Husband of Woman who Abandoned Twin Girls at the Hospital over Outstanding Hospital Bill Vows Never to Take her Back

Adeyemi Ademola, father of the twin girls abandoned by their birth mother,  Sarah Ademola, at the Felken Maternity Centre, Lagos, on December 16, 2016, (read here) over a N150,000 outstanding bill has vowed not to take back his runaway wife for allegedly deceiving and misleading him.

Reports from Vanguard claim that Ademola, who spoke at the Pedro Police Station, Somolu, where he had gone to claim the babies, said his wife deliberately deceived him, and that she had only two children whereas she already had six.

You will recall that Sarah abandoned her newborn babies almost a fortnight after birthing them on the 3rd of December, 2016 due to her husband’s inability to pay the bills.

It was also gathered that the estranged mother, when contacted, claimed her disappearance from the maternity home was as a result of her husband’s inability to settle the hospital bill of N150,000. After the news of their inability to balance the hospital bill circulated, kind-hearted Nigerians rose to their aid and settled the outstanding bill, and afterwards, Sarah reappeared.

Cuddling the innocent babies in his arms, Ademola dismissed reports that his wife had returned to him, even as he pleaded for assistance from Nigerians for their upbringing.

“To set the record straight, my wife has not showed up since she fled on the 16th  of December last year.   Now that that Good Samaritans have intervened, by paying the remaining balance on the N150,000 bill, she is willing to come back.

My question is, coming back to do what, when she had already said she didn’t need the babies. Coming back to the children could be very dangerous, so we are not going to take her back. All we need is assistance from Nigerians to raise the children,” he stated.

He also lamented thus:

“Iya Ibeji (mother of twins) deliberately deceived me that she had two children whereas she has six. After the delivery of the twins, she confided in her closest friend that she does not need the children that the death of her first husband and the responsibility of taking care of the children he left along with the new babies, would be too much for her to bear. That is why she left.

I wish to relocate because the single room I am living presently at No.6 Odukoya Street, Bariga won’t be conducive for the new babies.

Reports that we received donation from the Wife of the Lagos State Governor is a rumour, there was nothing of such. The only person that has presented cash gifts is Senator Ashafa, one NGO also presented cash.”

The Matron of the maternity Centre, Gloria Akinbobola, said they decided to release the babies on Saturday.

“We would have released them to go home all this while but the unavailability of the father prevented us from handing them over. Since the father is around now, we decided to present the babies to him in the presence of the Police officer to bear witness.”

Still on the matter, a monarch in Ogun State who asked not to be identified has promised to help the babies and their family if the parents would bury their differences and come together to take care of the twins, saying it was in their interest.

“I read the touching report of the abandoned twins like other Nigerians and I decided to settle the bill, but I was told it had been paid.

But I believe there are other ways of helping the family. What I, however, think is important is that the parents must let go of their differences. Those babies would have been missing their mother and no matter what the woman might have done, she needs to be around them to breastfeed them.

There is nobody that can play that role for them, but their mother. I want to urge the man to forgive his wife,” the monarch said.

This is just as the twins’ father said he was not opposed to a reconciliation, but wanted Sarah, his second wife, to “suffer” for abandoning the babies when they were barely two weeks old.

Report also claims that after Sarah left the maternity, Adeyemi’s first wife, Abimbola, went to Felken to nurse the babies.

When Punch contacted, Adeyemi, he said his family had decided to let Sarah realise her error first.

“How wicked can a woman be to have left her babies and run away? It is not true that the hospital didn’t attend to her as she is claiming. There were other patients in that hospital and they had no reason not to treat her. If she was ill like she claimed, how come she suddenly recovered and is now asking for the babies?

I believe that there are some people pushing her. I have been getting calls from some of her friends, telling me to release the babies to their mother. They believe we have made a lot of money.

She does not really care about the babies. I don’t want her to know where the babies are. They need to be protected from her. My family has said we should not just allow her to return without feeling the pains that she had done something wrong.

Except Senator Ashafa, no other person has given the twins anything. And we need money. I just lost my job because I decided to take a break to take my babies at the police station.”

Adeyemi has also confirmed that the monarch had reached out to his family, saying the matter was being considered.

Photo credit: Punch