Photo: Woman Held Hostage for 9 years by Lover in Delta State Regains Freedom

A woman who was abducted by her lover nine years ago has miraculously regained her freedom. The woman who used to live at Ikotun in Lagos came out of the lovers house for the first time in nine years. But she did not come out alone. She came out with four children. The woman whose name was not mentioned is said to be a graduate and speaks fluent English. She narrated her ordeal to an astonished crowd who gathered to have a glimpse of her.

An eye witnesses told sunday sun that the woman’s lover who hails from Ekiti State was so much in love with and wanted to marry her but her family was against the relationship, so he decided to 
kidnap her for keeps. It was gathered that he later took her to a wooden house he built for her in Okerube area of Abaranje, Ikotun, Lagos.

Neighbours said the woman claimed not to have known where she was kept because her lover would go to the market to get food for her and her children very early in the morn­ing and threatened that she would die if she stepped out of the house., He always makes sure he locks the house whenever he leaves so she had no way of coming out. She also narrated how she gave birth to all her four children in the wooden house with her husband serving as a midwife.

Her journey to freedom started three weeks ago when her lover fell ill and could not as usual go out to fetch food. Extremely starved and weak, the woman forced him out on Friday, October 24, 2014 to get what they would eat and drink before they all die of hunger and thirst. Luckily for her and the children, the man forgot to lock the house.It was at this point that the woman decided to urinate and was shocked to see what had hap­pened around her.

When neighbors discovered her, , they came out in their numbers and started questioning her as they thought she was a mad woman. She and her children were so much emaciated but from her responses and body language, they realized she and the children were okay and mentally sound. While in forced confinement, she had taught the children their lessons such that they spoke very well when with their mother in the crowd. She remembered her sister’s con­tact and one of the sympathizers quickly put a call through to her. In about 30 minutes, the sister arrived at the scene and took her and the children away.

Eyewitnesses reported that her husband had not returned from the market when she was taken away. They said she was so upset at the forceful rescue that she was scream­ing at the top of her voice: “My husband oh, my husband!” thereby getting her sister an­gry and shouting back at her; “which yeye husband you dey call?”

A neigbour said  the wooden house was built near her house, but Whenever people go near the place to see if anyone lives there, he would use a catapult and stone to hit them and chase them away. She said: 

“Anyone who tries to get close, this man will use catapult and stone to shoot them so people had to let him be thinking he was mentally unbal­anced. We didn’t even know he was living there with five people. When the man got back, he found the house empty. He be­gan to shout, ‘’I hate human beings, that is why I isolated myself and my family from them.’’ Can you imagine”?

It is uncertain if the man is himself a grad­uate or if he is mentally stable but one thing is certain: He was not ready to set his “wife” free and was very upset when she left.