27-year-old single mum amputee, Mary Daniel said she claimed her father was dead because he abandoned her from childhood but has forgiven him.
Mary disclosed this during the house warming ceremony of the N17.5m storey building she bought at the Igando area of Lagos from donations made by generous donors within and outside Nigeria.
According to PUNCH, the house which comprises four apartments of two bedrooms each has a sachet water factory nearing completion.
She explained that she changed her name from Ojonuga Blessing Onu to Mary Daniel out of annoyance against her father, adding that she twisted the circumstances surrounding her mother’s death and the amputation of her leg to curry favour from the public.
Daniel stated, “I am happy for the house and the factory. I decided to settle for water business because it is the source of my success. I have bought the equipment and generator; it remains fixing doors and a vehicle for distributing the water.
“I said my father was dead because he did not take care of me. He said he didn’t want a one-legged person in his family. He disowned me so I decided to change my name from Ojonuga Blessing Onu to Mary Daniel.
“After people donated money to me, his family begged him to reunite with me but he refused. I have forgiven him for what he did to me but I can’t accept him as my father.”
She said her daughter now lives with her and has been enrolled in a school. “I thank Nigerians and everyone for helping me. I am also grateful to the Lagos State Government,” she added.
Daniel’s cousin, Seidu Amuna, who spoke to our correspondent on the telephone on Saturday, confirmed that the father disowned her.
He said, “Her father is my uncle. He and his late wife (Daniel’s mother) were not on good terms before she had the accident when she was playing. As of the time she was carrying her (Daniel’s) pregnancy, they had a misunderstanding and parted ways. When she gave birth, the issue was resolved and she accepted Blessing as his child.
“Blessing was about five years old when she and her mother travelled. The accident happened where they went. After her leg was amputated, he said she did not belong to him. We asked him if it was because of her condition but he said no. Up till now, he never explained what happened between him and Blessing’s late mother. I personally begged him after fortune found Blessing to accept her but he said ‘over his dead body’.”
When contacted, Mary’s father, Onu, outright disowned her, saying, “I don’t have any amputee daughter. I am not her father.”