Reporter's diary of Aderonke Bello: Journey to the unknown, to unearth the culture of twins killing in the FCT

It was a hot afternoon in April 2016, we are a set of more than 10 women who drove to two orphanages, our first stop was a home at the Christ Treasured Orphanage in Kwali, where we visited a school under construction with hopes of raising funds to complete the project. 

The next stop on the same day was Kuje, Vine Heritage home where rescued children from culture and tradition of death, live.

PART ONE OF THE INVESTIGATIVE REPORT ON TWINS KILLING IN THE FCT

The journey to my report started from there. I engaged the missionary who explained to me how they have been rescuing ‘endangered` children for the past 22 years and how they have a recently rescued 1-month-old twins from one of the interior villages.

Important note

And, I asked him if other media house had visited the villages in the past, he nodded his head and mentioned a popular TV station that did a coverage few years ago. I asked him if I can visit some of the locals and he said ‘at your own risk’…. this made me scared.

I told a colleague. Yinka Adeparusi about my fear, Yinka became nervous but positive, we encouraged each other which was the beginning of the birth of the investigative report. Every risk is worth taking if we carefully strategize.

Plan

Our aim is to get these locals to tell us about the practise and if we come out straight and disclose our mission, they could attack and probably kill us. We discovered that, this is a custom which they are all sensitive about and would rather not talk about.

Yinka and I decided to stick to maternal healthcare and hospitals, during our discussion, I will ask about child care and how the upper tooth grows, from there to twins affairs which we asked briefly without much emphasis, none but a family suspected us and the moment I popped the question and our guide interpreted to them, the women started murmuring loudly in their native language.

The situation became scary and I changed the topic immediately to the lack of schools. This scenario happened in Dafa village, Kwali area council.

Concern

Safety is not guaranteed; the locals could attack us.

The roads are bad and not motorable, we trekked a lot.

Because they are remote villages without electricity or phone network, we might not be able to seek help if anything happens to us in the course of the journey.

Language and communication could be a barrier.

Yinka and I drove for almost an hour to inner Kuje, outskirt of Abuja - the orphanage, to interview the couple, Mr. and Mrs. Stevens running the place.  We left the home for Kiyi village to speak with the locals, communication was hard of course but we got a guy who helped with pidgin English. The Kiyi people speak Gwari language and said they no longer kill twins but confessed it happened in the past.

After this I started making consultations and also commenced research about the interior villages within the FCT area council.

Language Barrier

An Abuja indigene, Joseph followed us as a guide to Kwali and Bwari respectively. He speaks the Gbagyi language.

We met a heavily pregnant woman who said she doesn't want twins in the Kwali area council. She couldn’t speak English and was in pain waiting for her water to pop so she can give birth to her baby at home.

After all was done and dusted, it took about three locals to help with transcription and translation. It was not easy getting this people to travel all the way down to the city centre, some of my personal income expended into transporting them, if you ask me, it was worth it!

PART TWO OF THE INVESTIGATIVE REPORT ON TWINS KILLING IN THE FCT

Elijah, Joseph and Blessing helped translate at different times, the three major languages spoken to us in the sojourn were; Gwari, Gbagyi and Bassa.

It is also good to note that the Abuja indigenes are 90% Christians and 10% are Muslims and other religion. We travelled different times and days to the interior villages.

Security issues

We became scared during our journey to the Gwagwalada area council, where we encountered a herd of what appears to be about a thousand cows in front of us, the driver was visibly afraid and anxious, but our guide (Joseph) was calm. Yinka declared how scared he was as well but kept his wits about him, I wasn`t able to keep mine unfortunately.

We spent about 40mins waiting for the cows to move away, what came to mind was, “what if these Fulani herdsmen attack us inside this bush, no mobile network, no internet, etc. I forced a smile, which was nervously planted on my face and started waving to the herdsmen who waved back at us. We unwittingly survived in the middle of nowhere.

Gifts

In the course of our journey, we were constantly bombarded with dry corns by the locals, generously given to us to eat. What can I do with these things? Was the question I kept asking myself, I had no idea, but we accepted them regardless as it might be rude not to.  We were well received by many, with our mission unbeknown to them.

Some people also offered us water to drink under the hot weather, we could not drink it to prevent any reactions but politely said thanks, a small girl also offered to plait my hair which to her was untidy. I held her small hands, thanked her and shook my head in disapproval – I am on the field, let me look this way, better for me.

Twins Altar

The altar is very important to the report which are usually build inside the houses, this is not easy to access. I was also forewarned not to move closer to it because of the contents inside it which are harzadous when inhaled.

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We were denied access in some houses, but got help when a youth who is not happy with the custom took us to a house and explained to us how things work, especially the twin altar. I must have inhaled something from the Twin Altar because I broke down for two days after the visit, my head was banging with strange noises, sneezing and a kind of hallucination.

Hunger

We became hungry at a time when we departed the Bwari area council, we ate by the expressway we all were pressed and had to answer the call of nature in the open. You have to just do it. It was not easy driving under the heavy rainfall with thunderstorm but we had a great driver who held sway. Some locals advised us to stop and wait till the rain stops but no! We persevered. It was work and fun for the team. We got back to the city centre around 7pm from the commencement of journey at 9am.

Sickness

After the report, I fell sick, visited the hospital and was told to rest, I got some medications which took about 7 days to complete.

As the kind of woman who doesn’t allow any kind of circumstances get her down, I got back to work and started working on the article, single-handedly without help from any quarter. Despite this, I had to combine with delegating and editing my subordinate's stories, while attending to other reports as well dealing with other work related issues. This affected some googledocs which I could not fill timely in the office and would be later used against me.

Conclusion

An article of mine was disqualified from an award recently due to lack of supporting documents (according to the convener) because of the loss of my gadget (anyone can be a victim) and was misconstrued as ‘fraud’ by doubters and by those with vendetta against my upsurge in journalism.

This, however, will only empower me to aim for greater heights rather than pull me down. “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”. The unfortunate experience above inspired this diary actually, and, it will be a norm henceforth.

The report above took me five months plus to conclude, I hope to follow it up with the lawmakers, government reactions and actions and push till it become a ‘solutions journalism’. I have other great projects coming up, to be researched and authored by me, Aderonke Bello.

Thanks to the Amnesty International, National Orientation Agency (NOA), and, other people who reacted to the report. A special thanks to the local guide, translators, Mr. and Mrs. Stevens. I will revisit the Nigerian police, FCTA and other traditional rulers and see if I can convince them again to speak to me as they have declined comments in the past.

Infanticide is going on quietly in the FCT area councils, innocent babies are murdered, poisoned, and kidnapped while we go about our businesses.

Thank you for reading my diary!

Twitter: @AderonkeW

Source: Legit.ng