In this interview with the suspect’s cook,Victoria, she speaks about how she met him and what she saw on the day Joy died
What is your name?
My name is Victoria.
Where are you from?
I am Gbagyi, from the Federal Capital Territory.
How old are you?
I am 19 years old.
Where and how did you meet the Alhaji?
I used to sell roasted corn at the Nigerian Turkish Hospital and the Alhaji used to buy corn from me. He was among the regular customers that bought roast corn from me.
How many times did he buy corn from you?
He bought several times, so mant times that I cannot count and there were many of them like that who were my customers.
How long ago?
That was last year.
How did you become his cook?
On one of the days that he came to buy roasted corn from me, he told me that he was looking for a girl to employ as cook and asked if I could cook, tuwo, rice, stew and all of that, and I said yes I could cook all that. I remember that was on Friday, in October. Then the next day, being Saturday, he came and took me to the house at Karmo to show me the place and asked me to start work on Monday.
Did you tell your parents about the Alhaji’s offer?
Yes, I did, because I lived with my parents and my mother even knew the house because I took her there to see my place of work. I also took my sister there so that if anything happened they would know where to find me.
How much did he agree to pay you as salary?
He agreed to pay N15,000.
It was on Saturday that he took me to the house and agreed that I should resume work on Monday, but when we got there, he said I should resume immediately. That was October 8, I remember now, and that was how I started working with him,
On the first day that I resumed, I saw two girls there, Martha and Gift, who he introduced to me as a nurse, and there was one other girl that I don’t know her name. That was how I started working and I saw different girls come and go.
I worked there till December. One day, when I was in the kitchen cooking, my eyes just started turning me, I was feeling dizzy. I fell down and lay on the floor. When I regained a little strength, I called the Alhaji to tell him what was happening to me that I was not feeling well that I wanted to go home.
But he said I should wait for him to come back so he could take me to hospital to know if I had any sickness. I waited until 8pm, but he did not show up. By 9pm, as I wanted to go outside, I saw him coming inside and he asked me where I was going; I told him I had been waiting for him to come so I could go home since I did not see him and that I was not feeling well.
He said okay, we should go to the hospital. We went with Joy. That is, the three of us went to the hospital.
It was Joy that helped me to fill the form at the hospital. After filling the form, they checked me.
They asked me what was wrong with me and the Alhaji answered that it was generator smoke that was disturbing me. But when they checked me, they said I was not affected by any generator smoke that I just needed rest and they checked me and gave me malaria drugs.
Which hospital did he take you to?
He took me to the Federal Staff Hospital. When we finished at the hospital, it was very late so we went back home and Alhaji now said I should sleep over, because I don’t usually sleep at the house, I only come to cook and go back home. But because it was late, he asked me to sleep over and I did. That was how I saw where the other nurse was lying down.
Did the nurse live with him?
Yes, she used to stay there sometime and she used to go sometimes, but she was always there.
So I now lay down and I did not even know the time that Joy came into the room. it was when I wanted to go and ease myself in the night that I saw that Joy was lying down by my side.
When it was morning, I could not get up. I was hearing the voices of people but I could not stand. I heard the DPO talking with Alhaji, Gift and the nurse. They were telling me to stand up, but I told them I could not stand, so they rushed me to the hospital and they gave me drip. When I regained some strength, they told me that Joy was dead and I asked, how manage? Even the doctor was shocked. I was shocked, I was confused. I asked, how come? And that nurse came and just told me that Joy was dead.
When they finished treating me, they discharged me but we had to stay back to wait for Alhaji to come and pay the bills, but he did not come until 6pm. He paid the bills and went back to the house.
How did it happen?
I was just in the kitchen cooking and I became dizzy; the place was very hot, and I just fell down.
Was there no window in the kitchen?
There was a window and the kitchen was (ventillated). I don’t really know what happened. But I remember that I was taking one drug because I had urinary tract infection and itching on my private part so I went to tell the nurse.
What was the name of the nurse?
Gift.
Where was she working
I did not know, but she said that she was a nurse. She gave me one injection on Tuesday, and it would be one week later that I started feeling dizzy; she wanted to give me another one but I refused, that I was feeing dizzy and I didn’t know if I would survive if she gave me another one and that was how they took me to the hospital.
After that I went to (my family’s) house and Alhaji called to tell me that they had already buried Joy and gave the mother N200,000, and that the case was over that he also gave the DPO N1 million; he was just saying things that I was not supposed to hear, and cut the call.
He later called me to ask me how was my body, and I told him fine. After one week, he called again and said I should cone to Karmo police station and write a statement there, and I went. When I got there, I explained to them what happened to me that day, and Alhaji was telling me that if anybody comes to ask me whether it was generator smoke that affected me, I should say yes. He also said if they ask me who locked the place where we kept the generator, I should tell them it was one of the neighbours living upstairs. But I now said, how can I lie about somebody that I don’t know and I have not seen? At that point, he beat me on my back and said “kai wawuya ne,” meaning in Hausa, I am a foolish person, I did not know what I was doing.
While I was still at the police station, they pushed me out and that was how I went back home.
But I remember that there used to be one baba that came to visit the Alhaji and he would write something on a piece of paper and he would hold it like this and then Alhaji would ask him whether they should bring money and the baba would say “atabas za kawo,” that is, they would bring it. Because nobody understood Hausa in that house, except me.
What kind of people came to visit the Alhaji ?
Many people used to come to Alhaji’s house. Many girls and even married people used to come there. He used to give them money
Sometimes he would sleep with them and give them money and they would go.
Did police come to visit Alhaji?
Yes they used to come and visit him.
Do you know any of the police people that came to Alhaji?
Yes.