From Uzoma Okere to Mother & children !
It is usually not uncommon to hear certain unpleasant stories that touch the heart but it is 
exceptional when those involved as key players are supposedly highly placed personalities. Sad to note, though, is the fact that the story of Mrs. Paulynn Midalahwho narrates her ordeal in the hands of Mrs. Treasure Samuel Afolayan, wife of former Chief of Naval Staff has taken a toll on innocent and unsuspecting Nigerians. Unfortunately too, Nigerian security agencies are used as decoy to perpetrate these heinous acts.
Hear her:
My name is Mrs. Paulynn Midalah; I am married with two children. On Tuesday, 28th April 2010 my children; Favour and Marvel,whose pictures appear above, left home to their school Trinity Anglican Primary School , Gwagwalada, Abuja FCT.
?I left my house around 10.30am that day to buy something, and then I received a telephone call from my children?s Headmaster that a certain woman had come to the school with armed Naval officers to pick my children from school. I immediately, put a call through to my son Favour?s phone and he picked it and said ?Hello Mummy?, but soon after he had said hello Mummy, I guess some one had collected the phone from my child.
Continuing, she revealed that ?After that all attempts to reach him on that phone proved abortive as my phone tells me the number is switched off. I became very worried and rushed to the school and met the Headmaster who confirmed that a certain woman came with armed Naval officers to pick my children from school and bundled their bicycles into her bus vehicle, I was seriously alarmed and confused; who could this be? Is it a kidnap or something? These were the questions begging for answers in my mind.
?The Headmaster couldn?t remember the name of the woman who came to the school to whisk my kids away. I rushed to the school gate but couldn?t find any one to give me proper briefing. I rushed back to the house and the kids were not home, I was more confused and started running up and down our Estate at Phase 1, Gwagwalada Abuja FCT and somewhere around our estate I sited a white bus carrying the children?s bicycles. I later learnt that it was Mrs. Treasure Samuel Afolayan, Wife of a Former Chief of Naval Staff who came to my children?s school with armed Naval Officers to whisk my children away.
In tears, she explained further that ?My husband had worked for Mrs. Treasure Samuel Afolayan before but he left them three (3) years ago after my family had a deadly motor accident on 17th March 2007 , where he sustained compound fracture and even lost his left elbow and my son Favour?s face was badly battered by glasses that we had to take him for plastic surgery. She abandoned us to our fate and my husband had to sell the house he just built then, to afford money for surgery on his badly fractured left hand. My husband still has about fifteen (15) iron screws in his left hand up till today and my son?s face, where surgeons removed glasses from 3 months, 6months and even 1 year after the accident is still there as prove of man?s inhumanity to man.
To her chagrin, according to Mrs. Paulynn Midalah, ?When I saw them, I confronted them that what is the problem? They said I need to go with them to the Gwagwalada Police Station which I did. On arrival at the Police Station, Mrs. Treasure Samuel Afolayan started making some allegations against me and my husband and asked the Police to lock me and my children up and never to release me until my husband surfaces, that she has an unsettled issue with my husband.
Mrs. Treasure Samuel Afolayan, in her bid to oppress the innocent woman and her young children and as wife of former Chief of Naval Staff however ensured that they were unlawfully detained by the police.
?I told her that I didn?t work with her so what is my offence? She couldn?t answer me but kept raining abuses on me and said that I must sleep there at the Police Station. I and my children aged seven and nine years eventually slept at the Gwagwalada Police Station in their school Uniforms.
Narrating her traumatic experience, Mrs. Paulynn Midalah said ?The following morning my family friends and well wishers prevailed on the Police to release the children that it was unlawful for them to have allowed innocent children to sleep at the Police Station in their School Uniform for something they didn?t know anything about. Even before my children could be released, the Inspector Crime at Gwagwalada Police Station had to call Mrs. Treasure Samuel Afolayan to obtain her permission.
?Soon after my children were released I was returned to the cell and all attempts by our family friends and well wishers including that of a Lawyer to bail me proved abortive as the police vehemently refused to grant me bail saying I must get clearance from Mrs. Treasure Samuel Afolayan or my husband comes. I told them that my husband was out of town on a business trip but they would not listen.
Revealing more of her ordeals in the hands of the Nigeria police, she said ?In the police cell I was subjected to the most dehumanizing experience in my life as I had to lay down on bare floor that has been contaminated with urine and human excrement, with maggots scattered all over the room. I spent three days at Gwagwalada Police Station, that is 28th, 29th and 30th April, 2010 .
