The recent fatal assault on a mother of three, Mrs. IvieEdobor, by her estranged husband, John Edobor, drew the attention of the public, including Project Alert on Violence Against Women, when the woman posted the incident on Facebook. Project Alert went with Reporter, HENRY ODUAH, to the battered woman to know what went wrong.
Spousal abuse seems to have come to stay. Nigeria is not removed from the rest of the world when it comes to this menace. This is despite various campaigns mounted by civil rights groups to put an end to it.
Mrs. IvieEdobor, 38, an Edo State indigene and mother of three is the latest victim. The Surulere, Lagos, resident was reportedlybrutalised by her estranged husband, 40-year-old banker, John Edobor.
The couple had lived apart for about two years due to family disagreement. But in what may be described as act of love, jealous or obsession, the man was said to have pounced on her on seeing her with another man.
In a comprehensive account of the incident gathered by TheNiche, the embittered mother of three narrated how she was allegedly assaulted by her husband in the early hours of Sunday, June 19, 2016.
She told TheNiche that she had attended her father’s 74th birthday party with her children, all girls, aged nine, seven and four, and returned about 8pm on Saturday, June 18. There was another function which she attended with a male friend who drove the car since her “vision at night was poor”. When they returned after the function about 1.20am the next morning, Ivie said while she was in the car, her friend alighted to knock onthe gate, he was attacked.
“My friend then opened the door on the driver’s side and came down to knock on the gate for the security man to open the gate and let me in. Suddenly, he was attacked by an assailant charging and hitting him with a metal rod (wheel spanner). My friend pushed the assailant off; but on the rebound, the assailant charged forward even harder,” she narrated.
On a closer look, she recognised the assailant as John who also recruited hoodlums to assist him on his killing mission.
“The miscreants pinned my friend down while John charged towards me,” Ivie lamented.”Since the driver’s door was open, he edged himself in through the door, striking my head with the metal rod, but I used my left arm to block it, thus the rod was hitting my arm instead of my head.”
She added that John turned round to the passenger’s side and forcibly pulled her out of the car.
“I landed on the floor with my legs stretched out. He struck my right leg continuously with the rod, shouting that he would kill me. When the pain on the right leg became too much, I covered it with my left leg which eventually led to an injury I sustained on the left thigh. Satisfied with the attack on me, he left me and joined the ‘area boys’ whom at this point were still holding down my friend by the side of the gate.”
The injured Ivie was rescued by her neighbour who heard her yelling, thinking that it was robbery attack and came rushing down with a machete, only to see “John whom he (my neighbour) had prevented from gaining access to my house on two other occasions”.
It all began in 2014 when she was reportedly thrown out of the house together with the three children by her husband for incurring debts after her once profitable business failed.
She recounted how she slept in her car for two days and nursing the hope that her husband would reverse his decision.
John, she claimed, was found with a dagger when he was arrested, adding that he was charged to court the following day. “He met his bail conditions and was released three days later.”
The agonised woman, we learnt, spent over two months struggling through two surgeries to redeem her right leg, which doctors had contemplated amputating.
She accused her parents-in-law of negligence and lack of concern for her and her children.
“Ironically, the day he was arrested, his family (mother and sisters) that I had not seen or heard from since he sent me packing, arrived Lagos. They saw him at the police station and proceeded to the hospital to see me, not necessarily concerned about my injuries but to ask me not to charge the case to court,” she said.”While John was at the station, he kept on sending threats and demeaning messages.”
She stated that her estranged husband had tried to gain access to her at the hospital, but was prevented on several occasions by the neighbour who rescued her that fateful night.
TheNiche was told that John was made to sign an undertaking that he would foot the hospital bills of Ivie; but John, an employee of Zenith Bank, had only paid N500,000 out of the N3.2million hospital bill. She accused him of “not meeting up to the agreed payment in instalments”.
Visibly enraged with her condition and inability to fend for her children, Ivie now struggles to walk with a pair of crutches, though doctors are optimistic that she would walk properly.
Ivie said she reported John’s dastardly action to Zenith Bank, his employer, but the bank has not responded toSMS and e-mail messages. She pointed out that John works with the Risk Management Department of the bank at its head office in Victoria Island, Lagos, positing that by his earning, John is either a senior banking officer or an assistant manager.
Cry for justice
Ivie said she decided to make public her ordeal because she sensed that her estranged husband thought he was doing her a favour by paying her hospital bills. She added that she was also being persuaded to sweep the case under the carpet by both families.
“I want justice to prevail, please. I want my bills paid, my children provided for – upkeep, fees and even the house rent. Now I am unable to carry out my duties as a single parent and professional due to the injuries inflicted on me by John Edobor. I also want the immediate dissolution of our marriage with me having full custody of my children. And finally, I want him punished by the law for carrying out such a premeditated attack on me,” she added in her pathetic statement.
His side of the story
When TheNiche called the estranged husband on phone to hear his own side of the story, he said that he was disappointed at his wife for putting their “family issue” up in the public space. He said he would not allow his family issues to be decided by the public.
“I am not going to discuss this matter because it is none of anybody’s business. The family is looking into it,” he told TheNiche
Enter human rights groups
Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, executive director, Project Alert on Violence Against Women, a non-profit women’s rights organisation, and Dr. MaymunahKadiri, mental health physician and psychotherapist, described the incident as “horrible” and “inhuman”.
The duo got hold of Ivie’s post about the incident on Facebook last month and followed up. They have vowed to get to the root of the issue “until justice is done”.
Expressing the concern of Project Alert, Effah-Chukwumaexpressed deepest shock and concern over the almost deadly attack onthe woman by her estranged husband, John.
According to her, Project Alert first heard of the case through the social media on Wednesday, September 21, and immediately swung into action.
“We established contact with Ivie and visited her on Friday, September 23. While in her sitting room, Ivie told us her story. She told us how her estranged husband for two years laid in wait for her outside her home by 1am, an apartment she rented and moved in just in April 2016, after living with her father for two years, having been thrown out with their three children by John.
“Why would a man, who is estranged from his wife and who is not the owner or tenant of the apartment she occupies, wait outside her house till that time if it is not for criminal purposes?”Effah-Chukwuma demanded.
She told TheNiche that, from her investigations,Iviewas viciously attacked by John right outside her gate, with the help of thugs he had earlier entertained with drinks and misinformed that the house was his and that he had come to confront his wife whom he heard was sleeping around.
Consequent upon the development, questions posed by Project Alert, which demand explanation are: If John Edobor had no criminal intent, why would he sit outside Ivie’s house till 1am, to await her return? Why would he incite ‘area boys’ with drinks and lies to get them to join in the attack?
According to Ivie, the police reportedly saw a knife on John, when he was arrested. Project Alert seeks to know why John had a knife on him and why would the police charge him with assault occasioning harm when clearly he came to kill his wife which – according to the woman, he actually said “I will kill you today”.
Further, the rights organisation seeks to know the action Zenith Bank has taken against its employee and what support it gave to his wife and the children since the incident occurred; who will pay the balance of N2.7million hospital bill Ivie incurred during her almost two months stay in the hospital; and who will also pay for the upkeep of the three children whom she has been solely caring for, as their father even removed their names from Zenith Bank’s medical insurance?
Project Alert on Violence against Women declares: “We all must ensure #justiceforIvieEdobor. This is one in too many cases of domestic violence in Nigeria. We cannot keep silent in the face of evil. Domestic violence is not a private family matter. It is a crime. We at Project Alert will stand by Ivie throughout this trying time of her life.”