A 71-year-old woman based in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, Mrs. Victoria Adegoke has called on the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Kayode Egbetokun and other heads of security agencies in the country to save the life of her 42 years old daughter, Mrs. Adeola Onwukwe from untimely death by her husband, Iyke David Onwukwe.
Adegoke, a retired primary school headteacher alleged that Onwukwe had made a series of attempts to kill her daughter, Adeola but she escaped by the whiskers and therefore cried for assistance from security agencies and human rights organizations, especially FIDA in other to prevent Adeola from untimely death as her husband is allegedly determined to eliminate her through various means.
Explaining her ordeal, the septuagenarian woman alleged that Onwukwe who has relocated from Lagos to Owerri, the Imo State capital had in 2012 started maltreating her daughter and subjected her to various inhuman acts.
She stated that her daughter had at several times been beaten to a pulp by her husband to kill her adding that the husband eventually sent her out of her matrimonial home for days, a situation which made the woman sleep in different places including shops, bars and churches.
The couple according to her had married over 17 years ago and lived together peacefully until a few years ago when the husband returned from a trip to Malaysia in 2018 and began to show some uncharitable attitudes.
She said efforts to call the husband to order by her and some other members of her family proved abortive as he turned deaf ears to all the pieces of advice given to him by relatives and religious leaders who intervened in the crisis between them.
She recalled that two of Onwukwe children were born at her residence in Osogbo and thereby expressed worry about the sudden change of attitude of Onwukwe who now boast to buy his way as he allegedly said that “everyone has a price in Nigeria.”
According to her, trouble started when Onwukwe began to have extramarital affairs with some strange women including one Chioma Esther Ihesie, who he eventually married and already has a baby for him.
It was gathered that the husband had been dating Chioma for five years and gave birth to a son without the knowledge of Adeola, his genuine wife although they live under the same roof.
This is even as the husband was dating the housemaid working under him, who is an Igbo woman like him, and abandoned his wife.
She said the four children have been taken to Imo State and they now live with Chioma who allegedly maltreat them and didn’t cater to their welfare.
She informed me that the matter is currently before the Lagos State Agency on Domestic Violence and a customary court sitting in Lagos for adjudication.
The grandmother who highlighted various instances of assault and abuse on her daughter, alleged that while on a visit to their residence in Ajah, Lagos, Onwukwe beat her daughter several times, sent her out of the house, embarrassed her in public and sent her relatives out while on a visit to her to take care of her newly born child.
She maintained that Adeola had suffered serious intimidation, depression, and ailments as a result of the way her estranged husband treated her, causing her to be admitted to different hospitals at different times.
Mrs Adegoke who cried intermittently while explaining her ordeal to newsmen also alleged that Onwukwe ‘s elder sister, Eucharia, and his brother, Osita contributed to the plights of her daughter as his (Onwukwe) elder sister had openly confronted her and attempted to send her packing from her husband’s house.
She informed that Onwukwe had eventually married another woman who already has a child for him but the four children of Adeola are under the new wife’s watch, adding that his new wife and other members of the family maltreat the four children and starve them of food as they now look lean.
Also, the grandmother who was unhappy with the current condition of her daughter said the Police have failed to provide necessary succor for the family even though the matter was reported to different police stations including that of Ajiwe and Alagbon in Lagos and the state police command in Imo State.
She said Adeola now suffers from depression due to her inability to see her children for over eight months, saying that the children are too young to be left without maternal care and attention as the oldest among them is 13 years of age.
Mrs Adegoke who is a widow of over 36 years standing appealed to the Inspector General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun to investigate the matter, especially the roles played by the police, to reunite the children with their mother.
Recalling all the efforts made to reunite the children with their mother, Mrs Adegoke hinted that the law office of Mr Femi Falana (SAN) instituted a legal matter against Chief Onwukwe but the matter is yet to see the light of the day, adding that the police are not forthcoming with the matter.
She stated further that her daughter is going through serious psychological trauma occasioned by her current predicament, hence the need for law enforcement agencies to come to her rescue and ensure her children are returned to her.
She said her daughter is an object of ethnic crisis because the family of her husband hates Yorubas and therefore urged eminent personalities and leaders of thoughts in Yoruba land to prevent her from further crisis, stressing that all she wants now is for her daughter (Adeola) to be reunited with her four children to save her from depression and other ailments she’s currently suffering from which emanated from her husband’s action.
Also, she urged Civil Society Organizations, Non Governmental organizations, Human Rights Organizations, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), gender-based groups, especially FIDA, and concerned Nigerians to rescue her daughter from her present predicaments.
