Everything around their abode typifies squalour – a windy road dotted with craters, stray dogs charging at passers-by, a junk of cars-swathed mechanic workshops and kiosks of liquor vendors with men on drinking binge. The distressed couple, Emmanuel Olawale Jacob and Muibat his wife wallow in hopelessness in their dingy room at No 14 Ola Mummy Street, Pipeline area of Aboru, Lagos.

Still struggling with raising four children as an okada (commercial motorcycle) rider, life became a nightmare for Jacob as his wife was delivered of a set of triplets on December 17 last year, turning him into a father of seven children made up of six boys and one girl.

But neither Jacob nor his wife was excited at the news of the arrival of a set of triplets because they never planned to add any more to the four they already had. They, however, suffered a disappointment as the family planning treatment Muibat underwent at a public hospital failed and she got pregnant again only to be delivered of three baby boys.

“We didn’t plan to have seven children. It was the family planning treatment I received at a public health centre in Alimosho that failed me,” Muibat said.

“It was my fourth attempt at family planning. I had done three before and they failed, but did not result in pregnancy.

“I was assured by the health centre’s doctors of the treatment’s efficacy. I was told that it would expire by the end of 2024. I was however shocked last year when I became pregnant and was delivered of a set of triplets in December 2023.”

Muibat is a street sweeper attached to the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA). She used to sell foodstuff until she lost her capital after her husband suffered the misfortune of being displaced from his auto-mechanic workshop some years ago.

The birth of the triplets was not without challenges. Shortly after they were born, defraying the medical bill for their delivery became a problem. The babies and their mother were detained in the hospital for weeks until a kind-hearted man of northern extraction helped to settle the bill.

But while the couple were celebrating the gesture, they were again confronted with the shocking news that their landlord had sold the house where they lived with their children.

Muibat said: “Since I was delivered of these babies, life has not been fair to me and my husband. We didn’t expect three babies at all.

“At the hospital where I gave birth to them, we could not pay the money required for delivery.

“As a result, I was detained at the hospital until a Good Samaritan came to our rescue and cleared the bill.

“While we were still rejoicing over this, information got to us that our landlord had sold the house where we lived while the new owner had ordered that all the occupants must move out within one month.

“The small room the nine of us are sharing now is one of the storerooms in our church. It was given to us for free by our former pastor who has since sold the church building and relocated to somewhere else.

“Again, the new owner of the building has told us to leave by the end of this month (April), and we don’t know where to go to because we don’t have money to get a new accommodation.”

The 40-year-old native of Ilero community in Oyo State added that the cost of feeding the triplets named Ayobami, Ayodele and Ayoola has taken a toll on the family and she has had to find an alternative in a local cereal made purely from dry corn.

“We cannot afford the cost of processed infant food. What I have been doing now is to give them breast milk and cornmeal.

“Even at that, we can no longer afford the cost of preparing the corn meal and we need help from Nigerians with good hearts to rescue us from this hopeless situation so that we don’t lose these babies and others to hunger.”

Sharing his plight during the encounter with our reporter, Jacob, a trained auto-mechanic specialising in repairs of Japanese cars, said he was displaced from his workshops many times by officials of the state government who forcibly ejected him and others.

He explained further that he suffered a similar fate in other places where he got land to establish workshops, adding that he opted to earn a living as an okada rider after he lost his workshops and had nowhere to practice his vocation.

He said: “I didn’t start my life as an okada operator. I trained as an auto-mechanic and Japanese cars are my specialty.

“It happened that I operated from a workshop on Olowu Street in Ikeja and I was doing fairly well until state authorities enforced the regulations against the location of auto-mechanic workshops in residential areas.

“After we were forcibly ejected from the workshop, I joined hands with others to establish other workshops in about three places but we were displaced by land speculators who forcibly annexed the workshops and sold them to people who converted the places to residential apartments.

“I lost many of the clients I was servicing their cars who were patronising me at the workshops. Exasperated by my joblessness and piling bills, I decided to give okada a try to earn a living and feed my family.”

Despite his solace in okada business, Jacob could not get any enduring reprieve as he moved from one problem to another.

According to the 60-year-old indigene of Ado-Odo town in Ogun State, three motorbikes were confiscated from him by the Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences in quick succession.

“Having lost my workshops to the enforcement by state officials and land speculators, I took to okada riding but lost three motorbikes to the state task force who impounded them during raids on our parks at Iyana Ipaja.

“After the setback, I got two motorbikes and again lost them to robbery. One of the two motorcycles was stolen where it was parked in my house while the other one was snatched from the person I asked to operate it and deliver proceeds to me.

“The robbers that snatched the motorbike inflicted deep machete cuts on the man during the robbery operation.”

Jacob said his hope hangs in the balance as help is not coming from anywhere despite his appeals to certain public and private quarters.

“I don’t have a dime as I speak,” he said.

“Having lost my means of livelihood to robbers, I have taken a job as a driver of a school bus in a private school on a paltry salary that can barely feed me not to talk of my family of seven.

“I was so confident, based on the assurance of doctors that the family planning treatment given to my wife was efficient and that it would prevent her from becoming pregnant since we were done with having more children.

“However, it failed us, and my wife was confirmed to be pregnant shortly after she was administered with the family planning method in the early months of 2023, and she was subsequently delivered of a set of triplets in December.

“When she became pregnant, we had no money to do a pregnancy scan. Otherwise, we would have known that she was carrying triplets in her womb and possibly cried out in time for help.

“Although my younger brother assisted me with money while my wife and the babies were held at the hospital, he is currently battling sight problem and he has spent a lot on the treatment of his eyes.

“A few individuals I approached are not also forthcoming, and at the moment, the person who gave us this room, who is our former pastor, has asked us to quit this place because he has sold the building to a new owner.

“My headache now is how to get new accommodation for my family and take care of my children, especially the new babies.

“As I speak with you, the man who bought this property from our former pastor has given us till 28th of this month to vacate our small room.

“Initially, he asked us to leave by the beginning of this month, but after sending people to plead with him on our behalf, he agreed to give us concession till April 28, failing which he could forcibly eject us from this building.”

He added: “The cost of feeding the babies is too much for me. My wife who is currently battling a sight problem could have helped me a little if she was still working as a sweeper. But she stopped working when she became pregnant and has not resumed work as she has to take care of the babies.

“Every week, I spend about N5,500 on milk, which we mix with corn meal to support the exclusive breastfeeding of the babies, and the burden is quite on me to look for money to take care of my family.

“I am therefore appealing to the public to rescue me from this hopelessness through financial support to cater for these new babies and the rest as I cannot afford to watch them starve and die of hunger.”

Donations can be sent to a Zenith Bank account number: 2214525106 in the name of the father of the babies, Emmanuel Jacob. He can also be reached on his mobile phone number 08024067769. (The Nation)

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