Love goes sour: Mother of 3 deserts husband for church member
“Tell him to go and make money, buy a car, build a house like his mates…”
…Husband alleges threat to life
Daniel Anokwuru
When Mr. Paul Ihechukwu married the love of his life, Favour Ihechukwu, in May 2008, he never bargained that his once happy marriage would be ended by infidelity. However, he is currently traumatised and depressed because his wife, who had got involved in a love relationship with another man, allegedly sold all his properties when he had gone to work and later ran away with his three children. Moreover, according to Paul, the debt she left for him from the loan she took from a micro finance bank, will take him years to pay.
The distraught father from Ebonyi State said trouble started between them in 2008, shortly after their wedding when he saw some illicit chats his wife had with her alleged lover, Emeka Ohaechesi. He said he confronted his wife and she apologised that the chats meant nothing.
Paul said that his wife maintained that Emeka was one of the workers in the Pentecostal church where they worshipped. He said after the apology, they continued their life. But to his surprise, he again discovered some nude pictures of his wife, which she had sent to Emeka, including where they had booked for a hotel. Upon the discovery, he said he confronted his wife again and also related to his In-laws, but latter that night, his wife cried and asked for forgiveness again after confessing to him that she actually slept with the lover in a hotel.
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After this last discovery, Paul stressed that he contacted Emeka’s wife, who also worships in the same church through her cell phone number, which he said he saw in the church card that his wife normally comes back with. According to him, Emeka’s wife supported her husband, warning him that he would be arrested if anything happens to her husband. She maintained that her husband would never do such a thing, sleeping with a married woman in the same church.
To make their threat real, he said his wife availed her lover of all his details, including his residential address and the particular room he occupies, asking him to either jail or deal with him anyhow he pleased, so that they can continue their affair undisturbed.
To worsen his plight, he said a petition was sent to him from Emeka’s lawyer, demanding that he should debunk all his allegations in three national daily newspapers and also tender an apology letter within 14 days of receiving the letter.
He said, “It was in 2008, immediately after our wedding, I saw my wife having a romantic conversation through her mobile chat with a man she said was one of the workers in their church. I confronted her but she apologised to me, saying he had nothing in mind, that it was just an ordinary chat. I also saw where they had booked a hotel to meet but decided to keep calm so I could catch them red handed.
“I also saw her nude pictures she sent to him. I asked her but she still insisted that she had nothing with the man. I informed her people about the strange development. His elder brother was very angry, while others were against me, asking me why I would be checking my wife’s phone. Latter that night, she cried and confessed to me that she slept with the man in a hotel called Apple Gate Guys, at Igboelerin. She sent me a lot of messages, asking for forgiveness, I also let go again.
“After two weeks, she started again with the man. I told her that I would not take it anymore from her. On July 30, 2019, I went to work but before I came back, she had sold all my properties. I asked her what happened, she became very violent. I managed to deceive her to follow me to her village so that we would go and see her family; she agreed.
“But immediately we got to Onitsha, Anambra State, she raised false alarm against me at the park. People descended on me and pursued me; I ran away. That was how she left with my three children to an unknown destination. She left many debts for me where she had collected loan.
“When I came back to Lagos, I saw Emeka’s wife’s church card, torn to pieces and scattered on the floor of my room. I arranged them back carefully and brought out her number. I called her to complain to her what her husband had done to my family but she strongly supported her husband, saying they would arrest me.
“I told her that I would report them to the Church board, she ended the call. That night I was in my apartment, when about four boys laid siege for me about 2am. It was my neighbour that saw them and raised the alarm; that was how I managed to escape. Since then I have gone into hiding.
“Two days after, my neighbour called me that there was a letter for me from a lawyer. I came and collected the letter and discovered that it was from Emeka’s Lawyer.”
Paul said upon receiving the letter, he shivered in fear because he had lost most of the evidences when his phone was stolen but, somehow, he was able to recover all the evidences.
He said, “I lost all the evidences when my phone was stolen, but a friend of mine told me what to do. I followed his idea and recovered all the evidences. From the latest chat, my wife was telling him to deal with me, that she was strongly behind him. She also sent him about four of her nude pictures again. It was through their chat that I got to know the place she is, because Emeka was planning to go and meet her in Anambra State.”
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To buttress his claims, Paul availed some of the chats between his wife and Emeka on August 12, 2019. The chat noted in parts.
Emeka: Hi dear, we can talk here; my lawyer has delivered the letter to him.
Favour: My heart I am with you
Emeka: Your Oga is going to church. I will arrest him.
Favour: Go ahead, Mine; do him whatever you please, don’t let him go free.
Emeka: He called my wife, but I told her that is a lie.
Favour: I told him that day he was tracking me from my phone. So, anyhow, go for it. I will defend you, okay,… I will do so, my dear.
When contacted through his cell phone, Emeka denied the allegations. But immediately he was asked about the evidences, he told the reporter that he did not want any problem.
He said, “I don’t want any problem with her husband. The lawyer that wrote the petition went too far. I did not see it before he sent it. I only told him to put fear in him so that even if he was planning anything, he would stop it. I want the matter resolved, please.”
In her own reaction, Mrs. Favour Ihechukwu said he was not having anything with Emeka initially. She said it was the suspicion of her husband that made her go into the extramarital affair.
She said: “Tell him to go and make money, buy a car, build a house like his mates and then marry another woman that is beautiful more than me. Whatever evidence he has is a family issue. It was his suspicion that made me to have affair with the man. The love died seven years ago, we cannot reconcile again. What he is doing is medicine after death. He should forget about me. What matters to me now are my children. All these things he is jumping around saying all kinds of things will not help him. Advise him if he will listen to you that it is a family issue. He has brought the matter to the public; he kept on lying against me. I cannot use mistake to correct mistake. The lawyers have not called him; he is foaming. I wonder what he would do when they call him. He said he is no longer at home, that people are after him in the house. Who is after him? Please, go and tell him that is a family issue.”
At the Church where they worship, the Senior Pastor, Reverend Sunday Abali, told the reporter that both were their members. He said though that Emeka is not a dedicated member.
According to him, “I know both of them. The woman is one of the secretaries. Emeka is not a dedicated member; he is a known face here. He is not a pastor. We are only two pastors here, me and the Associate Pastor. I will ask my wife to invite them.”