[size=18pt]Uncommon love[/size]
‘Is it a crime to be deaf and dumb and still fall in love?’
By TESSY IGOMU
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Abiodun and Bimbo with their son



Like the mythical Romeo and Juliet who remained inseparable even in death, they have vowed to stick together. Be it in the rain or in the sun, this couple have sworn that nothing, not even their persecution by some family members opposed to their union, will change their resolve to stay together till “death do them part.”

Bimbo and Abiodun Oluwa’s story is like a wedlock solemnized by the gods. They are no Siamese twins, but they have become conjoined by fate. Strangely, their love found a formidable front in their disability. The lovebirds are both deaf and dumb.

The love story of the Oluwas makes true the axiom that love knows no bounds. As you watch them communicate through sign language, you cannot but feel a surge of emotions coursing through your veins.
The union has so far been blessed with three lovely children, among them a set of twins. One of the twins, however, passed on recently. He was about a month old.

Bimbo and Abiodun’s story dates back to 2002 when they met and fell in love. Initially, there were no objections to the affair, and the duo soon became the envy of their peers and family members.
The couple insist that their travails were as a result of Bimbo’s stubborn stance against an attempt to lure her into prostitution in Finland by Lola, Abiodun’s elder sister. That, they claim, has further pitched them against some members of the Oluwa family.

The deaf and dumb lovebirds who can hardly defend themselves against external aggressors are reportedly facing threats and harassments from Abiodun’s siblings. If no step is taken soon to forestall the sword of Damocles hanging over the couple’s head, they may soon be thrown out of their apartment at Shogunro Estate, Ogba. Though the estate is presently a subject of litigation between the Lagos State government and the federal government, Abiodun claims his late father who was a retired major bought the flat about 30 years ago from the National Orthopaedic Hospital Igbobi.

He also claims that his father owns many landed properties. But he says his mum and siblings are not giving him his share of the estate because of his state.
“I am not bothered about the properties,” he tells you. “All I want is for them to leave me alone to take care of my family. Nigerians should beg them to leave us where we are in peace. Is it a crime to be deaf and dumb and fall in love”, he asks.

According to Abiodun, the only antidote to his family’s fury is for Bimbo to walk away from his- life forever. “But can the cord of love be easily severed,” he asks.
Abiodun Oluwa, who says he’s from the Oluwa royal family of Lagos, tells Daily Sun that their problem commenced gradually in 2003 when he was invited to Finland by his elder sister, Lola, a staff of Siemens. He disclosed that after arriving Finland, a letter of invitation was sent to Bimbo on his insistence. Abiodun noted that though he and Bimbo had their engagement ceremony before he left the country, the money he later sent home to enable both families legalise the union was seized by his mother, Faidat Oluwa.

The graduate of Electrical Engineering from Technical College, Yaba, revealed that when his wife arrived in Finland, his sister wanted her to go into prostitution, but she vehemently refused. According to him, when his wife got pregnant, his sister, who all the while had ulterior motives, allegedly destroyed the pregnancy without their consent.

He explained that after every effort to frustrate them failed, the death of his father in 2004 became a virile platform for his family to execute another plan to forcefully separate them for good.
He recounted that his sister travelled with Bimbo to Nigeria to bury his father but returned without her.
After every effort to inquire about his wife’s whereabouts from Lola failed, he reportedly set out on his own to re-establish contact with her.

This move, he noted, did not go down well with Lola. “She immediately sent me to live with another of our sisters in Spain,” he says.
While in Spain, his continued correspondence with his wife in Nigeria again earned him his sister’s anger. “She subsequently threw me out at the peak of winter. I was arrested by the Spanish authorities and detained as an illegal immigrant.”

Abiodun revealed that during his incarceration, his disability turned out to be a great disadvantage because he could not really explain himself to the Spanish police. It was at this point that he decided to contact his father in-law, Mr. Sunday Olaitan who reportedly helped him with vital documents which proved that he entered Spain legally.

Mr. Olaitan corroborates Abiodun’s words. He tells Daily Sun that when he realised that his son-in-law was in trouble, he informed the mother who swore that Abiodun would be left to rot in Spanish in jail since has refused to leave Bimbo.
“Without Abiodun’s people, I was able to send the documents he requested through courier,” he explains.

