From Wilson Okereke, Afikpo
A local politician in Okaleru, Okoffia in Ezza South Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, (name withheld), is in big trouble for allegedly biting off his first wife’s lip without provocation.
The 40-year-old chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), reportedly took advantage of a minor faceoff between the first wife, Njideka and the second wife to display this act of near-cannibalism.
It was gathered that the pregnant wife and mother of four and the second wife, had, in the morning of Saturday, August 12, 2023, engaged each other in a verbal war, when their husband suddenly hijacked the matter. He allegedly descended on the first wife and chopped off her lower lip in the process.
A family member who wished not to be named said that the injured wife and her husband were living happily until around 2015 when the man got married to a second wife. According to the source, the union which turned polygamous automatically made their once peaceful home a battlefield.
He said that frequent quarrels erupted between the man and his first wife, and occasionally between the two women. In fact, villagers in their quest to bring normalcy among these people had mediated severally and cautioned the husband to desist from maltreating his first spouse.
Our source stated that the man never heeded to those pieces of advice or felt the effect of the mild penalties imposed on him including some fines.
However, a resident of the area, Mrs Ugoeze Unata, told Saturday Sun that the problem was remotely triggered by the request of the man’s mother that her son should assist her with some money to pay her dues during their August meeting.
“Immediately after the request was made by the old woman, the man shouted at her that there was no money but the second wife, perhaps out of sympathy gave her mother in-law N1,000, an offer which was rejected,” Unata narrated.
According to her, the second wife was not happy over the mother in-law’s rejection of the money and thereby began to call the woman names. She later became highly infuriated over the verbal contribution of the first wife, Njideka, who condemned the insult that the former was heaping on the old woman.
Our source said that while the two women were diligently insulting each other, their husband suddenly rushed at the first wife and applied some canes one her. He used all the canes on her body, grabbed the woman, held her firmly as if he wanted to appeal to her with a hot kiss but to the consternation of everyone, he tore the woman’s lower lip with his teeth.
Another woman from the area, Mrs Ifeoma Offomba, said the man, after discovering the gravity of what he had done, disappeared into thin air, abandoning his wife in a pool of her own blood.
She said that it took the intervention of some sympathizers to save Njideka with her four-month pregnancy. She was revived from her unconscious state and rushed to the National Obstetric Fistula Centre, Abakaliki, for medical attention.
The man’s mother, it was gathered, said that she complained to her son on the fateful morning that she hardly made financial contributions in the church whenever there were programmes due to hardship. And she then requested for money to enable her pay dues at the August meeting.
“After my son told me that he didn’t have money, I quietly left his room and went outside but while I was discussing with another woman, his second wife ordered that I should leave the place, that it was too close to her shop and before I could know it, she began to push me around.
“When his first wife, Njideka intervened purposely to save my life, surprisingly, my son pounced on the woman with a handful of canes, beat her mercilessly and bit off her lip,” she narrated.
The husband was later caught and handed over to the police officers at Onueke Police Division, who transferred the matter to the Police Headquarters in Abakaliki.
It was further learnt that the Ebonyi State Chapter of the International Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA), has since shown interest in the matter to ensure that justice was obtained for the injured woman.