We don’t want her jailed –Husband’s kinsmen
Joy Anyim
“If I had known that my marrying Obinna Oparah would end this way, I would have rejected his marriage proposal. I sincerely wish this wasn’t happening, I wish it was all a dream. I want my husband back alive.”
These were the words of 24-year-old Chinaza Oparah, a native of Anambra State, who was married to Obinna Oparah, a 27-year-old man, who hailed from Imo State. It was not a dream and the reality is that she would never have Obinna back alive.
The duo who met early 2017 in Onitsha, Anambra State, when Obinna, a tiler, had gone there to work, had fallen in love and even had a child out of wedlock. However, to make their union formal, they got married traditionally in November 2018 and were living in a room apartment at 34 Owodoni Street in the Amukoko area of Lagos.
However, the love story went sour, when in the early hours of Monday, December 2, 2019, Chinaza had stabbed Obinna on the left side of his chest with a kitchen knife over a misunderstanding. Obinna did not survive the stab wound, as he died shortly after.
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Chinaza had after killing her husband called neighbours for help, but it was already too late. Irate neighbours had attempted to lynch her for the act, but for the timely intervention of men from the Amukoko Police Division, who came to her rescue.
The fair-skinned Chinaza, who is currently in police custody at the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department(SCIID), was all tears as she narrated to The Nigerian Xpress what led to the killing of her husband.
On Sunday, December 1, her husband had gone out to visit his kinsman, Chibueze Ojika, and returned late that evening. On his return, Obinna had while discussing with his wife, warned her to stay away from a particular single lady, simply identified as Ogechi, their neighbour, whom he accused of being wayward.
Chinaza had insisted on continuing her friendship with Ogechi, describing her as a good girl who was only being resented by some neighbours not pleased with her refusing a marriage proposal from another neighbour.
While Chinaza said she cautioned her husband not to listen to hearsay, the discussion degenerated into a heated argument, extending into the early hours of Monday.
It was in the heat of the argument that Chinaza picked a kitchen knife, with which she said she wanted to scare her husband. Obinna succeeded in taking the knife from her and in the process inflicting her a cut on her left thumb. Angered by the wound, Chinaza picked another kitchen knife and this time, stabbed her husband on the chest with it.
Making a confessional statement, she said: “That Sunday evening, when he came back home, we had a misunderstanding. He said he was hearing news of my friend, Ogechi, flirting around and that he did not want me close to her. I insisted the girl was a good girl since she had been my friend for a while. I insisted that it was just because the girl had refused to marry his friend, who is also a neighbour, that is why news about her being a flirt is flying.
“We had a little misunderstanding about the issue and then, we went to bed. I placed my hand on his body and he threw my hand away. I asked if he was still angry and he said I must obey his instruction. I continued to insist on the girl’s innocence.
“He said he would deal with me since I no longer want to obey him. We kept exchanging words and out of anger, I seized his phone, jokingly, thinking he would loosen up, but he did not. He forcefully took the phone from me. I went to pick a kitchen knife, threatened him that if he threw my hand away again, I would injure him. I was only joking, he forcefully took the knife from me, injuring me on my left thumb. He kept the knife on the fridge.
“He then told me that before I injure him, he would injure me. I went to the cupboard to take another kitchen knife, a knife that was sort of blunt and had not been in use for a while.
“While I was still standing close to the cupboard, he came to me, hit me on the face and in response, I also raised my left hand to hit him back, forgetting I was holding a knife. The knife pierced the left side of his chest, he told me I had stabbed him. I thought he was joking because it was dark. It was when I saw blood on the floor and bed that I held him, touched his chest and noticed the blood pumping out.
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“I then ran out of the house shouting for help. Neighbours came, we looked for a tricycle, which was difficult to get at that time of the day, we finally took him to two different private hospitals that rejected him. Neighbours also rushed him to Orege General Hospital in Ajegunle and brought him back home, saying the doctor had confirmed him dead. ”
She also claimed that before the incident, a pastor had warned her and her husband to move out of the house where they lived. She also noted that the pastor told her the compound was evil and that people die mysteriously there.
While also speaking on the personality of her husband and their relationship, she said: “I and my husband lived a very peaceful life. We had our misunderstanding as man and wife, but we never took it to heart as we would always settle things immediately.
