Azania and wife
Fifty-seven-year-old journalist, James Azania, recounts the painful story of how his wife vanished with their four children without a trace, and his relentless efforts to reconnect with them
What do you do for a living?
I work as a journalist; I will be 57 years old on September 30th this year. I’m married to the woman who went away with the four children we had. I’m from Oro in Kwara State, but I was born and raised in Lagos State.
When did you marry her?
We got officially married in 2008. The woman I’m talking about is Igbo, and she will be 50 years old this year. Her name is Mrs Uchenna Azania. She is from Ehime Mbano in Imo State.
According to the Igbo tradition, marriage constitutes many things, including what they call Igbanku; that is, ‘palm wine carrying’. We got married at the registry in Ikoyi, Lagos. We did the ceremony in their house; that was in Ajegunle, Oko Babasule Street; even her father, who died that same year, was there. Her mother and all of them attended Saint Mary Catholic Church in Ajegunle.
When did you notice that your wife had left with the children?
By that time, I was working for a newspaper in Lokoja, Kogi State. As of December 2019, my house was in Meiran, somewhere around Anishere in Lagos. So, I had even sent money in December 2019 for preparations for Christmas. One of my sales executives in my office, Mr Gbenga, had already sent me a gift hamper, and I told him to take it to my house in Lagos.
When he took it to the house around December 22, that year, I found out that there was a delay. Probably she (my wife) had moved out at that time, but I didn’t know because we (my wife and I) were still communicating. I was still sending money for Christmas and New Year until January 4, 2020 when I decided to travel down to Lagos for the New Year.
When I was about to go in the morning, I called my then-landlord to say that I would be coming and that in case I arrived late, probably after escaping the traffic, which was always at Berger, he would open the gate for me, and the man agreed. I arrived in Lagos around a few minutes to 10 pm. When I honked, the man opened the gate after some time and said, ‘Mr James, your people had packed out.’ That was the shock I got.
How did you feel when you heard that?
I was shocked because I had no inkling that my wife would take my children and property away. She never gave me any sign that she would do what she did. I immediately called her mother on the phone and explained what happened to her, but she started talking, and after some time, she said, ‘Don’t worry’. She sounded as if she was crying. She said, ‘Don’t worry, I will call you back’, and I said, ‘Mummy, why would you call me back? I’m the one calling you.’
She was saying that the credit on my phone had finished. I said, ‘No, you don’t need to call me back. I’m the one calling you.’ That means it was all planned.
Are you saying you suspected foul play?
Of course, they must have engineered it. So, that night I did not have any other option but to remain calm as best as I could. I drove around and went to a hotel in our area and stayed there. I was in Lagos for the next 10 days, going about, including going to her mother’s church in Ajegunle, trying to see if they were there.
I met the priest. I was shocked by the way the Catholic mission handled everything in the first place. Then I went to the children’s school at Meiran to see if I could locate my children there, but you won’t believe that they frustrated things. So, I had to proceed to the Meiran Police Station the next day to report the matter.
The police then followed me to the house, and the landlord opened the place but not a single pin was left in the house. This was a woman I was speaking with as of December 22.
Was she aware that you were coming back home?
Of course, I often come back home for the holidays every Christmas.
Have you been in touch with her since you realised that she had moved out of the apartment?
I tried to contact her. When I disengaged with the newspaper I was working with in 2020, I decided to move back and arrange my things because I have a house around Badagry. They called the place Second MTN before Mowo. So, I decided to move down to Lagos fully to take charge of everything and pursue this matter.
What efforts did you make?
I went to a child welfare protection organisation. I also went as far as going to the Office of Public Defender in Lagos State. They prepared a letter and everything. When they asked for her address, I told them I didn’t know where she lived.
Although one of the people at the children’s school told me that she stayed somewhere in Agbele, close to Meiran, it was the woman who told me that she was now into driving a Korope (minibus). I was sad when I heard this because this is a woman, out of my legal resources, I bought her a car. At one time, I allowed them to use my SUV.
I remember she said if I thought I was going to see the children when they later grow up, I would be joking with myself. So, when I went to the OPD (the Office of Public Defender), they prepared letters to invite them, but I said I did not know her address, and I described the house where the mother was staying on Cardoso Street in Ajegunle.
How did you later find your wife?
Those first 10 days when I was in Lagos, I went to the Catholic Primary School where my children attended, but they didn’t allow me in, despite being the one paying the school fees. So, people were helping me to monitor her, and they showed her to me that day. Before I came out from the hotel, she had entered her bus and left.
