By OKOSUN DENNIS
When a bricklayer turns himself into a medical doctor, who could administer injection to abort a pregnancy, you can imagine what could happen?
That was exactly the tragedy that befell a-12-year-old girl at Ibamo-Ogombo where her father was said to have administered an injection on her in order to abort a five month-old pregnancy.
The girl identified as Deborah was unlucky. She died after the father, a bricklayer, gave her the injection. National Dailyinvestigation revealed that a Togolese boy, whose name could not be ascertained, had impregnated the Junior Secondary Student of Ogombo Community Secondary School, Ogombo in Etiosa Local Government Development Authority. When the father of the girl knew about it, it was learnt he boasted that the daughter would marry a Togolese over his dead body.
The foreigner, who our reporter learnt is an artisan, was said to have accepted the pregnancy. However, the father of the deceased girl popularly referred to as Papa Deborah did not take it lightly with the girl and threatened to abort the pregnancy.
However, National Daily met the late Deborah’s friend, who told a slightly different story of how the abortion was procured.
Tolu (not her real name) told our reporter that the late Deborah confided in her about the pregnancy, and warned her never to abort it despite fears that she wouldn’t find it funny with her father.
She disclosed that the father actually took the girl to an unknown quack nurse in Ogombo who injected the girl. After the injection, unknown to the nurse they she had a twin, aborted one while the second foetus died in her womb.
She further narrated, “After some days, when I met her, I realised that a pungent odour was oozing from the girl. I told her what I noticed and she said she was fine. Later, she came to me to say that something was rumbling in her stomach.
“I advised her to tell the father so that she could be taken to the nurse for re-examination or possibly a hospital to see a qualified doctor. Later, I heard that she collapsed and the father begged neighbours for money to rush her to the hospital but died even before she got to the hospital,” the friend further added.
It was learnt that soon after the girl died, the father was said to have immediately escaped to an unknown destination. The neighbours combed everywhere for him but could not be found.
A neighbour, who expressed disappointment with the sudden death of the girl, who is second daughter of the family narrated that throughout the time leading to the death of the girl on the 24 June, 2017, the girl’s mother, a fish hawker in the community, was kept out of the whole tragic drama.
The man, who lives in a shanty with five children and could barely feed them was said to have preferred a quack nurse to a qualified doctor because he could not afford it.
It was further gathered that prior to the death of the girl, she collapsed. The father had to beg for money from neighbours who contributed to take the girl to the hospital before she eventually died.
National Daily further gathered that the neighbours who were viciously angry wanted to teach the man a bitter lesson of his life if they had seen him after the girl’s death. “If we had found him, he wouldn’t have lived to tell the story of what happened to him,” a neighbour boasted.
The girl, whom our reporter learnt is the second child in the family, was a quiet girl who was also an apprentice in a tailoring shop in Ogombo, which she does after closing from school.
It was further gathered that immediately the girl died, and the father fled from home, her body was left in their one-room shanty house with an instruction from the father that she should be buried immediately. However, some neighbour were said to have assisted to bury her in an undisclosed place according to Islamic rites.
“Before the neighbours reported the matter to the police so that he could be arrested, he was said to have ran to an unknown destination,” a neighbour told National Daily.
A police source at the Ogombo Divisional Police Station disclosed that when the deceased girl’s neighbour reported the matter, they immediately launched a massive hunt for the man with a view to arresting him.
At the moment, nobody has been arrested in connection with the death of the girl. It was also gathered that the unknown nurse has also not been arrested since the mother of the late Deborah was kept out of the picture when the abortion was procured.
When National Daily visited where they live at Ibamo community, the woman was said to have been evicted by the owner of the place on claim that they brought calamity to their peaceful community.
A neighbour said they evicted them because they are not happy with the way the girl was treated. “She was so much loved by neighbours; very hardworking hence she was putting in her best in school and in her apprenticeship scheme to be able to help the family.”
The mystery behind her death and the identity of the fake nurse that injected the 12-year-old Deborah will only be known if the Ogombo Police officers are able to arrest the victim’s father.