A 52-year-old palm wine tapper, Livinus Okwara, who resides at Ugwuakwu village in Umuchu, Aguata local government of Anambra State, is not a happy man at the moment as he has lost not just his wife, but also his five children to his best friend, Akwusi Aluwaogu, who allegedly snatched her and took away the children, claiming that he is their father.
Reports said that the marriage of the palm wine tapper, which produced the five kids, collapsed after his wife, Oluchi, and her children moved to Aluwaogu’s village in Akokwa town in Imo State, where she introduced the children to his family as his kids.
It was learnt that both Livinus and Aluwaogu were good friends for years before he married Oluchi, but unknown to Livinus, his friend was secretly dating his wife and, in the process, fathered the children he had all along thought were his.
But the truth dawned on him one day when he returned from work to meet an empty house, as his wife and children had vanished.
After a long search, he discovered that they had moved to his best friend’s hometown.
He was further shocked when his wife told him point blank that the children were not his, but Aluwaogu’s.
However, the relatives of the devastated man are insisting that even if Aluwaogu had fathered all the five children, they belong to Livinus because, going by their tradition, he was properly married to Oluchi by paying her bride price and performing the marriage rites.
Aluwaogu, however, stood his ground and went ahead by planning to give out the eldest daughter’s hand in marriage, an act that infuriated Livinus, who promptly reported the incident to the police at Umuchu Division.
The police arrested Aluwaogu and took him to the station where he was interrogated, and he confessed that he actually wanted to marry off the teenager. He said since they are living with him along with their mother, who actually knows the real father of those children, he had adopted them as his own children.
On the fate of his friend, Livinus, he said that he cannot force Oluchi to marry Livinus, and suggested that he should accept his fate and go and get himself another wife.
It was also learnt that the police intend to conduct an investigation and, if need be, conduct a DNA test to determine the real father of the children. (Leadership)