[size=14pt]UNHOLY BAPTISM, Policeman’s wife bathes nursing mother with hot water and pepper over N200 debt[/size]
Posted To The Web: Thursday, October 09, 2008 - From CHUKS ONUOHA, Umuahia


Patience Uchendu






A-25-year old nursing mother in Umuahia, the Abia State capital has been bathed with a mixture of hot water and pepper while she was breastfeeding her baby by the wife of a police constable, for daring to ask for N200 debt owed her by the assailant.

The victim, Mrs Patience Uchendu from Okauga Nkwoegwu Ohuhu, in the Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State fainted following the attack and was rushed to Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia, where she was revived hours later by medical doctors.

Narrating her ordeal to Daily Sun, Mrs Uchendu said the bone of contention was the cost of a bottle of kerosene and some packets of noodles, which Mrs Cynthia Bassey, wife of Police Constable Bassey Udoh bought from her.

The assailant had allegedly promised to pay for the items within a week but did not fulfill her pledge. “And because she (Cynthia) worships with me in the same church, I did not ask for the money until after one month. When I eventually asked for the money, she started abusing me, asking why I should disturb her because of common N200.

“She stormed out of my shop and went back to Nkwoegwu police post where she resides with her husband who works at Afugiri police station.

“She did not come back until some days later. One early morning, she came to my house,fully prepared for a fight instead of paying the N200 debt she was owing me.
As she stepped into my house , she started raining abuses on me, calling me all sorts of names and I told her that all I needed from her was for her to pay that money.
“She was actually poised for a fight and started insulting me, telling me that she would beat me like a child before my husband.

“It was then, my husband asked if she was really serious that she would beat his wife before him and she said ‘yes’ and my husband asked her to go that we didn’t have power and connection to make trouble as we are civilians. She angrily left and my husband soon after left home for work.

“When she noticed that my husband had gone out, she came back and hit me with a big stone while I was carrying our seven months old baby. I restrained myself since I already knew that what she was looking for was trouble. When my husband came back from work, I complained to him and he took me out for treatment. The next morning, she came back to meet my husband in the house. She told him that we fought yesterday and that I picked her headtie, which she had come back to take or else the fight would continue.

“My husband still pleaded with her to go because he did not need any trouble and she left.
“Then, my husband left home to buy pap for our little baby. And she came back. I never knew she had gone home to boil water and mix it with pepper. I had my back to her and the gate and was breast-feeding my baby not knowing that she was coming behind with hot water mixed with pepper. The next thing I noticed was a shadow that flashed and as I wanted to turn a hot liquid was poured on me from my neck downwards. I fell down and lost consciousness.That was the much I knew until I woke up in the hospital.

“It was my husband that told me later that Cynthia took to her heels immediately she saw that I had fainted.

Speaking on the matter, the victim’s husband, Mr Uchendu Iroka confirmed that he went out to buy pap for their baby, adding, “When I returned not up to an hour later I met my wife lying on the ground.
“People gathered and were trying to resuscitate her to no avail. The skin on her back up to the buttocks had peeled off. I asked to know what exactly happened to her.

My children told me that Mrs. Udoh came with hot water mixed with pepper which she prepared in her house, poured on their mother and left . As I drew closer her, behold I noticed particles of the pepper on the injury inflicted on her back. Then, I rushed her to the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia where doctors battled for hours to save her life. I later went to their (Cynthia’s) house but I could only meet her husband, Udoh Bassey Udoh, a police constable attached to the Ohuhu Division Station, Afugiri, Umuahia.

“When I greeted him he could only answer, have you finally come? I asked him if we are quarrelling, he replied “No” and still asked, have you come at last? I decided to leave their house and rushed to State , Umuahia, where I lodged the complaint, in the office of the Assistant Commissioner.
“The police arrested the woman and released her some days later. While my wife is still on bed at Bathley ward of Federal Medical Centre, Udoh promised that he was going to offset the hospital bill, but has not fulfilled his promise.

