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For 40-year-old business woman, Mercy Ugba, from the Logo Local Government Area of Benue State, COVID-19 is not just a deadly virus but a home breaker.
In the middle of the virus’ rage across the world, Mrs Ugba travelled to Dubai on one of her business trips and got stranded on account of the restrictions on movement imposed by the government of the United Arab Emirates.
Her husband and housemaid, however, had grown to like each other while she was in Dubai longing wistfully for her return to Nigeria.
By the time she got out of Dubai and landed in Nigeria, her housemaid had taken over her home with her husband as the prize.
According to Mrs Ugba, she and her husband met as undergraduates at the Benue State University, Makurdi.
After graduation, she said, they both joined the United Bank for Africa (UBA), where they worked in the marketing department but left after three years to start a business of their own.
They, however, had to wait 12 years in marriage before they birthed their first child, a baby girl.
She said, “We pulled our resources together and I started the business of selling high quality wrappers to politicians, business executives, bankers as well as civil servants.
“After some time, I started going to Dubai to buy expensive and quality materials
“I then told my husband, who had also left the banking job that why didn’t we use the proceeds of our business to buy a plot of land in Lafia (Nasarawa State capital) and build a house, because we were looking at settling in Lafia due to the fact that cost of living is low there.
“He bought into the idea and we were able to get a land for N1 million. I started sending money into his account for the building while I concentrated on running the business.
“You see, I got married to Paul because I was under pressure from my parents and friends who had gotten married early. And when I met him in school, he seemed to me as a gentle and good man. He was meek, intelligent and caring, so I was intrigued by his ingenuity.
“If we had dated for long, I would probably have discovered some of the traits he is exhibiting now.
“We had gotten married before I realised that he is such a man that would sleep with anything in skirt. He has neither class nor taste. He toasts women anyhow.
“But in spite of all this, I knew that pulling out of the marriage was not the best option.”
So, Mercy endured life with Paul and providence smiled on her and the business began to flourish. But she realised that she needed a house help to sustain the running up and down for the business to keep moving.
“Dorcas completed her secondary education while she was with us in Abuja, Gwagwalada to be precise,” Mercy said.
“I am not always around due to the nature of the business that I do, sending money into his account for the building project in Lafia.
“So when in April 2020 the schools were shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he suggested that our little daughter, who is about six years old, should travel with him alongside Dorcas to Lafia just for them to change environment for the holiday and also use the time to supervise the building project, a three-bedroom flat and three-room boys quarters..
“It never occurred to me that he could descend so low to lure Dorcas to bed, but that was exactly what happened.
“Between April and early September 2021 when they were in Lafia, I was in Dubai on a business trip and the COVID-19 pandemic trapped me there. With heavy restrictions on movement during this period, my husband turned our housegirl into his housewife, having sex with her at will until she became pregnant.
“So when I returned and met Dorcas heavily pregnant, and she narrated to me what happened in Lafia and my husband got to know about it, that was the end of our happiness and that of her daughter.
“Any small thing, this man would beat me black and blue. He became so aggressive and threatened to stop the business I was doing. He said it is the money I’m getting that is making me to look down on him.
“He has made a lot of efforts to stop the business but I resisted. Even when Dorcas told me she was pregnant for him, I asked him in the night and in a polite manner as my husband.
“Unknown to me, there was more trouble ahead. It is a miracle that I am alive today.
“During my last trip to Dubai, I paid about N3 million into his account to furnish the house and fence it round, but he never used the money. He started beating me, hitting my head against the wall and punching my breasts just because I asked a simple question.
“He would say the rate at which money was coming in was making him to suspect that I was into prostitution and it was getting into my head and he needed to stop me.
“While this was going on, I travelled to Lagos on a business trip. He picked Dorcas and dropped our daughter with a neighbour on the day I told him I was coming back.
“He went to Lafia with Dorcas and are right now leaving as husband and wife. When I called him on the phone, he told me to go about my own prostitution as he had settled down with Dorcas who was pregnant for him.
“It is about four months now and he has never picked my calls.”
Asked what she intended to do next, Mercy said: “I have reported the matter to my parents and his own parents, but both of them asked me to keep calm and stop calling him.
“But his attitude is strange to them. We should all be patient to see what he wants to do.
“I have accepted my fate and I am waiting to see what he intends to do with my younger sister who is pregnant for him.
“They may be enjoying themselves with my own hard earned money.”
Dorcas, the housemaid, now baby mama for Mrs Ugba’s husband, was recently delivered of a baby boy in Lafia.
