A jobless man, Monday Obuh, is now raising his family under a bridge at Cele, Lagos because he has no money to rent an apartment.


•The couple and child at their place of abode under the bridge. PHOTO: AYODEJI DEDEIGBO.

Following their eviction and demolition of their home, Monday and his wife, Dupe, including their son, now live under the bridge at Cele on Oshodi- Mile 2 expressway, Lagos State, southwest Nigeria.

Dupe, who sells sachet (pure) water to make ends meet, is also expecting another baby.

The couple share the abode with dangerous reptiles such as snakes and cats that disturb them at night.

They have been living there for the past two years after they were evicted from their home at Itire area. They hardly eat let alone being able to raise money to rent an apartment.

They cleared a section under the bridge and used mosquito net to construct a makeshift room and parlour apartments.

Despite the pains and challenges of living under the bridge with snakes and cats, his wife told P.M.NEWS that she would not abandon Monday because she loved and married him seven years ago when things were rosy for them.

She said her husband raised N200 which she uses to buy and sell ‘pure’ water.

She said she makes profit of between N30 to N60 daily, while her husband is jobless because he could not find work to do.

Dupe hopes that someday God will remember them.

She said her family wants her to dump her husband because of his condition but she refused, insisting that marriage is for better and for worse.

Because of her obstinacy her family abandoned her to her fate. She hails from Ilesha, Osun State.

Recalling his predicament, Monday said he was an employee of a textile company which is now moribund and when the company closed down, he became jobless.

He said after some years, when the construction of Cele bridge started, he was employed as a labourer there and was sacked when he returned from his late sister’s burial.

He was out of job again and his apartment was eventually demolished and since then he has been raising his family under the bridge.

Monday also said that he wanted to go back to his village in Edo State, but he does not know the place because he was born and raised in Lagos.

He said his parents are living in Lagos and they have no money to assist him rent a house.

He added that his parents arequite old and needed his help but he could not assist them.

He lamented his ordeal in the night since he started living under the bridge.

According to Monday, snakes and cats usually disturb them and attempt to enter their net. He said he wards them off with sticks and stones.

He said he was not handicapped in any form, saying that his problem is just to get a job which will enable him raise money to get accommodation and raise his family properly.

wow

Wow, this is very romantic.

That's true love. Hard to find it these days.

May their days be long and prosperous. Amen.

The woman really tried,in the present day Nigeria another woman will by now be in the house of another man.Help them if you can get to them

OK o!

olas2u:

The woman really tried,in the present day Nigeria another woman will by now be in the house of another man.Help them if you can get to them

If they are still in Lagos when I get there, I will surely gift them.

But why the guy fire another acid  when he knows that the moment is not right

^^^

what else do you except them to do in the outdoor cold?

I'm sure he cant find a job as a bus conductor aor a bus washer under the bridge. 

cant be that bad in lagos, except you dont want to do it.

really.

Kudos to the wife. . . .they got kids so she cant really do much.

Sounds harsh, but that is the reality of life.  Save a little from that and they cant move on to better things.

Come to think of it, those bagged water are not pure. Just saying.

Hope i meet them in lagos  

Mrs, Chima:

Come to think of it, those bagged water are not pure. Just saying.

Trudat.

Buy original pure water by typhoid fever.

olas2u:

But why the guy fire another acid  when he knows that the moment is not right

wetin you expect jobelss man to dey do?knack akpako of course!
i pity them sha

Honestly I wish there was a way I could help them out. Send money for the born to be baby and the little boy at the least.

SAFO:

Honestly I wish there was a way I could help them out. Send money for the born to be baby and the little boy at the least.

If we can get a contact person, we can wire them money via Western Union or Money Gram.

If they had a postal box it would be easy.  It would be difficult to send money to an unknown address. 

When you go visit your fam, just stop by the bridge and gift them or send it to a trust fam member to deliver it to them.

Despite the pains and challenges of living under the bridge with snakes and cats, his wife told P.M.NEWS that she would not abandon Monday because she loved and married him seven years ago when things were rosy for them.

She said her family wants her to dump her husband because of his condition but she refused, insisting that marriage is for better and for worse.

Because of her obstinacy her family abandoned her to her fate.

i wonder why the likes of lefulefu, his partners in crime like cork crook, tosinville, etc seem to be avoiding this thread.

maybe they havent seen it yet?

She said her husband raised N200 which she uses to buy and sell ‘pure’ water.

Jesus.

how much is N200?

isnt that like $1.50?

and he had to "raise" that?

omg.

Mrs, Chima:

If we can get a contact person, we can wire them money via Western Union or Money Gram.

If they had a postal box it would be easy. It would be difficult to send money to an unknown address.

When you go visit your fam, just stop by the bridge and gift them or send it to a trust fam member to deliver it to them.

If someone could organize something, and everyone here chipped in a bit of money, wouldnt it be wonderful to help this family get into a home!

That would be great if there wasn't too many fraudulent people out for their own personal gain.

I'd be down for at least $100

i would love to contribute something, but how to reach this family is the main problem here?

i would love to contribute something, but how to reach this family is the main problem here?

great idea guys lets see what we can do. Can the person who started this topic tell us the source maybe we can find the reporter.

count me in for the contribution as well

does the family belong to any church at all?

this story is worrying.

this is sad

[s]Let me not lie here, I'd have left him. Poverty no be my middle name.
[/s]
What I dont understand is why they chose to neglect contraceptives, chose to bring another baby into their poverty with the current one they can't even feed.

Dupe, who sells sachet (pure) water to make ends meet, is also expecting another baby.

I sincerely hope that God remembers them o.

and another Ibo minister of oil just buy 20mil EUR house, let the man go back to east and sort it out with those eating their money.

talina:

If someone could organize something, and everyone here chipped in a bit of money, wouldnt it be wonderful to help this family get into a home!

dara-mi:

i would love to contribute something, but how to reach this family is the main problem here?

twould be nice if we and someone in Properties Section could organise something 150k self contain, for Xmas?

Must everybody live in Lagos? Why not go back to his village and start farming? Lagos ko, Eko ni, mschewwwww

This is heart-wrenching stuff. And they look like a sane, normal couple. I ply that route (along the Oshodi-Apapa expressway) fairly often, and I'm quite familiar with the bridge in question. Just don't know if I can go there to look for them, could be dangerous with miscreants and hoodlums possibly hiding in every crevice around that zone. I don't think it's fair to be indulging oneself with needless luxuries when there are terribly misfortunate folks like this around us. Life oh life.

nakedall:

and another Ibo minister of oil just buy 20mil EUR house, let the man go back to east and sort it out with those eating their money.

Don't bring tribalism into this. Corruption is endemic in Nigeria and does not know any tribe.