Reacting, husband to the accused , Mr Udoh who said that his wife was not around for comment told Daily Sun that the Uchendus were their family friends.
He said what happened was the handiwork of the devil, adding that agreement had been reached for peaceful settlement under which he had even committed money for the treatment of the victim.

WICKED NEIGHBOUR!, Baths co-tenant with boiling water
: Thursday, October 09, 2008 - By ADEOLA ADETUNJI, Abeokua


If Mrs. Taiwo Adesina had any premonition that calamity was lurking around for her on Sunday August 17, 2008, she would probably have gone into hiding.

But fate played a joke on her by not giving her any inkling and later that day her beautiful skin, which used to be a pride to her, was turned to an eyesore after her neighbour poured hot water on her.

A little quarrel between Mrs. Adesina and her neighbour, Mrs. Joke Akerele Olota, had left indelible marks on the back of the former.
Akerele-Olota, a 32-year-old mother of four, after bathing her neighbour with hot water, attributed her action to the devil “through uncontrollable anger.”



The neighbour who is now standing trial at an Abeokuta Magistrate Court for assault occasioning harm, said that she did not intend to fight Mrs. Adesina “but her daughter insulted and disrespected me.”
Narrating what led to her action, she said she had urged Mrs. Taiwo’s 15-year-old daughter, Zainab to wait for her to get down from the stair case first “but she did not only refuse, she also disrespected and insulted me.”

After this assault, Mrs. Olota claimed that Zainab ran into her mother’s room and she ran after to beat her in the presence of her mother. “The little quarrel immediately degenerated to exchange of works between Zainab’s mother and I.”
The accused further told the court that what prompted her to pour hot water on her co-tenant was the devil. “Please forgive me, it’s the devil’s handiwork. I would not have done this, but for the devil which pushed me into it.”

She claimed that Zainab’s mother had been nice to her since providence brought them together in the building located in Abeokuta, the state capital.
Touched by her plea, Mrs. Adesina told the court that she was no longer interested in the case and also pleaded for forgiveness for her co-tenant.

Her words: “I have forgiven her. She is my younger sister’s mate. I thank God I am still alive today. Her father-in-law, who is the landlord, is good to me; likewise the husband.”
Meanwhile, Justice Modinat Sobogu who granted the accused bail for N50, 000 advised her to always be of good behaviour and refuse to be used again by the devil. She later adjourned the case to October 13, 2008.

People are just frustrated in Naija by extreme poverty.

asin low class vs. no class

More Nigerians going mad –Psychiatrist
Sunday, September 14, 2008 - By Bolatito Adebayo

On a visit to a hospital in Lagos recently, this reporter was somewhat surprised by the unnecessary attention from patients. One of them, a middle-aged man with a bandage on his head, stood directly behind the reporter like a sentry on duty. Unnerved by his intimidating presence, the journalist (a woman) asked if there was any problem only for the patient to request to use the reporter’s phone. He did that twice after saying good morning.

Not long after, a young man in his late twenties looking frail and gaunt came into the room and wasn’t sure what to do. He seemed lost in his own world and would mutter to himself intermittently. And yet a third approached saying: “Madam Can I use your phone?’

“Sorry I’ve no credit on it?”
He walked back to his seat and he kept on staring into space, after a while he came back and asked. “Madam are you sure you don’t have credit on your phone?”
Unable to bear the harassment any longer, the reporter stood up almost in a hurry. It dawned on her that all the while she had been speaking with mentally ill patients and they were not visitors after all.

Welcome to the world of the mentally ill.
In Nigeria, there are many health problems but those with mental cases are usually not mentioned. Instead, they are wished away. On the contrary there are several mental health problems around and there are several people affected by them. Some of these people function well and are not aware they are ill. These disorders range from small disorders to full-scale disorders.
Dr. Olatunji Aina, the Head of Department, Clinical Psychology, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, sheds more light on the mental health of the average Nigerian.

“A person is considered mentally ill if his behavior is different from all other people in the society or culture. Also, a person is considered to have mental disorder if his behavior is not a matter of choice but innate and irresistible, if his behavior causes others discomfort and his physical reality is impaired.”

