Posted by By ISAAC ANUMIHE, Abuja on
Solomon Aku. Remember him? He is the 32-year- old man whose wife gave birth to quadruplets and died days after.
Solomon Aku. Remember him? He is the 32-year- old man whose wife gave birth to quadruplets and died days after.
Devastated after the incident, he is now singing a new tune saying that the wife's death brought him bountiful blessings.
He, however, ruled out any possibility of getting another wife until the children have grown up. "What do I need a wife for? A wife now will divert my attention because any woman that will be coming to my house now will want her own kids. I already have four.
How much am I earning? It is no use now. When these kids are grown up to be able to go to school and come back unaided (then they will be about 10 to 15 year),
I can then begin to think about women. I think by that time no woman will come and mess up with them," he said.
For Solomon, the children should enjoy the best of the blessings their dead mother is getting for them. "When you bring a wife to your house, just give her a year, the story will be different. So, let them (kids) enjoy the best of what they are getting through the spirit of their mum; through the goodwill of many Nigerians.
That is just what I want for them now. For now, women I am sorry'', he said with a note of finality.
Three months after the death of the wife, Charity, how does Solomon cope with life and four children? This question appeared to be apt as he used the opportunity to reel out a long list of people and institutions that made donations in cash and kind for the upkeep of the children.
"It has not been easy but at least, with God behind me, we have been coping with my relations, friends and some well-meaning Nigerians. To start with, I remember when my wife was alive, we went to the market with N20,000 or N30,000 and we bought things for them. But since then I have not bought anything. People have been helping me.
FCDA (Federal Capital Development Authority) gave me N200,000, AMAC (Abuja Municipal Area Council) gave me N50,000, the wife of the late deputy governor of Kaduna State, Charity Stephen Shekari, drove down from Kaduna to my house in Masaka, Abuja and gave me clothes, milk and bags of materials for the children."
Furthermore, the father of quadruplets who is not bothered about what the children will eat for the next two to three months also said "Kaduna State Government gave me food for myself, those living with me, food for my kids, clothes for the kids and detergents through Sarah Sanda. I won't fail to mention that someone brought Sarah Sanda to the picture - the wife of General Officer Commanding 81 Division of Nigeria Army, Mrs. Deborah Ilya."
Solomon told Daily Sun that the total cash gift he got was over N400,000 and an unquantifiable amount of material gifts.
But specifically, he disclosed that Mrs Deborah Ilya came with two cartons of NAN milk and each carton contains 24 tins. ‘'Kaduna State also gave me two cartons. A woman that works in my wife's office gave me a carton and people have been bringing two, three, five. There was a woman in Abacha Barracks that gave me five tins without me knowing her and another woman gave me 10 tins. So, as we are talking now, I have four cartons of NAN in my house. I have three cartons of Cow Bell. Swan Water gave me two cartons of its product. Gongoni gave me three cartons of Septol and I calculated the market value and it is almost N45,000," he explained with heart full of gratitude.
But could this overwhelming support be attributed to the death of his wife? The question appeared rather unexpected as he thought for a while and then continued: "Well, one can say yes because when some of them (people) looked at it and discovered that oh! his wife is dead, they have pity. So, I think, may be because of the loss of my wife --- four kids at a go, a young man of 32. Let's do something. So, let's say the spirit of my wife is touching them. So, some of them are doing it because of the spirit of my wife.
They say let's help this guy. His case is different. He has quadruplets, he has no job, he lost his wife. I will say 70 to 80 per cent of the gifts I got is because of her death," he affirmed.
However, Daily Sun wanted to know if he has history of quadruplets in his family. He replied in the affirmative saying that his mother had twins, while his late wife's elder sister also had twins.
Also, the grandmother of his wife had twins four times and his (Solomon) cousin had twins and many other relations.
Now in possession of so many gifts, how does he use them for the children? In order words, who takes care of the children? ‘I have relations. Some come and go. My younger brother is there. My mum is there. My cousin is there.
My aunt comes and spends some days. My late wife's elder sister comes and stays three, four days and my late wife's younger sister also comes," he stated.
Solomon, however, confessed that the children have never tasted breast-milk since their mother died saying that the children take NAN.
The children who have now put on weight will be five months in the next two months and the quantity of NAN will last for more than two months during which the children will be fed with solids.
"The NAN that is in my house will go for at least two months and they will be five months and I will not need them anymore," he said confidently. Solomon who was unemployed when his wife delivered is now gainfully employed as a purchasing officer in one of the construction companies in Abuja.
He told this reporter that a man called him up one day and asked him to see him and when he did, he offered him employment immediately.
According to lucky dad, his benefactor is one of the prominent men in this country, but wishes to remain anonymous.