“One thing that now makes sense to me is that our quarrels were mostly in the evening when he returns home. I guess people were feeding him with stories that were not true and he was believing them, and that was always causing trouble at home. We have only been married for one year and our child is just two years old and now this.
“If I had known this was our fate together, I wouldn’t have married him. We met two years back, when he came to work at Onitsha, we went into a relationship and were sexually involved.
“He left after the job, and I noticed I was pregnant. I had lost his contact and could not inform him of my pregnancy. I gave birth to our baby girl and was able to reconnect with him one year after through Facebook. I told him we had a child together and within days, he came to Onitsha.
“He told me he would not leave his child and the mother far from him, and immediately came to do the traditional marriage rites. We have been living together for only one year, and God knows that I cannot kill my husband just like that, it is not ordinary, I strongly believe there is a spiritual force behind my killing my husband.
“The compound where we live is evil. People have been dying there mysteriously. A woman just died some eight days ago and even my pastor had told me to pack out of the compound, that the compound is evil.
“We even had plans for the New Year, he had promised to rent a shop where I will be selling things. We even planned to have a white wedding next year. All that is now history. If I had known, I would have remained single, after all not all my age mates are married.”
A kinsman of the deceased, Timothy Okeka, who also spoke with the correspondent on the death of Obinna, revealed that Obinna was the only son of his parent and that his death was a great loss to the family and his community.
Okeka who said Chinaza called him with her husband’s phone at 2 am. on Monday. She did not tell him she had stabbed her husband but merely told him to come over, that Obinna was dying.
Speaking on what the family wants to be done to the suspect, Okeka said, “As a family, we want her to be released, we don’t want to pursue a case against her. What has happened has happened. Our brother is dead. It is just too painful that it is his own wife that killed him.
“If we had known, we would have refused him marrying Chinaza. It was not like he was even matured enough for marriage, we just supported him to get married because we felt since he was the only son, it would be good he married early and start a family so that he can bring forth more sons.
“We don’t want the wife to go to prison, because she is the only one now to take care of their daughter. We want her to be released from custody, as one thing is sure that she will never remain the same again.”
While also speaking, Chibueze Ojika who is still infuriated with the killing of his kinsman, said the suspect may have killed her husband because she had found another lover.
Ojika who last saw Obinna that Sunday evening before his death, said the deceased had been warning the suspect to stop going to vigil every night with a particular lady.
“She was always going to the vigil with a female neighbour and my brother had warned her to stop it. I believe she was not going to a vigil but a club. She may have killed my brother because she had found another lover. She would have just packed out rather than killing him. But for us as her in-laws, we don’t want her jailed,” he said.
On the possibility of her release, based on the request of the family, a police source at SCIID said it was not in the hands of the family to decide if they want to pursue a case or not, as the offence committed is a capital offence.
The source said: “She has committed a crime against the state. Murder is a capital offence. The family cannot just say they want her released because they don’t want to pursue the case.”
The correspondent also learnt that plans were on to release the remains of the deceased for burial at his hometown in Imo State, while the suspect will soon be charged to court.
Friends of the deceased had also taken to their Facebook page to mourn the death of Obinna. Describing him as a gentle young man, Princess Nnenna wrote on her Facebook wall: “Obinna, your death has brought so much confusion in my life today, I have not been myself since morning. You married a knife instead of a wife.
“Everybody saw you yesterday night after you played your normal football with friends. How I wish you know your evil wife was waiting to kill you, you wouldn’t have gone home. Just because you exchanged words with your wife, all she could do was to wait for you to sleep, before she stabbed you to death. Chai! Chai! Chai!
“The only son and the only child of his parents, what a world we are in. How can a woman stab her husband to death for no reason, just because of a little issue? A gentle guy like you, now that she has killed you, let me see how she will enjoy this life at the correctional facility. Evil woman, how can you stab your husband to death? What is your gain now? Obinna, I don’t know how to tell you rest in peace, I am filled with fear.
Similarly, Sarafina Legacy, who is also a close acquaintance of the deceased, wrote on her Facebook wall: “Chai! Obinna, my friend, I have been crying since yesterday over your demise. So this Nnewi devil finally killed you. Tochukwu and I warned you not to marry this lady but you didn’t hear. The worst is that Obinna is an only son. Rest in peace, my brother and friend.”
