NIGERIA: FOR refusing to marry her late husband’s half-brother, a woman, Mrs. Mercy Orija, has run into trouble.

The half-brother, Chief Olatunji Adigun, was alleged to have threatened Mercy that he was ready to do anything to ensure he “inherit” her as part of his late brother’s inheritance in line with Yoruba tradition.

The threat over Mercy’s refusal to marry Adigun has forced her to go into hiding, when the Yoruba traditional chief threatened to kill her.

Mercy’s son, Olasunkanmi Orija, made these disclosures in an affidavit he sworn to at an Ikeja High Court, Lagos detailing the family’s suffering over his mother’s refusal to go into levirate marriage with his uncle.

“That Chief Olatunji Adigun, a half-brother to my late father, is my uncle who has indicated his interest to engage in levirate marriage with my mother,” Olasunkanmi said in an affidavit dated September 19, 2016.

According to the troubled Olasunkanmi, in the affidavit exclusively obtained by GatewayMail, his mother ran into hiding for her safety following the series of threats and attacks on her.

He alleged that the plan of his uncle was to marry his mother in order to inherit the properties, including buildings, left behind by his late father.

Olasunkanmi stressed further in the affidavit that due to his fleeing mum’s refusal “to agree to this Yoruba inheritance marriage, she (Mercy) has suffered series of persecutions in the hands of my uncle, Chief Olatunji Adigun.”

Not only that, Olasunkanmi explained that he and his elder sister had also suffered persecution over their mother’s ordeal.

“He had eventually confiscated all our father’s properties, even the house we were living in at Ijeja, he chased me out,” he said of his uncle in the affidavit, adding: “He said as my mother had run away with the documents to the properties, we will not have access to any.”

Olasunkanmi, who said he is presently squatting with a friend, added: “That on Friday, September 2, 2016, Chief Olatunji Adigun got angry, rained abuses and curses on my mother (in absentia) and threatened to deal with her anytime he sees her as my mum has become a stumbling block to his desire to legitimately inherit my father’s properties.”

“That I’m aware that due to this serious threat my mother ran into hiding for safety to avoid the wrath of my uncle, who daily continues to threaten and search for my mother,” a really worried Olasunkanmi said.

He further stressed: “And that her life is in danger up till now, thus the need for her to be in hiding.  That Chief Olatunji Adigun refused to give my mother peace of mind, and insisted on killing her.”

According to Olasunkanmi, his uncle’s belief is that Mercy is a risk to his inordinate desire to possess the properties left behind by his late father.