?By afternoon on Friday, 30th April, 2010 the Inspector Crime at Gwagwalada Police Station instructed a junior police officer to bring me from the cell and when I was brought out he said that Mrs. Treasure Samuel Afolayan wanted to speak with me and he handed his mobile phone over to me.
?Mrs. Treasure Samuel Afolayan then said since I have refused to tell them the whereabouts of my husband she has instructed the Police to transfer my case to Kuje where I would be jailed. Not too long after we spoke, the Police at Gwagwalada Police Station made arrangements and I was taken to Kuje Police Station where I was also put into a cell where my experience with urine, excrement, maggots and mosquitoes continued for another four (4) days.
?Again here at Kuje Police Station all attempts to bail me by my family members, friends and the Lawyer was denied because according to the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) Kuje Police Station the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) was not around and also that Mrs. Treasure Samuel Afolayan has not given them go ahead to release me.
Lamenting, she added that ?It was not until the fifth day when my family members threatened to bring my children back to the Police Station so that all of us can remain there that the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) Kuje Police Station agreed that my family should bring someone with landed property at Kuje to bail me. When my family eventually brought someone with landed property, the old story of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and Mrs. Treasure Samuel Afolayan are unreachable at the moment please try later, continued.
?On Tuesday 4th May, 2010 , my brother came to the Police Station and told me that they had contacted Journalists who are ready to publish the story and already Mrs. Treasure Samuel Afolayan was being contacted by the Journalists to hear her own side of the story. Soon afterwards, the Inspector Crime from Gwagwalada Police Station came to Kuje Police Station and my brother later informed me that surprisingly the man who strongly opposed that I be released on bail at Gwagwalada Police Station is now canvassing that I be released because Mrs. Treasure Samuel Afolayan had communicated to them that she got a call from a Journalist who wanted to hear her story before publication and that I should be released to avert the Newspaper publication.
According to her, ?the Lawyer was with the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) Kuje Police Station prevailing on him to either take the matter to Court or release me. I was later briefed by the Lawyer that the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) Kuje Police Station said they don?t think Mrs. Treasure Samuel Afolayan is interested in taking the matter to Court and therefore I was released and asked to come with my husband in a week?s time.
?I spent a total of seven (7) days in Police custody between Gwagwalada and Kuje from 28th April, 2010 to 4th May, 2010 . But my family is crying foul to the entire country to come to our aid by telling Mrs. Treasure Samuel Afolayan to leave us alone. Enough is enough! We have been pushed to the wall; enough of her torment over the years.
Mrs. Treasure Samuel Afolayan?s past deeds
As if these acts being perpetrated by Mrs. Treasure Samuel Afolayan and wife of the highly placed ex-Naval boss forms part of her traits, Mrs. Paulynn Midalah recalls that ?In the same manner two years ago she used Naval Ratings and abducted two of my husband?s younger brothers, beat them mercilessly and took them to her house at Maitama Abuja where she kept them in custody in her house for over one week; eventually we were contacted on phone because at that time my family was in Enugu where I was attending to both my husband and my son who had undergone an orthopedic and plastic surgeries respectively.
?At that time she said my husband was in custody of a Gwagwalada Land document which she gave to him for the purpose of verification at Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS) and that once the paper is returned to her that would be okay. She spoke to my husband and I on phone and my husband got in touch with a man of God named Pastor Rabinson and in company of one of our family friend who is an Army Officer, Mr. Ayuba they retrieved the document from AGIS and took it to her. We later reconciled and she apologized and begged that we must not let her husband know of this matter. Since then, we have been on our own until this time when the devil just reminded Mrs. Treasure Samuel Afolayan about us again.
?It is obvious now that there is a threat to my life and that of members of my family; and just incase anything happens to any member of my family, Mrs. Treasure Samuel Afolayan should be held responsible. If she has any case against us, this is a democracy and not a military regime. Let her stop using military personnel to harass a civilian and his innocent wife and children. If she has any case against us why not take the case to a law court for the judge to decide who is guilty and who pays what and how much.
Last word
Following the seemingly unending torment in the hands of Mrs. Treasure Samuel Afolayan, Mrs. Paulynn Midalah has appealed to human rights agencies to step into the unwholesome treatment meted to her and her family.
?I hereby appeal to all human right agencies to come to the aid of my family and stop this injustice against us where some ?animals? are more equal than others; where a woman would use her husband?s position as a Former Chief of the Naval Staff to abduct people?s children from school and use money and influence to deny me bail from Police custody for seven (7) days even when I am innocent of any offence?, she begged.
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