An elderly woman, Mrs. Florence Omotehinwa, has been accused of bundling her 40-year-old daughter, Mrs. Toyin Ndiomu, in a psychiatric hospital for attending “an unconventional” church.
According to Punch, the victim, who attends Jordan Ministries, Opebi, Lagos, was abducted on January 12, 2013, at 25 Joel Ogunnaike Street, while she was celebrating her 40th birthday.
A legal consultant with Project Alert on Violence Against Women, Mr. Benjamin Odeh, told our correspondent that the victim was a mother of two and had been separated from her husband because of domestic violence.
Odeh said on the day the victim was abducted, her mother stormed her party with naval operatives and policemen.
He said, “On that day, Mrs. Omotehinwa and Ndiomu’s estranged husband came with two women, naval personnel and two armed policemen. They seized the victim, pushed her into a vehicle and sped off.”
He said the victim was taken to Farri Psychiatric Hospital, where she was being kept incommunicado.
When Punch Metro visited the hospital located on Gbaja Street, Surulere, the matron denied our correspondent access to Ndiomu, saying that she had been given strict orders by her mother not to allow visitors to have access to her.
The matron, who did not identify herself, said, “This is not a conventional hospital, it is a hospital for patients with mental illnesses and as such we cannot allow just anybody to see her.
“Her mother said no one should be allowed to see her and we are standing by that instruction. We don’t know anything about abduction; our own responsibility is to treat patients.”
