Temitope Oladejo,26, never envisaged that the once blossoming romance between her and her lover, Ahmed Babalola, would go sour, judging by the endearing manner at which Babalola pampered her from the onset.
But today, she is looking a shadow of her old self ,following several scars on her body allegedly inflicted on her by Babalola.
Trouble according to her, started after she discovered that her lover was smoking Indian hemp. Out of concern ,she reportedly accosted him, only to be given the beaten of her life.
In this interview with Crime Guard, she barely managed to speak. She had blood- stained eyes and swollen face, no thanks to another round of beaten she received from her live-in-lover Babalola.
Narrating what she described as her greatest undoing , she said:“he came back home recently and I found a wrap of Indian hemp on him. I knew he smokes but never knew he was into Indian hemp. I pleaded with him to quit but he kept quiet.
Next day, I told him I was going to visit my mum that was ill. He also said he was going out but that he was not having any money on him. I told him I had N300 which I opted to share with him .
But when I went to take my bath, he searched my bag and found N2000. He asked where I got the money from and I told him it was not mine. At that point, he started ranting, looking for an avenue for another round of beating.
I reminded him that I was not owing him because he usually goes out and comes in without caring to drop money for our little daughter’s upkeep. Before I knew it, he gave a hot slap on my face and started beating me. When I attempted to shout to alert neighbours, he picked a towel and gagged me. I managed to escape . But by then, he had inflicted injuries all over my face”
Asked why she had not bothered to report to her family or that of Babalola, she disclosed that they were not legally married. Also asked why she did not deem it fit to report the matter to the police, she winked, saying, “ I have on several occasions reported the incessant battering to the police. But each time, they would ask me to go home and resolve the issue with him.
He beats me at the slightest provocation, particularly when I cautioned him against smoking Indian hemp. My worry was not only his smoking attitude but the fact that each time, he comes asking me to give him money and when I refused, he would beat me up.
As if that was not enough, he threatened to beat up my mother when I ran to her place for treatment. He told her to leave us alone that she had no right over his relationship with me”.
NGO to her rescue
Determined to put a stop to the beating, she said she was refereed to the Rights and Empowerment Advocacy Initiative,from where the case was charged to court.
In a letter to the President/Executive Director of Citizens Rights and Empowerment Advocacy Initiative,CREMA Comrade Rex Kennedy Saltlove, titled “Assistance to Intervene on Assault Case and Petition to Stop the Intimidation of My Mum and I by Mr Ahmed Babalola, Oladejo appealed for immediate steps to be taken before Babalola snuffed life out of her and her mum.
The case, has been charged to Magistrate’s Court 8,with the next hearing coming up on September 7, 2013.But relatives according to her, were trying to pacify her to settle the case out of court.
There is however, a new twist to the whole saga as Oladejo said she received a phone call few days ago, where the caller who identified himself as a policeman, requested to see her and her mum at Area ‘M’ Command, Idimu,that there was a petition of threat to life against them by Babalola.