My husband abandoned my daughters and I because we have blue eyes’

Mum of viral Kwara girl with blue eyes narrates ordeal

A woman whose husband abandoned her and their kids because they have blue eyes has publicly narrated her ordeal.

Risikat Azeez-Ayegbami, a student of the University of Osun, and a mother two girls who also share their mum’s rare attribute of blue eyes shared her ordeal after travelling to Ilorin for the recent Sallah festivities.

The story came to the limelight after she shared their photos on Facebook. Alabi Afusat explained that she met a family who is naturally blue-eyed and their eye colour made their father abandon them.

Risikat, from Kwara State, Nigeria, told the Punch newspaper that she was born with naturally blue eyes. She explained that after she was born, her parents took her to the General Hospital where a series of tests were done on her unusually coloured eyes but they were assured that her eyes are perfectly normal.

However, as she grew older, she explained, concerned people kept commenting on her eyes and advising her parents to take her for a medical checkup.

She added that the doctors gave her lots of gifts and told her that they love her eyes.
“I can see clearly and there’s nothing wrong with my eyes,” she said.

What Is the Origin of Black People With Blue Eyes?

Blue eyes are very uncommon among black people, especially those with no Caucasian ancestry. Research has found that almost everyone with blue eyes is linked to an ancient genetic mutation, and a small fraction get their blue eye color as a result of a health condition such as ocular albinism, which affects the pigmentation in the eye. In short, the origin of black people with blue eyes is no different than the origin of any human’s eye color, the deciding factor being genetics.

In short, the origin of black people with blue eyes is no different than the origin of any human’s eye color, the deciding factor being genetics.Research argues that, at one point in time far in the past, everyone on the planet had brown eyes. The first light-eyed human emerged only about 10,000 years ago, says Professor Hans Eiberg and his team of Danish scientists from the University of Copenhagen. In their study, Eiberg and his team recruited 800 blue-eyed men and women across different countries. They studied the genes that coded blue eyes in all of these individuals.They were able to conclude that all blue-eyed people have the exact same DNA sequence to account for their blue eyes. They also found that this DNA sequence contains an ancient genetic mutation which presumably occurred 10,000 years ago around South-Eastern Europe. In other words, blue-eyed celebrities Matt Damon and Elijah Wood are your distant cousins if you have blue eyes. Everyone with blue eyes is related in a distant way.

(Source: https://owlcation.com/stem/Black-People-with-Blue-Eye)

A relative also explained how Risikat used to be invited to the General Hospital when she was a child just because they were fascinated by her eyes. The relative added that the General Hospital used to “compensate” Risikat for honouring their visit.
Risikat grew older and got married. She gave birth to three girls and all of them inherited her eye colour.
However, she explained that her husband, Abdulwasiu Omo Dada, had a problem with it and abandoned them as a result.

She said he loved her with her eyes at first but after she had their first child and she was born with the same eyes, their relationship changed and it became hard to have a conversation with her husband. It got worse when she had her younger daughter.
“When I had the first baby, it became difficult to have a conversation with him. Till I left with the children, we didn’t have a conversation.
“Whenever I attempt to have a conversation with him, he would get angry and walk out on me.”
She said that when she got pregnant with her second daughter, things were so hard for them that they couldn’t afford food or medical care. She began going to her parents’ home to eat and when it was time to have her child, her parents paid her hospital bills.
The second baby came out with blue eyes too and at this point, her husband’s behaviour worsened.

To make matters worse, his parents also expressed their displeasure with the eyes of his children.
Risikat said: “His parents were asking him if he was going to keep having children with blue eyes.”
She said her husband began leaving home for days on end. Sometimes, he will be away for a whole week and wouldn’t leave money for his family.
She said she began eating at her parents’ home again. After the child’s christening, she said her parents asked her to leave her husband.
She said that since she left, her husband has not shown up to ask after her or their kids.