Patience Joseph, the 18-year-old girl said to have been abducted by her aunt, Mrs. Joy Idenyi, on Monday said her father, Ogbaje Joseph, had informed her about her impending marriage when she was in Junior Secondary School.
As of that time, Patience was 14.
PUNCH Metro had on Monday reported that Joy was arrested over the weekend by policemen from the Bauchi State Police Command, following a court order on a charge of abduction. Ogbaje was said to have made a complaint before the court that Joy, his sister-in-law, abducted his daughter.
Patience said, “I was in JSS III when my father first informed me about my impending marriage. I was upset and told him that I had no desire to marry so early. I told my mother too, but they shouted me down. Although I became stubborn and difficult, hoping to discourage them, my father still went ahead with his decision. When I was in SSII, the wedding introduction was done.”
When she was able to save enough money to cover her transport fare, Patience fled Bauchi. She came down to Lagos in March 2013 and stayed with her maternal aunt, Joy. She had earlier informed Joy of her parents’ plans and had lamented that she was being forced into marriage.
She said, “My aunt’s friend, who learnt of my situation, advised that we come to Project Alert on Violence Against Women, a non-governmental organisation, in Lagos State. I did not even spend a week in my aunt’s house. My parents kept threatening her for taking me in. Eventually, my mother came and took me back to Bauchi.
“After I returned, my parents took me to the home of a family friend. The man’s wife was a housewife and kept watch over me every day until my church wedding could be arranged. My phone was taken from me to ensure that I did not communicate with anyone. Because I was getting married, my father did not let me sit for the NECO or UTME examinations. I only sat for my WASSCE because my husband-to-be, Emmanuel allowed it.”
PUNCH Metro gathered that the intending couple had to change churches when a pastor at Deeper Life Bible Church found out that she was 17.
Patience said, “Emmanuel and I both attend the DLB Church. During marriage counselling, I told the pastor I was 17. As a result, the church refused to wed us. We had to move to Redeemed Christian Church of God to do the wedding. My father also swore an affidavit that I was 19 at the time.
“One month after the wedding, I ran away again. I came to Project Alert. I want to further my education. I have no interest in being married now. I have told my parents and Emma repeatedly but no one is listening.”
Programme Coordinator for Project Alert, Tobi Asekun, had in Monday’s publication said that the NGO had arranged meetings between Patience, her parents and her husband in order to resolve the issue. But Patience had insisted that she was not going back home for fear that she would be taken back to Emmanuel’s house.
Already, Joy who was arrested at Ojodu/Berger on Saturday, was arraigned on Monday at Magistrate Court B Bauchi for abducting Patience. She was said to have been admitted to bail in the sum of N150,000, with a surety who must be resident in Bauchi and deemed resposible by the court.
Her husband Idenyi, told PUNCH Metro that he knew no one in Bauchi and was at a loss on how to meet the bail conditions for Joy who is still nursing their only child.
Project Alert’s lawyer, Mr. Benjamin Odeh, said, “We have already contacted a lawyer in Bauchi. However, the current issue on the ground is how to perfect Joy’s bail because the only people she knows in Bauchi are the complainants in the case who fabricated the abduction charge.”
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