Mrs. Ayebaekipreye Ebinyefa, the mother of the conjoined twins separated during the 4 hours operation carried out on January 2, 2020 at the Federal Medical Centre, Adamawa arrived Saturday in Yenagoa, in the Bayelsa state capital, declaring that the successful separation of the conjoined twins has saved her from being ridiculed and tagged a witch by her people in Nembe area of the state.
Ebinyefa, who arrived the Bayelsa airport aboard a Nigerian Airforce plane, in company of her husband and the healthy looking children, said the successful surgery and survival of her twin will save her from ridicule and wickedness of being tagged a witch, “I am happy about the success of the operation. As you can see they are kicking and happy”.
She said while the operation lasted, she was scared and praying for its success. “Before we went for operation in Yola, I received insults and was tagged a witch. Some said the children came out conjoined because of my stubbornness and witch craft. While operation was going I prayed reverently because I cannot receive such wicked names and lose the children. I handed over the operation to God and it saved me the evil blushes among my people.”
“I had faith in God and told him to take control. I want to appreciate our benefactor, Gabriel Jonah. He was the God-sent used to save me from death. Because without his intervention during the birth of the babies, we would have been killed. He took us from Nembe down to Yenagoa and eventually connected everyone involved with this success. In the last eight months, he has fed us and taken care of us up till this moment.”
Commenting on drama at the Bayelsa airport, where the state Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo appeared with crowd of government officials to receive them, the father of the separated twins, Ayebaikemi Ralph, expressed shock at the action of the state government officials, insisting that officials of the state government had no hand in the operations that led to the survival of the twins, “I was shocked and surprised when I saw them at the airport to receive us.”
He explained that the welfare of his family and that of his separated twins was bankrolled by a chieftain of the All progressive Congress (APC) in the state, Chief Gabriel Jonah, ”after the birth of the conjoined twins on the 12th of December,2019, no one came to our rescue not even the state government. But Chief Jonah intervened and was ready to sponsor our medical trip abroad but the FMC Adamawa intervened and did a good job.
“We want to apologize to Chief Jonah over the open display by the state deputy governor and his team. My family and I would never forget all that Chief Jonah did for the survival of my twins. He saved us as a family.”
It would be recalled that Baby Grace and her sister, Mercy, were born conjoined on the 12th of December last year at Nembe General Hospital and the Siamese twins were flown to FMC, Yola, Adamawa state for surgery.
