Residents
of Oladejo Community Lane, Oko-Oba, Agege, Lagos have expressed anxiety
over a nonagenarian woman, who was said to have been pushed out to the
street.
learnt that the
woman, popularly called Iya Ijesha, was sent out of the house because
she allegedly had “unusual spiritual power
.”
The residents said for about two weeks,
Iya Ijesha, who was in her 90s, had been sleeping under trees, in front
of shops and other odd places.
When our correspondent visited the area
on Thursday, the old woman was seen walking aimlessly on the street with
a nylon bag containing rags and bottles, begging for alms from
passersby.
Our correspondent also observed how some shop owners took her from the road, sat her down and fed her.
The residents, many of whom pleaded anonymity, told PUNCH Metro
that the old woman was sent out of the house by her son when the child
of a tenant died from a sickness and everybody allegedly concluded that
the old woman’s “spiritual power” was the cause of the death.
However, residents explained that the deceased was a sickle-cell anaemia carrier.
Despite her old age, Iya Ijesha, who
identified herself simply as Florence, told our correspondent that she
was formerly staying in her son’s house, but was sent out about two
weeks ago because the son and the tenants claimed she had spiritual
power.
She said, “I am from Oke-Isa Street,
Ilesha, Osun State. I have two children. He is my only son. I was
formerly staying in his house until two weeks ago when he sent me out.
He said since I had bad spiritual power, I should not live with him
again. I want to die, but death has not come. My son said I was the one
who killed the child of a tenant in the house. The tenant also beat me
up.
“Some shop owners on the street take
care of me. I sleep wherever the night meets me. He has said I should
not return to his house. I am tired of this Lagos. I want to go back
home.”
A landlord in the area, who begged for
anonymity, said the community development association had called the
son, who is also a landlord on the street, to bring the woman to his
house or take her back to Ilesha. He added that the woman’s son had
remained adamant, claiming that she deserved to sleep only on the
street.
A shop owner, who idenitifed herself as
Mama Yusuf, added that she and her friends had been feeding the old
woman and had been scolded by the landlord’s son for doing so.
When our correspondent got to the house
of the woman’s son, identified simply as Olamiju, he denied sending his
mother out of the house.
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