Tongues are wagging in Bargu, a community in Awe Local Government Area, Nasarawa State over the confession of a 40-year-old housewife, Mrs Esther Jemkwe, who slept with her 23-year-old stepson because she was desperate to produce a child for her husband.

Esther said she hit on the idea of sleeping with the only child her husband, Audu Jemkwe, had from a failed marriage he had before they met because she realised that he became impotent a few weeks after they got married in 2022.

Our correspondent gathered that before 51-year-old Audu’s marriage to Esther in 2022, he had been involved 27 years earlier in another marriage that was blessed with a son named Theophilus before it collapsed and they parted ways. Theophilus, however, chose to stay with his father.

It was gathered that before his second marriage in 2022, Audu, a carpenter by profession, was sexually very active, which was one of the reasons he chose to remarry. Theophilus, on his part, was an automobile mechanic and, like his father, had no meaningful education.

Trouble began after Esther got married to Audu only to find that her once virile partner had lost his potency.

Recalling the shocking discovery, Esther said: “His manhood stopped functioning the moment I moved into his house. We did everything humanly possible to revive it but to no avail. I was worried, but I could not discuss it with anybody because it is embarrassing.”

Recalling the good memories of their earlier days together, she said: “We bonded together and were in love. He proposed marriage to me and we agreed to it. We planned towards a particular date.

“What attracted me to him was that he was very good in bed and he satisfied me sexually.

“Honestly, apart from his caring nature, his performance in bed was among the factors that attracted me to him.

“I am the only daughter of my parents, and they are no longer alive. They died during the farmers/herders crisis in Nasarawa.

“I had difficulty getting a husband while I needed to get married to have a rest of mind since we lived in a village where herders disturb often. But the people who kept coming were only interested in sleeping with me until Mr Audu Jemkwe, a carpenter, came with genuine intentions and we made it.

“So, moving into his house, my dream was to have children. Jemkwe (Audu) was sexually fit until we got married. But shortly after, his manhood started failing. I became worried because he became impotent.

“I endured this for over year and kept hoping that the problem would go away, but months passed and the situation did not improve. So I decided to inform his first son.”

From Esther’s discussion with Theophilus who practices his vehicle mechanic in Lafia while Esther was a trader, buying and selling goods between Awe and Lafia, the state capital, a relationship developed between the two.

Given the mutual feelings shared by the two, they did not see any reason why they could not engage each other instead of going outside, especially as Theophilus shares the same blood with her husband with whom she was now living like cat and dog after orthodox and traditional efforts made to fix his impotence failed.

The situation resulted in accusations and counter-accusations between the couple. Putting the blame on her husband, Esther said that while she was willing to approach a soothsayer to ascertain what was wrong with Audu, he on his part was not favourably disposed to the idea.

She believes that Audu knew the source of the problem but chose to hide it from her. But to be doubly sure that the problem did not lie with her, Esther decided to test her own virility by luring her husband’s son into a secret affair with a stem warning not to reveal it to anyone. Investigation revealed that their intimate affair lasted the entire Year 2025.

Each time Esther came down to Lafia for her business, she would pass a night at Theophilus’ place. The reason, she said, was to ascertain her ability to conceive a baby, because she needed a child badly and age was no longer on her side.

After frequent visits to Lafia, Esther eventually missed her period, signaling that she was pregnant. But when she broke the news to her husband, what ordinarily should be a piece of good news became a source of quarrel. Audu vehemently denied ownership of the pregnancy and also alleged foul play. He said since they got married, there had been no intercourse between them because his manhood had been down.

The angry husband, accusing Esther of infidelity, asked her to pack her things and move out of his house to live with the man responsible for her pregnancy.

Pressured by our correspondent, Esther eventually opened up to tell her own side of the story.

She said: “I am not a loose woman. I am just a woman who loves her husband very much and didn’t want to lose him. I did what I did to save my marriage even though I feel guilty about it.

“It was not easy, but I slept with his first son from his first wife so that I could give my husband a child. But rather than sustain my marriage, the plan has scattered it.

“I got married to my husband over four years ago. We had no child. The worst was that I never got pregnant even for one day, because we were not mating. He is impotent.

“When I realised that I was no longer getting younger, I was worried as much as he was. His relations became so impatient that they started breathing down my neck.

“They gave me no breathing space at all. They said I was cheating on their son and that I had no womb to bear a child. They did not know that their son was impotent.

“The mother decided to move in to live with us in Awe and practically made life in my matrimonial home unbearable for me.

“At a point, she stopped talking to me. The only time she would talk to me was when she wanted to insult me and remind me of how less a woman I was.

“I was confused. More so when my husband kept mute and refused further efforts to ascertain the source of the problem.

“But any time I was in Lafia with Theophilus, we used to have serious lovemaking sessions, especially during my ovulation period, all in a bid to get pregnant so that my mother-in-law would stop humiliating me.

“I was moved to continue my affair with Theophilus in Lafia because the insult from my mother-in-law was getting too much, too unbearable for me. She vowed to frustrate me out of her son’s home, not knowing their son was impotent.

“It is so agonising to say this. Instead of testing someone else to ascertain my fertility, I seduced and slept with his son. Theophilus is a young man in his early 20s.He had not started sleeping with women before I lured him into making love with me.

“I started by buying good things for him anytime I went to Lafia, sleeping with him on the same bed and playing with his manhood. Gradually, one thing led to another.

“There was a time I asked him if he had tested sex before and he said no. I wondered why a 23 years old boy had not known a woman. I compelled him to take an oath not to disclose it to anybody, and I said I would teach him.

“I ensured that I did that during my ovulation period. I never disclosed the reason for this, but deep in my mind, I wanted to test my fertility.

“I planned it during my ovulation. In fact, any time I was in my ovulation period, I ensured I visited him in Lafia where he works as a mechanic.

“I had the key to his room and most people thought I was his mother.

“I knew I was doing the wrong thing and betraying my husband, but I saw it as a necessary action to save my marriage.

“I didn’t want to go sleeping with another man outside. I knew it was wrong, so I preferred it from his son. After some months, I discovered that I was pregnant.”

Now that the deed had been done and her husband has sent her packing from their matrimonial home, she said she would do nothing else but try to reassemble the pieces of her broken life and move on.

She has since relocated to Lafia to continue with her business

Although she regrets her action, she said she had decided to keep the pregnancy “because it is blood within blood”.

I know who was responsible for my impotence — Husband

Lamenting the incident, Audu said: “I know where my problem came from. A man in my village whose wife I dated for years before I got married is behind my predicament.

“I was lucky that he allowed me to produce a child with my first wife. But he has vowed that I would not give birth.

“He got me through my old shoes. And when my manhood stopped functioning, I consulted a native doctor somewhere without my wife knowing. That was shortly after I got married.

“The native doctor told me everything, that the old man I was dating his wife in the village was the brains behind my sudden impotency. He advised me to go and beg the man. I did, but the man is yet to forgive me.

“At first, he denied responsibility but later accepted and told me he would look into it.

“I’m confused about my life. My dream of getting married to bear children that will add to Theophilus was aborted,

“I am the only male child of my parents and they are old. In fact, my father is not alive, though he warned me against my affairs with women before he died.

“Yes, I asked my wife to pack and leave my house. She has since moved to Lafia.

“People are telling me that since she did it with Theophilus who is my son, I should consider her decision and allow her.

“I’m still thinking about it.”

Contacted, Theophilus admitted having such an affair with his father’s wife. But he said “it is a family matter that will be settled with time”. (The Nation)

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