54-year-old woman delivers 11 babies, husband cries for help

A Nigerian man has sent home a passionate appeal for financial support after his wife was delivered of 11 babies in Cotonou, Benin Republic.

Yahaya Nafiu, 56, is seeking help to support his family’s care for the babies and their mother.

Mr Nafiu, the Missioner of Ilorin Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU) in Port Novo, Ajasse, and Cotonou in the neighbouring West African country, said his 54-year-old wife, Alake Latoyosi, delivered the babies in two batches. The first set of six arrived on 7 August, while the second arrived seven days later, on 14 August.

According to the father, a birth attendant took delivery of the babies on the two occasions.

The babies consisted of eight males and three females, but two of the girls died during delivery.

Mr Nafiu said the remaining nine are hale and hearty. However, he said he struggled to meet the huge financial cost of caring for them and their mother.

“A few days after the delivery of the first set of children, my wife said she felt strange movements in her stomach. After a scan was carried out at the hospital, the doctor revealed that she was carrying another set of children, which led them to contact the initial birth attendant, and the next set of five babies was delivered”, Mr Nafiu said.

According to him, the pregnancy lasted over three years before the delivery.

He said the hospital could not ascertain the pregnancy position of his wife, resulting in the doctors being unable to carry out a Caesarian operation. The cleric attributed the experience to an evil spiritual influence on the doctors.

Mr Nafiu said he had many children before the arrival of the decuplets, while his wife also had children from her previous marriage.

IEDPU seeks help for decuplets

Speaking on the development, Abdulmumini Abdulmalik, the national president of IEDPU, said Mr Nafiu hails from Onikeke Compound in the Popo Giwa area of Ilorin.

“History is repeating itself in Ilorin. A few years after the end of World War 1, about a century ago, history was made in Ilorin when a woman gave birth to decuplets (10 babies at a single birth),” Mr Abdulmalik said.

The IEDPU leader said the location of the first recorded case became loosely known as Ita Goma, the arena of decuplets.

He expressed delight that an Ilorin indigene in the diaspora was again blessed with decuplets.

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“While welcoming the decuplets and congratulating the parents on this uncommon blessing, we rejoice with Mai Martaba, the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji (Dr) Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, during whose reign this glorious history of an Ilorin indigene having decuplets repeating self”, he added.

Mr Abdulmalik appealed to the government and individuals in the Ilorin Emirate to support Mr Nafiu financially so that he could care for the newborns and their mother.