Neighbour beats pregnant woman over ponmo smell

LAGOS—A 36 year-old pregnant woman, Mrs
Deborah Samuel, has fled her Ijegun home in
Lagos State, following alleged threat to her life
by a male tenant who allegedly beat her to a
pulp during an argument over stench from ponmo
(cow skin).
Vanguard gathered that trouble started for Mrs
Samuel after she asked her neighbour to move a
bowl soaked with pomo from her window at 8
Olaniran Crescent around Oluwa -Shehu Ayo area
of Ijegun.
Her request turned out to be her greatest
undoing as she alleged that the neighbour
identified simply as Baba Miracle, pounced on
her until she passed out.
Narrating her ordeal to Vanguard shortly after
she was discharged from a private hospital
around Ijegun, where she was rushed to, Mrs
Samuel said: “As if the beating was not enough,
he threatened that he would kill me, boasting
that nothing will happen because he has a
brother who is a Divisional Police Officer that will
defend him.
“Baba Miracle and his family occupy a flat
upstairs, while we live in the back flat down
stairs. His wife sells pomo (cow skin) whose
stench inconveniences other tenants.
“As usual, she brought some fresh pomo and
started burning it at our middle post last week.
All the tenants complained about the position of
burning but they refused to heed to plea that
they should move it away from my window .
“Because of my present state,(pregnancy) I left
the house and sat outside until my husband
arrived. We went inside, only to be confronted
with the unbearable smell. Unable to stand it, my
husband went to the back yard to wash the
water that was dripping from the basin of
poNmo, in order to reduce the odour.”
But to my surprise the next day, after my
husband left for work, Baba Miracle was heard
bragging that he was not satisfied with the slap
he landed on my husband’s face. He said he
would kill a member of my family.
Scared by the comment, I left the house for my
husband’s place of work which is not far from
our house. While waiting for him at the
reception, Baba Miracle came there and
continued the threat to my life, until he was
asked to leave the premises by the private
guards.
On my way home, he ambushed me and beat me
until I passed out, only to be resuscitated at the
hospital”.
After she was discharged from the hospital, the
Samuels who only moved into the building four
months ago relocated to a relation’s place
around Isheri-Oshun.

     By Ufuoma Tiveruahor