By Emmanuel Afolabi
Several housemaids employed to assist with household chores have increasingly posed significant risks to their employers. Reports of maids physically and sexually abusing children, poisoning, and even murdering their employers have become alarmingly common. GODFREY GEORGE investigates this troubling trend, uncovering the underlying causes and the impact on families.
Why would you urinate in my teacup? Is there no toilet in your room? Why are you this wicked?” thundered Aisha’s madam, her voice quivering with anger and disbelief.
The scene, captured in a viral video that trended on July 7, 2024, showed a woman in Abuja confronting her young housemaid after discovering the shocking act.
The maid, a girl in her teens, had been caught on CCTV urinating into her madam’s teacup.
After performing the disgusting act, she nonchalantly poured the contents into the kitchen sink and placed the mug back on the rack.
The CCTV footage didn’t end there. On another occasion, the maid was seen sneaking into the kitchen, stuffing various food items—milk, salt, rice, spaghetti, and more—into a black bag, which she then hid under a table.
The video further revealed her opening the fridge, using her bare hands to eat stored food directly from the plates, and then returning the remnants to the fridge.
After each act, she would wipe her hands on her dress and proceed with her duties as if nothing had happened.
When confronted by her madam, the maid broke down in tears, pleading desperately for forgiveness.
“Please, forgive me. I beg you in Allah’s name. I won’t do it again. Please, forgive me,” she sobbed, her voice trembling.
The madam, her patience and trust shattered, remained resolute.
“You will be taken to the police station,” she declared, her voice firm despite the emotional turmoil evident on her face.
The incident, highlighted by the raw footage and the emotional confrontation, underscores the complex dynamics and the breach of trust that can occur between employers and their domestic staff.
Reacting to the video, a Nairaland user, Point Zerom, said, “The worst people to keep in your home are strangers called maids.
“You can never satisfy them, even if you punish her together with your own children, she’ll view her punishment as hatred and wickedness towards her.
“The moment you finally send her home, you’ll be shocked at what she’ll tell people that you did to her, including raping or trying to rape her.”
Another user, Omo Awoke, said it did not seem like the maid in the video meant any harm.
“She is just lazy and dirty. She used the mug to urinate, emptied it in the sink, and washed it. But seriously, some people in third-world countries are a disaster to humanity.
“Humanity does not deserve poverty, as poverty causes oppression and human rights to be trampled upon. I imagine who you would be in the United States/United Kingdom/Canada to hire a full-time housemaid.
“If you can afford one, she will be well-paid and will know her rights. You can’t oppress anybody cheaply like that, no matter who you are.
“She’s your staff, and if she does something wrong, the best thing to do is to call the police to settle the matter, not harass her. I hope Africa will work someday and poverty and illiteracy will end.”
Another user, Elevation D, speaking, noted that the young maid was lazy and dirty.
“That was an act of laziness or dirtiness. If that was her own mug, would she urinate in it, wash it, and keep it as if nothing was wrong? Why not take her bath in the kitchen or poop inside the mug?
“She definitely knew what she was doing and thought she could get away with that irresponsible act. Thank God for CCTV. It has saved many families from the evil intentions of too many so-called housemaids. I do not understand the Hausa language, but the image was enough to form my opinion that the girl was purely wicked with such an act.
“Did you not notice that the cup was not washed with soap? She simply rinsed it with water and placed it on the table. She deserved to be first beaten and then returned to wherever she was brought from.”
He further wrote, “It’s a global issue, and families must remain vigilant. What started as urinating in a cup could have escalated to something far worse. John believed that people must pray to avoid accommodating such evil-minded individuals in their homes. Families must be cautious, aware, and proactive in protecting their loved ones from potential harm.”
In recent times, the role of housemaids in Nigerian homes has come under intense scrutiny due.
Reports of maids physically and sexually abusing children, poisoning, and even murdering their employers have become disturbingly frequent.
This trend has not only instilled fear among families but also highlighted the critical need for stringent vetting and monitoring of domestic workers.
The headlines paint a grim picture: housemaids trusted to care for children and manage household chores have been implicated in heinous acts. These incidents reveal a dark side of domestic work that has long been overlooked.
The stories often begin with a desperate need for help. Families, burdened by work and other commitments, seek domestic workers to ease their load.
However, beneath the surface of this seemingly simple arrangement lies a complex web of deceit and danger. Maids, some with hidden grudges or sinister motives, infiltrate homes under the guise of assistance.
The twists in these tales often involve a sudden change in the maid’s behaviour, leading to catastrophic consequences.
No one believed that 22-year-old Odiong Emmanuel was capable of theft.
He had been living with the Attonis since he was 16. He was originally employed to work as a fuel attendant at a fuel stand in the Bonny Island Local Government Area of Rivers State.
His family had come to drop him off with Mr Fidelis Attoni and his wife, Comfort, to ‘assist with housework’.
“We saw how things were going and decided that we should let him work as the chief attendant in my husband’s fuel stand. He was living with us. We gave him an en suite apartment in our home, but he eats from my kitchen.
“We placed him on a salary of N30, 000 and we still provided clothes for him and also sent money to his parents. What we never knew was that he was stealing from us,” Comfort told our correspondent.
A few years down the line, Mrs Comfort said she noticed that Odiong was becoming too defensive and didn’t want anyone to get into his room.