Types of mental illness
There are different types of mental illness such as mood and anxiety, organic brain disorder, psychotic disorders and many others. The most common ones are neurotic disorders such as anxiety, phobias, substance abuse, paranoia, internal heat, sensations and strange movements in the body without any organic reasons. Psychiatrists also handle cases of epilepsy because there are some cases of epilepsy that are pure behavioral manifestation.

Myths
Dr. Aina faults the beliefs of most Nigerians towards mental disorders. He says: “In this part of the world people see psychiatric cases as spiritual attacks. Some believe they are chased by demons, or witches and wizards are responsible for their state of mental health. So when a patient is mentally ill instead of seeking for medical help they go to spiritualists; medical care is usually seen as the last resort. In most cases the situation would have become deplorable. Moreover, millions of Nigerians believe that a typical mentally ill person must be in rags and must eat from the dustbin. But that’s not true. Actually, that is only a minor representation of the percentage. There are people out there who work in offices and are highly placed that have one mental illness or another. Some are not even aware of their mental condition because it’s at the mild stage”.

Men who patronize prostitutes
According to him, prostitution is a societal problem and it is as old as human race. It is an act that is not sanctioned by the society so it is done in secrecy. According to research, there are reasons people do it. Some believe that they would have variety of sexual acts from prostitutes while some say they do it because they are shy to make advances to other women. While some believe that prostitutes are better and more experienced in bed than their wives at home. Others believe that they have more room to experiment. But these might be a mental problem when an individual can’t resist the urge and it becomes habitual. Though there are some psychiatric behaviors that have manifestation of sexual perversion, patronizing prostitutes might not be the only one. There are cases of pedophiles, that is having sexual preferences for children, which is criminal. Voyeurism, which can be described as deriving sexual pleasures from peeping at naked women or women’s under wears, having intercourse with animals or objects and many others.



Economic factor
“Poverty is number one cause of psychiatric problems. In a society where we can see extreme display of wealth and extreme poverty, there is bound to be insecurity in human behaviour. Because of the large scale of the poverty, there are many people with illness they cannot take care of and so it results to mental illness. For instance, many people see malaria as a very simple sickness but it is very complex. There are manifestations of mental disorder in malaria. If malaria is not properly treated it could result into a serious mental problem.”

Availability of psychiatrists
“It’s true that the numbers of psychiatric doctors available are few compared to the population we have in the country. The number is grossly inadequate. Another factor responsible for these is the brain drain. Most of these doctors travel abroad to seek greener pasture.”

Stigma
“In Nigeria stigma is a very crucial problem because when people develop mental illness they are hesitant to see specialists and afraid of what the society would say. It is very normal to say: “I want to see my surgeon,” or “I want to see my gynecologist,” but you hardly find some one say “I want to see my psychiatric.” Even if a patient that is already certified mentally ill right returns home people tend to read meaning to every move he makes. The society should stop the stigmatization and let these people be.”

Symptoms
“There are different symptoms peculiar to different categories but the most common ones are anxiety, becoming obsessive with something which is not reality, becoming paranoid believing everyone is against you, delusions, hallucination, eating disorder, lack of hygiene, mood swing, decreased interest in doing things, insomnia, substance abuse, avoiding social interactions, etc.”
Can mental illness be cured?
“Absolutely yes. Science has established care for them.”
Who needs a psychiatrist?
“Every person who has psychiatric problems and every one should be on the look out, especially for the mild symptoms.”

Treatment
“There are different treatments available for mental illness. For some it might be counseling and therapy, with some it might be medications and therapies. A short term or long term hospitalization could be necessary for people with severe cases.”

asin low class vs. no class

whatver the class is. Hunger can make you perform wonders.

Deepzone: try dating a non-Nigerian. That might just be the key to your happiness- you never know.

@1st story,so sad and unfortunate.Knowing Nigeria for what it is,i doubt if anything good wud come out of it . . .Civilian V Police
Frustrations here and there !

@post

Oh Gosh, that is so cruel!

@1st story,so sad and unfortunate.Knowing Nigeria for what it is,i doubt if anything good would come out of it . . .Civilian V Police Angry
Frustrations here and there !

So true.