WHEN 27-year-old Miss Oyindamola Faseyi decided to opt out of her
three-year-old relationship with her boyfriend , Mr. Jackson Babajide,
little did she know she was courting trouble.
The 2002 OND Financial Studies graduate of The Federal Polytechnic, Offa, claimed she and her boyfriend, an indigene of Edo State, who works at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Ilorin, Kwara State capital, had agreed to get married.
The indigene of Obo-Ayegunle in Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State, however changed her mind about the plan to get married to her erstwhile boyfriend because of some information she got about her mother-in-law to be.
According to Oyindamola, who refused to state how she met her boyfriend or the information she got about his mother, the decision to pull out of the relationship did not go down well with her boyfriend.
She said “I told him point blank why I wanted to pull out of the relationship. We argued a lot over my decision. I was very blunt while I was telling him my decision and I spoke like a woman, with emotion. Maybe he was hurt or maybe I insulted him, I wouldn’t know, but I took my leave immediately.
“That should be in December 2005,” revealed the ex-student of First Baptist Primary School and Tawakalitu Grammar School, Offa, in Kwara State.
Another issue, which caused conflict between the estranged love birds was the money Oyindamola claimed her boyfriend was owing her, totalling N100,000 ( a hundred thousand naira only).
The second of the five children of a retired security man and a petty trader, Miss Faseyi said she could not afford to forgo the amount the boyfriend was owing her. So, it was like “at long last, he would eventually pay,” when she got a telephone call from her boyfriend in the evening of 21st February, 2006 to come and collect her money.
Not wanting to visit his house, Oyindamola, who resided in Offa, said they both agreed on phone to meet at Royal Covenant, Zango Area, Ilorin.
Reminiscencing about the ill-fated incident, while shedding tears profusely (took some time to calm her down), Miss Faseyi said there was blackout on the fateful day and it was late in the evening. She claimed to be walking towards the meeting point when suddenly, somebody poured a substance, discovered to be acid on her face.
“I shouted for help. The people around came to my rescue. I heard one man threatening my assailant, “If you move there!” I was later taken to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, where I was on admission for 10 months.
“I later learnt that my assailant was my former boyfriend because the acid poured on his shoulder too and he was taken to the same hospital where I was admitted,” revealed the acid victim.
Oyindamola, whose hope of becoming an accountant was dashed by that singular incident, was eventually discharged from the teaching hospital on 1st December, 2006, for lack of funds.
Although a close family friend, who is a matron, still helps her to clean her eyes and apply a particular ointment on them with sterilised cotton wool daily.
She however explained further that for the 10 months she spent in the hospital, although two doctors were assigned to her, one for the eyes and the other for plastic surgery, it was only the plastic surgery that was taken care of because she would need to be flown out of the country for surgical operations for the eyes.
After due consultation with a hospital in India via e-mail, it was gathered that it would cost her N1.5 million to undergo the surgery and fly her and someone who would be attending to her in India.
Since the unfortunate incident, Oyindamola has depended on someone to help her go through her daily routine as her two eyes are affected.
Meanwhile, with no one to turn to for assistance, Miss Faseyi claimed to have travelled to Maiduguri to raise some money by begging on the streets, but a friend of hers advised her against it, considering the fact that it might take her “eternity” to gather N1.5 million through street begging.
And she was later advised to contact kindhearted Nigerians through the press. Her mother, Mrs. Rachael Faseyi, who has been following her about since 22nd February, 2006, appealed to everybody, especially parents, to come to her daughter’s aid, so that she could regain her sight.
Bursting into fresh tears, Oyindamola said, “I want people to come to my aid. It is like my mother is caged, she is always at my beck and call. She is no longer free. I want to see again, so that my mother too will be free,” she pleaded.
