So Sad: 21-year-old Mother Bares Chest In Hunger Protest

A 21-year-old woman on Monday stirred up the premises of Ikeja Magistrate’s Court as she employed desperate measures to draw attention to her misfortune.

Esther Odozi bared the upper part of her body on Monday on the premises of the court, in protest against hunger that she said was “killing her and the five children” she left back home in Agbor Owanta, Delta State.

Odozi, a farmer laid half-unclad on a road in the court shouting, “Hunger, hunger. Government must do something today. I have not received anything from the plenty crude oil money government is spending in our state. Nigerians are wicked.”

She impeded movement on the premises. Passersby were astonished. One of them, who did not state her name but said she was a lawyer, told our correspondent that Odozi abused the “temple of womanhood.”

Odozi, who said she lives in Owanta village in Ika North-East Local Government Area of Delta State, came to Lagos last week and because she didn’t have anywhere to sleep, slept at Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries where she begged for money to come to the old secretariat in Ikeja.

She said she was directed by an official of Human Rights Commission in her state to come to Lagos that she would get help.

According to her, she needed N200,000 for garri and melon business and would not leave Lagos until she got the money for the business.

Odozi shunned passersby who shouted at her to cover herself as she rolled on the ground. She revealed wounds on her left leg and the right side of her hips; she said she was hit by a car. She refused a N500 given to her by a passerby, saying, “I don’t want your money. I want Fashola to give me N200, 000.”

“After confronting serious hardship in my state, I was advised by an official of Human Rights Commission in Delta to go to Human Rights Commission in Abuja. I also went to Police Headquarters and NAPTIP (National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons) in Abuja. They all told me to go to Lagos; they said that is where I could get help,” she said.

“My husband, Donald Ogbaja, was a retired policeman before he died of hunger. He married me when I was 17. I bore five children, including twins for him.”

Odozi said she tried to survive on her own by cultivating some crops, but unfortunately, she was hit by a car and had her injuries stopped her from continuing working on her farm.

“I will not leave this court without seeing N200,000 to start business. I want to sell melon and garri. Tell Emmanuel Uduaghan, the governor of my state, and the Federal Government to do something about my condition. They must give me part of the petrol money. I must take care of my five children.”