An 82-year-old retired accountant, James Aina, has explained that the reason they had five sons was because his late wife wanted a girl.

In an interview, he told the Punch that while his wife had already started sewing garments for a girl, she had intended for their first child to be a girl. However, the child was born a boy.

Aina told the story of how they tried again which resulted in a boy for the second child, and so on until they had five boys.

Sharing his experience raising five boys, the man said; “It was difficult because boys are tough. In my case, we have five boys and there used to be quarelling and misunderstanding amongst them, and I had to intervene. It’s not been easy. My wife was a seamstress and she had already sewn female clothes, thinking that her first child would be a girl. However, it turned out to be a boy. The second one turned out to be a boy too. So the dresses she had sewn for girls were later worn by her first son.

“I and my wife agreed to have two children; a boy and a girl. So after we had two boys, she wasn’t happy because she wanted a girl. We welcomed the third son and when we got to five sons, she became uninterested and said she had had enough. It’s much easier to raise girls than to raise boys. Girls, by their nature, are not as troublesome as boys, so they can be easily managed.”

On what his regrets are, Aina said; “God has been kind and faithful to me. I only regret that my wife did not live long to reap the fruits of her labour. She died in 2009 at 64 years. Since her demise, my daughters-in-law have been very good to me. They have been giving all the necessary assistance and support.”