“We would ask him to wash the cars, but he wouldn’t do it. He started bringing women to our home and it was becoming really uncomfortable for my kids and me. I told my husband who was always away but he said I was overreacting. So, I let it be.
“In 2018, this boy brought a new phone to the living room to charge. We asked him who owned it; he said it was one of his friends who gave it to him. After our investigation, we found out the phone belonged to him. We dug further and found out he had rented a house in the area and had fully furnished the place with a TV, an air conditioner and a full sofa set. He also lodged two girls from the neighbourhood there. One was already pregnant for him as I learnt. Her mother had been searching for her for weeks not knowing she had gone to live with him in his new location.
“I didn’t know how to approach the matter. I just called my husband and told him. I also asked that he audited his account. What we found out will shock you. This guy used to make a daily contribution of N2000 in three places.
“His account statement showed he always sent N50,000 every week to a particular account number, believed to be that of a family member of his. This guy has been stealing from my husband and has started a building in his village. I cannot even believe it,” she said.
The woman said when Odiong was confronted; he first lied about it and was acting like the victim until her husband involved the police.
“The auditor we hired had given us all the documents that showed the wreckage he had done for more than the four years or so he lived with us.
“This boy just wanted to ruin my husband’s business. He would make N500,000 and he would write N50,000. The guy was a clear thief.
“My husband would be lamenting that the business was not making any profit and we were losing money every time. We never knew this boy was stealing from us daily and enriching himself,” she said.
“We involved the police who began an investigation, and the things we found out were heartbreaking. After some time, my husband said we should withdraw the case. We did and we called his people and sent him back to them.
“To date, I have not been able to get over it. My family decided that whoever was coming to work for us would stay in their own homes and come from there and we wouldn’t have any affiliation with them other than paying them their salaries.”
When our correspondent reached out to Odiong on Wednesday, he said he did not steal anything from the Attonis.
“Don’t listen to them. I didn’t steal from them. They expected me to look tattered because I was working for them. They are lying against me. They thought if they sacked me, I would be homeless. I am not homeless. I am fine and I will rise again,” he said.
Asked if he was into any daily saving scheme, he said, “That one is not their business. Bros, I didn’t do anything to those people. They were accusing me of sleeping with their daughter. I did not touch that girl.”
Our correspondent reached out to the Attonis to share Odiong’s reaction, stressing the issue of sexual intercourse with their daughter.
Mrs Attoni, responding angrily, said, “That boy wants us to send him to prison. If he dares us, we will send him to prison.”
Mrs Comfort said her husband enrolled Odiong in a sandwich programme with a college of education based in Enugu that ran a satellite programme in the area and was footing the bills.
According to her, he was in his third year, studying social studies education.
“We celebrate his birthday. We give him money for Christmas and send food and money to his family every month together with the salary we pay him. He enters my kitchen and dishes his own meals. He cooks what he wants. He sleeps in my children’s rooms. I treat him as my own son. How can he be that wicked to us?” she queried.
On Thursday, Odiong called back and asked this reporter to help beg the Attonis for forgiveness, saying that he did not do it all alone.
He mentioned some names which have been shared with the Attonis who have promised to take the matter up with the police and their lawyers.
In 2016, Mr Suliyat Azeez, a resident of Okokomaiko, Lagos, hired Grace as a home-help to assist with household chores and look after her two young children, six-year-old Kafaya and four-year-old Farouk.
Grace, who had recently started working for the Azeezs, perpetrated the abduction barely 24 hours into her employment.
The abduction unfolded when Grace, seemingly under the guise of buying food for the children, took Kafaya and Farouk out of the home of the Azeezs and did not return.
Upon discovering that her children were missing, Mrs Azeez promptly reported the incident to the police, triggering an immediate search and investigation.
The case quickly garnered significant public and media attention due to its shocking nature and the vulnerability of the abducted children.
It raised concerns and questions about Grace’s intentions and background, as well as the risks associated with employing domestic staff without thorough background checks or safeguards.
Law enforcement agencies, including the Nigerian Police Force, launched a widespread search operation to locate Grace and safely recover Kafaya and Farouk.
Details regarding the eventual recovery of Kafaya and Farouk or the apprehension of Grace are not extensively documented in public records. However, the Nigeria Police found the children and arrested the perpetrator who said she was going to sell the children for a fee.
In the same year, there was another unsettling case – Asmau’s. Asmau, a housemaid, exploited the trust of her employer, Hawau, to kidnap her two children, six-year-old Amina and seven-year-old Rukayya, from Ogun State and subjected them to a life of begging in Lagos.
Hawau had employed Asmau to help with household chores and care for her children, Amina and Rukayya.
Trusting her housemaid, Hawau sent the children with Asmau to their grandparents in Lagos, believing they would be safe and cared for.
However, Asmau had different intentions. Instead of taking the children to their grandparents, she took them to Lagos and used them to beg for alms on the streets.
The children, dressed in tattered clothes, were subjected to harsh conditions.
Asmau forced them to beg, and any resistance or display of emotion was met with beatings.
The young girls, Amina and Rukayya, endured unimaginable hardship as they navigated the dangerous streets of Lagos, far from the safety of their homes and the comfort of their families.
Hawau’s nightmare began when she learned that her children were not with their grandparents as expected.
Frantic and desperate, she reported the incident to the authorities, sparking a search for Asmau and the missing children.
The case drew significant attention, highlighting the perils faced by children who fall into the hands of unscrupulous individuals.