A Nigerian living in the United States, Omogbemisola Ogunleye Sadiku has revealed that she and her family fled Nigeria for fear of being attack by relatives who were bent on destroying them over bizarre family traditions.
Sadiku further stated that aside their refusal to practice tradition, select family members attack them because of their refusal to share inheritance bequeathed to them.
In an interview she granted to the media, she lamented the exudos became inevitable since the laws of Nigeria could no longer protect them after seeking refuge in the confines of the exulted judiciary.
Sadiku Said: “I left Nigeria to seek refuge for so many reasons. Firstly in my mother’s family lineage, every first male child must be given a tribalmark before the child gets to the age of 2, I was made to believe it’s in their tradition as this will keep my son from any form of “spiritual attack”.
“In 2014 when I gave birth to my first son, I got a call from my mum that on the 7th day being the day for the naming ceremony, my uncles were going to come and do some traditional rites for my son and also give him a tribal mark, which I blatantly refused. I proceeded to discuss it with my husband and he also refused to have our son’s face torn open in the name of tradition.
“My husband and I decided not to allow them at the naming ceremony of our son. Since our refusal, they kept on calling me and threatening me on the phone that I would be dealt with for breaking tradition and disrupting the order in the family. This was the beginning of the badblood between my mother’s family and I. There were days I got calls from my Baby’s creche that my uncles were in his school and they wanted to forcefully take him away from school. I had to keep changing his school every now and then and they were still so relentless.
While giving details into the issues relating to the sharing of their properties, she said: “We experienced a second attack In April 2015. I lost my grandmother and she left some properties for her children which was meant to be shared equally according to her last instruction. This cannot be backed up by any document because my grandmother did not leave a will. While waiting for the day the properties will be shared, my mum fell sick and she died on the 6th of November 2015.
“Because of the grief, there was a postponement in the date the properties would be shared. On the8th of December my uncle (mom’s elder brother) called my oldest sister to tell us all to come over to Ibadan for the discussion about mygrandmother’s properties.
“At the meeting we were told that we would not be given access to the properties my grandmother left for my mother. His reasons were that: 1. Our mum was a female child, 2. Our mum married and changed her last name, 3. Our mum is late.
“I was really upset because according to law they were meant to give us whatever is entitled to my mummy to us. I stood up andi was about to leave when one of my uncles walked up to me and Said if my life is precious to me and I do not want to die the way my mother did, I should better listen to what the head of the family is saying. I told him it was our right and I was going to fight for it, with whatever means I had.”
She chronicled several other instances where planned attacks were carried out against her and her family adding that ” on the15th of December 2015, exactly a week after we got to Lagos, My family and I escaped an assassination attack on our way to church.
When asked why she believes they are under these incessant attacks, Sadiku said: “I believe my family is being attacked because they want to be the only one to inherit my grandmother’s properties. They know that the law is going to back us up which is why they decided to go after our lives. They are hellbent on killing and scaring away every child my Mother left so they can have the inheritance to themselves.
She lamented that: “I left Nigeria for the United States due to mainly two reasons. Two reasons that I fear my country would not be able to protect me because they have ruled the case to be a domestic issue and advise we deal with it within the family. My country put its love for religion and respect for tradition and elders before my safety and that of my family members.”
