The River State Police Command has arrested a woman, Hope Nwala, who allegedly bathed her husband, Ekelediri Nwankwo, with hot groundnut oil following a disagreement in Okehi, Etche Local Government Area of the state.

According to the spokesperson for the state Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, the wife allegedly committed the crime when the man had retired to sleep later the same day.

Iringe-koko said the woman was arrested by operatives who had been on her trail after she fled on realizing the enormity of her crime.

She stated, “The wife has been arrested and is in Police custody. She was arrested this morning (Thursday) and brought to the command.

“She will be interrogated after which necessary action will follow. So for now, the investigation is ongoing.”

The suspect had attacked her husband hours after he confronted her on the mission of a strange man who was lurking around her and her younger sister.

The victim said his wife suddenly started putting up strange behaviour soon after her younger sister moved in to live with them.

Nwankwo, whose face and body showed scary injuries from the attack, also said he was compelled to send his sister-in-law packing due to her disrespectful attitude towards him in their home, but said his decision did not go down well with his wife who opposed it, leading to a heated argument.

He stated that little did he know that the matter would escalate when he confronted his wife about the strange man.

Nwankwo said, “I had told my wife’s younger sister to leave my house because of the way she had started dressing, and the way she occupied my matrimonial bed even when I was around.

“No young guy will tolerate such a behaviour, but my wife refused the younger sister to leave the house.

“I also saw my wife alone with one tall black guy in the shop I rented for her. Not that he is in for business, but he followed my wife and her sister here and there.”

The man added, “Following all these, I called her younger sister and gave her N2,000 transport fare to go home so that I could actually understand what was going on in my house.

But my wife got upset. While I went to bed to sleep, she poured boiled groundnut oil on me, and then started hitting me with hammer.”

Why I Poured Hot Oil On My Husband

The woman spoke on Friday while she was paraded before journalists at the Rivers State Police Command’s headquarters along Moscow Road, Port Harcourt.

Nwala who perpetrated the act on Tuesday had fled her home but was reportedly picked from her hiding place by a vigilante group and handed over to the police on Thursday morning.

Narrating the event she said, “He will go out, at about 2 o’clock in the night and will come back early in the morning. Sometimes he would go, and stay two or three days before coming back then I asked him where are you even going?

“So his friend called me and asked if I had heard what was on the ground, I said ‘What is that?’ He said my husband and some people were involved in one illegal act. He said they called somebody from Abuja that the person should come and work in Etche and that they have a contract to give to the person and when the person came they duped the person of N20 million.

“I said he didn’t tell me, that was hearing this for the first time, I said ‘No wonder this guy has been acting strange, planning on how to travel and go to one African country.’ So this is the reason.

“So when he came back, I grabbed him and said this is what I heard and I confronted him but he refused and we quarrelled. We ended it that day. I then asked him what he did with his own share of the money. I heard some people bought land with their own, so what did you use your own to do?

“As we were dragging that issue that morning, he hit me, I ran into the kitchen with that oil and I poured it on him. That was how it happened.”

Nwala who pleaded for forgiveness denied the allegation that she was involved in extramarital affairs.

She said, “I feel bad. Had I known that this thing would turn out like this I would not have done it to him. I will just go to my place and stay. I am begging for Nigerians, you people should forgive me.”

The Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Emeka Nwonyi while speaking at the police headquarters assured citizens that Nwala would be made to face the consequences of her action.

He said, “I can assure you that person has been arrested and she is here with us. And the law will catch up with her and anybody who tries to take the laws into their hands, and be made to face the necessary sanctions.”

Culled from Punch