A man, Sodiq Tijani, yesterday alleged that his wife lost her five-month pregnancy after being beaten by his landland’s son. Tijani, who petitioned the Public Advice Centre (PAC), Alausa, Ikeja, over the matter, accused the police of perverting justice.
He told The Nation that his wife suffered a miscarrage on February 25 at their Iju-Ishaga, Lagos home after being pounched by the boy. The boy and his friend desended on him and his wife when the landlady asked them to quit the house after refusing to collect their rent.
“I was already packing my belongings since I did not want trouble when my landlady ordered some people to throw my belongings out. I told them to be patient. That I was already packing out since she had refused to take the rent.
“But they slapped me. Her son brought his friends on six bikes and they beat me up. Landlords in the neighbourhood intervened, saying that was not how to evict a tenant, but she refused to listen.
“Her son and his friends beat me up. They hit me with stones. While this was happening, I did not know that the woman’s younger son had gone inside, brought an iron and broke my door.
“My five-month-old expectant wife was inside packing, but he (the son) wanted to throw out our things. My wife refused and he beat her up. My wife said he used the iron to hit her, he punched her and she fell down. When he saw that she had fallen, he left our room,” Tijani alleged.
He said he saw his wife on the floor when he entered their room and she narrated what transpired.
“The incident happened at night, so I went to the police to report. They said we should come in the morning that it was late. In the morning, policemen came to arrest the landlady.
“My wife could not sleep that night. So in the morning, we took her to a private hospital. There, the doctor said my wife had a forced miscarriage. He brought out the dead baby.
“We went back to the police station and were given officers to follow us to the hospital where my wife was. They saw the condition of my wife, saw the dead baby and took my wife’s statement.
“We went back to the station and the officers gave us a police report. We took my wife back home from hospital, but she still complained of stomach ache. Consequently, we returned her to the hospital. They ran a scan and the result showed that there were still remnants of the baby in her womb. They said unless they were removed, she would not be comfortable. She was bleeding by that time, so we rushed her to the General Hospital at Ifako-Ijaiye where they did another scan and discovered that the placenta was the problem,” he alleged.
Tijani said he was, however, disappointed after he returned to the police station for the case and was told that the landlady had been released.
The police, he claimed, told him that he was not serious about the case, adding that they ignor his explanations that he had to ensure his wife was well first.
The PAC is expected to seek the opinion of the police and the Attorney General on the matter.
