By Our Correspondent
A retired female civil servant yesterday cried out, over threat to her life by her in-laws, over her
daughter’s alleged refusal to obey the tradition of her husband’s family lineage
Salient Times reports that the woman Mrs. Adenike Otubogun raised the alarm in Aramoko Ekiti while speaking with
newsmen, stressing that severally, she had received threat calls from her in-laws, who accused
her of shielding her daughter, Mrs. Bukola Opara who they accused of refusing to respect their
tradition which makes the circumcision of their female children mandatory.
"My daughter has been having running battle with her husband’s family since 2004, when she
gave birth to her second daughter, Chioma", she stated, saying that the family wanted Chioma
and her elder sister to be circumcised while Bukola refused, hinging her decision on the fact
that such act was an abomination.
Mrs Otubogun also explained that in the wake of the disagreement between her daughter and her husband’s family, Bukola’s mother in-law whose name she gave as Florence, once sent members of their family and a local priest to Bukola’s Lagos residence, asking them to forcefully bring her
children Chidinma and Chioma for circumcision, noting that Bukola’s refusal to obey them had
made her the whipping horse.
“They harassed me, called me bad names, and threatened to deal with me. In fact, my life is no longer safe, as they have continued to call my telephone number, saying that grave consequences awaited me, if I fail to instruct my daughter to bring her children for the said
circumcision.
They even paid nocturnal visits to me, telling me that calamities such as
mysterious death that have been happening in their family were all due to Bukola’s refusal to
dance to their tunes” she lamented.
The woman explained further that Bukola decided to take her daughters, Chidinma and Chioma
out of Nigeria as the threats to their lives became unbearable, explaining that since their departure, she had known no peace as the threats to her life continued to gather
momentum.
Bukola’s in-laws are still resolute in their decision to circumcise the children and are
making efforts that Bukola bowed to their pressures.
Asked if she had plans to mandate Bukola to bring her daughters back to Nigeria for the
traditional rites, she answered “NO, I am afraid; I cannot do that because I don’t want to infringe on their rights.
Apart from this, asking her to come will be suicidal, because my own family is not
favorably disposed to genital mutilation of female children".
Mrs. Otubogun however appealed to security operatives to come to her assistance as she
suspected more attacks by her daughter's in-laws.
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