You must believe me when I say I am a good person. As you see me so l, I have no bad mind against anybody.
The area in Akoka where my shop is located is full of students; university o, college of education o, even secondary schools, students are the majority of customers we have because that is their area, you get me?
And we too that have businesses there are very familiar with student wahala. They come to my chemist for all kinds of things; so I am always prepared, are you getting me?
So, like I said, many of these small, small girls are very careless; some of them just have open leg anyhow, and when you have open leg anyhow, you get pregnant anyhow. I think you get me?
So, as a chemist, I stock up on things like medicine for prevention of carry belle, I mean pregnancy; as a woman, you know the type of drugs that I am talking about, you get?
So, I was in my shop one day, when this girl came to ask me for Postinor 2. Immediately I see her, I don see say she don already carry belle. But she was asking for Postinor 2. I looked at her, I said, ‘You dis girl, are you already pregnant?’ She said no, that she just wants to take it in case.
I am a professional, I know when a girl is pregnant. So I said, ‘Ok, as I am not your father or brother, what is my own?’ I sold her the medicine. Is that not what I came to do in Lagos or did I come to count bridge?
Then two days later, the same girl came to the chemist with her friend; they said they need my help. I said what do you want to buy? They said I should help them. That the pregnancy did not come down.
Oho! No bi you talk say you no dey pregnant days back? Did I not ask you? But I kept quiet, I just said, ‘Help with what, na?’
They said they want to remove the pregnancy, that some boys raped her in the campus and that she was now pregnant. They begged that her mother and father will kill her because nobody will believe that she was raped.
The girl was just crying. She said the boys are cult boys that they raped her by the lagoon one night like that.
Her friend too was crying and they were begging me; oga please help us. Let her be able to complete her education at school because pregnancy will spoil all the wahala her parents have been going through.
Ok, first of all, who told you I can help you? They said I should not worry that they know I have helped so many girls before.
Let me tell you the truth, this one, I did not believe her at all. These girls are fire; they can handle five men at once! If you know these people, these students I mean. They are very careless people. But I looked at her and I know that me too, I have nieces that are her age. I did not ask for her age; I just know she will be around 19 or las las 20 years. She was a small girl.
So I said, ok, I will help you but you must pay because the things I will use, I will need to go and purchase them. So I charged her N68,000!
I told her that I don’t want trouble, that she should come back in two days if she really want to do this abortion because some girls, after we have got everything ready, they lie down, they will start shaking and tell you they are not doing again, they will start making trouble that they want to collect their money back, you get me?
So I always tell them that they should go home and think about it well, if they really want to do the abortion, come back in two days’ time.
Ok, so this girl came back. She came back with her friend and they brought the money.
Why did I charge like that? Aunty that is the going price for these things. I have to buy drugs that will help her stop the bleeding and flush her later after we do the operation. These things are not cheap. And I have to get another guy that works at the lab to help me, him sef will collect his own from the money, so the money is not for only me, are you getting me?
That day of the operation, there was no problem at all. We did the removal and we sent her back to her campus with her friend. I gave her the drugs she would use and everything was ok because again, yes I know that this thing is illegal but I was helping these girls so that pregnancy will not useless their lives and I have been doing this thing for long, she is not the first girl.
I was in my chemist jeje when police came, maybe like one week after the operation, they said I killed somebody. I said who?
They said, ‘Alice Nwaoma.’
I said, ‘I don’t know any Alice and I am not a killer.’ Then they just rough handle me, that I should come to the station, that I will explain myself.
My sister, up till that time, I thought they were making a mistake o. It was at the station, I saw the friend of the girl we did operation for. Then I knew I was in serious trouble. They said the girl bled to death because of the abortion I did for her.
See me see wahala, o. Na help I wan help o. See me see trouble!