‘Househelp seduced my father, then he threw us out with our mother’

<p>Queen Effiong Ette hails from Cross River State. She’s a single mother of two, who has had it bitter in life from a very tender age. The 34-year-old looked exhausted, spent and sad when Saturday Tribune approached her for an interview. She sells hats and traditional coral beads under an umbrella at Ikpa Road, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.</p>, <p>In a shaky voice and with teary eyes, Queen told her life story, narrating how she was born with a silver spoon and how things went sour after her father “siezed by a strange spirit” and got hooked up to their househelp in a relationship.</p>, <p>“My name is Queen Effiong Ette. I’m 34 years old from Cross River State. My mum is from Akwa Ibom and my dad, from Calabar, Cross River State.</p>, <p>“My father is a medical doctor while my mother was a nurse when they met in India. My siblings and I were born in India before my parents decided to return to Nigeria.</p>, <p>“We were rich as I was born with a silver spoon, but along the line, the househelp we employed seduced my father which led to the destruction of my family,” she disclosed.</p>, <p>According to Queen, the unholy union left her mother devastated as she was sent out of her matrimonial home with her six children. Rather than fight back as some women would have done, her mom, thereafter, took the six of them and relocated to Uyo, Akwa Ibom, where she hailed from to start life afresh.</p>, <p>“My father and his housegirl, now-turned-wife, chased my mother and the six of us her children out of the house. My mother had to take responsibility in eking a living for us. We relocated to Uyo where we started suffering, but my mother did all she could to weather the storm.”</p>, <p>With the reversal of fortune and a once-bubbling family thrown into the cold, life and living became somewhat unbearable for her mother and her children. And in no time, her emotionally depressed mother died, leaving the children in graver danger of lack and vulnerability.</p>, <p>Queen said “mom saw me and my siblings through primary and secondary