortable in the clothe anymore, that I needed to change into something else especially because of my condition. I was later taken to the hospital where I was allowed to wash the clothe while tying only a wrapper they gave me. But my husband was on one clothe throughout the period I was there and probably till now.
“I was always falling ill. I would go to the hospital in the morning and return to the cell in the afternoon I was released as a result of my critical health condition. If I wasn’t released at that time, the baby could have died inside me.
“After I had a scan, I was told the baby was not developing well and that my blood pressure was too high and that it was affecting the baby’s health. I suffered a lot of complications while in detention and even experienced contraction at seven months. I was given a drug to use but by the time I was supposed to deliver the baby, there was no contraction anymore.
“The doctors inserted something into my private part in the hope that it would help me deliver normally but it did not. The next day I was released with a note from them to another hospital and since that time I have been bleeding from that area. The first hospital I was taken to couldn’t handle my case, I was referred to Ota State Hospital where I was in labour for two days before I was operated upon. Till this moment, I still experience severe pains and this has been compounded by the burden of raising six children alone,” Moheenat toldSaturday PUNCH, with confusion written all over her face. It is one of the lowest moments of her life.
Seventy-seven-year-old mother of the detained cleric, Alhaja Alimotu, is another person who the situation is also leaving with few words. Also experiencing failing health as a result of the arrest, Alimotu told our correspondent how the whole drama had affected her life.
“My son is not a criminal neither is he a bad person. He has done no evil and so we are pleading with the authorities for his release. A whole lot has been affected around me because my son always visits me at my place in Mushin and gives me money and other items to take care of myself. Now, I am suffering in pains without anybody to take care of me.
“Since he was taken away, I have gone to the hospital more than three times as a result of high blood pressure. The doctors said that my blood pressure had shot above normal and that I must not stress myself. But how can I rest when my son is in detention without committing a crime. No good mother can rest in such situation.
“I am hereby begging the government and all those keeping my son to please release him so that he can come back and take care of his family. His children miss him, so do all of us. The government should please release him to us,” the septuagenarian said, crying like a newly born baby. Abdul-Ganiyu is the youngest of her surviving six children. Six others died mysteriously along the line. The latest episode adds salt to an already bleeding wound, compounding an old woman’s misery.
The DSS refused to comment on the issue when Saturday PUNCH contacted the agency on the situation. A source later told our correspondent that the case was being monitored from Abuja and there was nothing Abeokuta could do about it.
Section 35 (5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), section 483 of the Criminal Procedure Act and section 42 of the Criminal Procedure Code, state that the police ought not to detain any person for more than 24 hours without a warrant from a magistrate. But more than three months since he was whisked away, Abdul-Ganiyu is yet to be charged to court for any offence.
No comments:
Post a Comment