According to him, he wept like a baby the day Abiodun arrived in his house looking like a mad man with dishevelled hair, tattered clothes and overgrown beards.
“The first thing he communicated to me was, he wanted to know where his wife was. He later narrated to me how he was deported to Niger Republic by the Spanish authorities, beaten into a pulp and robbed of everything he had, including his travelling documents.”
The couple’s ability to start their relationship afresh was allegedly seen by some members of the husband’s family as an affront.

According to Abiodun, immediately they moved into one of his father’s apartment in Block 10, Flat 12, LSDPC Housing Estate, Ogba, his mother came with a truck to remove everything in the house.
“She did not even leave a broom for me and my pregnant wife, even though she knew that I had nothing yet”, writes Abiodun. “When my wife became pregnant with our twins, my mother forcefully sublet two of the three rooms in the apartment, leaving us with the smallest room. She has been coming with different people threatening to throw us out of the house. She is not bothered about her new grandson that is barely two months old.”

Abiodun who says they have been living from hand to mouth gives a graphic description of how the woman rejected by his family has been the one feeding him and their children.
“She has been feeding the family from the little she makes from her hairdressing business. It is not as if I am lazy but every effort I make to do something good is destroyed by my mother. My wife is a professional hairdresser and makeup artist. I thank God for giving her to me. She has stood by me. Her advice has saved me many times from trouble and even death”, he scribbles.

“The type of ill treatment given to this couple even though they are disabled should not come from their blood not to even talk of a mother,” interjects Bimbo’s dad, Mr. Olaitan. “I have been responsible for their upkeep. When Babalola, their first son was born with jaundice and was discharging blood through the nose, no family member came to help them. I carried the responsibility. It is what my daughter has been subjected to that gives me pain.

“Bimbo was not born with this disability. When she was three years old, she passed out one day while playing with her friends outside the house. She was rushed to the hospital where she was given an injection. She remained unconscious for two weeks. After regaining consciousness, she could no longer talk, walk or hear. We had to teach her how to walk again. That was how she became deaf and dumb.”
He then launches into an account of his daughter’s ill treatment in Finland.

“Bimbo is just 30 years old, but she has been made to face tough challenges. She has been cheated out of her rights by people that should protect her. She was denied all her entitlements in Finland. Even the money Abiodun earned was not given to him.”

According to Bimbo’s father, in the letter of invitation sent to Nigeria by the Embassy of Finland, Lola applied for Bimbo’s residency as a Child Help and her wages should have been 202 Euros per week.
Mr. Olaitan notes that the way his daughter was shabbily treated during her father-in-law’s burial made him realise that things had snowballed out of control.

“During the burial, family members and grandchildren were told to come out for a group photograph. As my daughter tried to join them, Lola, Biodun’s elder sister in Finland pushed her away. My family members were not happy but we decided to keep quiet. At the end of the day, they travelled back without her. Up till this moment, none of them have bothered to tell me why they brought her back home. I have advised my daughter to leave Abiodun alone but she said that would be over her dead body. The situation is beyond me.”

As he speaks, Bimbo walks in quietly, feeding the surviving twin. “All the money I worked for in 11 months was not given to me. I was not treated well abroad,” she scribbles on a sheet of paper.
So why does Abiodun still cling to Bimbo in spite of his family’s persecution, Daily Sun asks. The couple exchange a glance. Abiodun then types a message on his mobile phone and passes it to the reporter.
“My mother wants me to marry somebody they can manipulate easily but I found a mate in Bimbo. It is God that gave Bimbo to me and He is the only one that can take her away. She is all I have. Everyman has his own woman, mine is this woman who has given me beautiful children.”

Unless a miracle happens, this hapless couple might lose the only home they have to aggrieved family members with their two kids. They are however appealing to Nigerians to intervene and save their young family. Abiodun needs a job urgently just as Bimbo needs money to set up her own salon. They also need prayers to survive the storm presently gathering against their union.
Attempts by Daily Sun to get in touch with Abiodun’s mum and siblings were unfruitful.

My blind teacher in school also got married got 3 kids cooks like a pro, goes around with nobody's help but culd have kept her at a distance family shouldnt have shut her out i wish them good alot bein married is not easy then marry a blind a lot of work

i see no evil in that

There is nothing absolutely wrong
with that.Once there is love,the rest
is History.