A 54-year-old Nigerian woman, Alake Latoyosi, has delivered 11 babies in Cotonou, Benin Republic after carrying the pregnancy for over 3 years.
According to the woman’s husband, Yahaya Nafiu, the first set of six arrived on August 7, while the second arrived seven days later, on August 14, 2024.
Nafiu said the babies were eight boys and three girls but two of the girls died during delivery.
The 56-year-old husband disclosed that the pregnancy of the children lasted over three years before delivery.
According to Nafiu, medical doctors were not able to carry out successful operations on his wife as they could not ascertain her pregnancy position.
While testifying to God’s miracle in the way the children were delivered on two different occasions by birth attendants, 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,” the 56-year-old husband said.
History repeating itself in Ilorin
Speaking on the development, the national president of IEDPU, Abdulmumini Abdulmalik, said history has repeated itself.
Abdulmalik, who confirmed that Nafiu hails from Onikeke Compound in the Popo Giwa area of Ilorin, recalled a similar incident that happened in Kwara shortly after the end of World War 1.
“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),” the IEDPU leader said.
He stated that the location of the first recorded case became loosely known as Ita Goma, the arena of decuplets, expressing his delight that an Ilorin indigene in the diaspora was again blessed with decuplets.
“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.
Abdulmalik appealed to the government and the people of Ilorin Emirate to extend financial support to Nafiu to enable him to care for the newborns and their mother.