A man, Uche Eledube, has allegedly stabbed his neighbour, Monday Okolocha, on the head and left cheek for fighting with his wife in the Ajegunle area of Lagos State.
Eledube was alleged to have lured the victim, Okolocha from Orodu Street, where they both live, to a lonely spot at Abukuru Street, Ajegunle, where he allegedly attacked him with broken bottle he had concealed inside his jacket’s pocket.
The victim, Okolocha, said he was owing his neighbour’s wife, Chinenye Eledube, who sells local gin, popularly called ‘ogogoro’ the sum of N150, being the money for the shot he bought from her earlier.
According to the victim, he was painting his apartment when Chinenye sent a boy to him to collect the N150 he was owing her. But because he did not want his wife to know that he had been taking ‘ogogoro,’ he told the boy to tell Chinenye that he would come over to her shop to pay his debt as he was very busy and would also buy more from her later.
He said but his plea fell on deaf ears as Chinenye sent the boy back to him with an instruction that he should give her the N150 immediately.
Okolocha said he had to stop what he was doing to fetch the money, which he gave to another young man to give to her.
According to him, “After paying her the N150, I gave the young man money to purchase local gin for me but not from Chinenye again. Unfortunately, the boy returned with the gin and I asked him where he bought the drink from and he said from Chinenye. I told him to return the drink and collect my money that I would not buy anything from her again. The boy went to her and she collected her drink and gave him my money to return to me. I thought it was all over, but unknown to me, the woman had another plan. She came where I sat and slapped me the first time. I was surprised. I asked her why she could be bold enough to slap me. She slapped me again. People were even angry with
her.
“But when she slapped me the third time, I had to slap her only once and she fell. I was arrested. She said I injured her. Policemen settled the matter. She demanded N1000 to treat herself and I gave her. I believed that the problem was over until her husband attacked me. People begged me and my wife. We agreed to settle with them. They paid only N11, 000 to me as hospital bill. I was shocked when this same man called Monday went to my wife, threatening that what he did to me was just too minor; that I should expect the worst. The man did not come to me to apologise for what he did. It was his wife and friends that came. That was the reason I had to go back to the police station to make fresh report and I was also ready to hand over the money to them. I did not touch it.”
Okolocha alleged that Eledube, who lives in the building next to his own at Orodu Street, Ajegunle, had called him as a neighbour and told him that he had forgotten what happened, requesting him to go with him to the next street, Abukuru.
Okolocha said he did not suspect that Eledube had planned to harm him.
“As we were walking along Abukuru Street, we got to a place and he asked me why I had to beat his wife. I told him that we have settled this matter and asked him why he was recalling the issue. I never envisaged that the man had hidden a broken bottle inside the pocket of his jacket. Before I knew it, he stabbed me in the cheek, close to the eye region. I tried to hold his hand and as we were struggling, I fell him, but he succeeded in stabbing me on the head with the broken bottle. The blood was so much that I thought I was going to die. The youths in the area, who feared that I would die, went to his shop to threaten his wife, who caused the problem,” he alleged.
A source at the Ajeromi Police Station, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said that immediately the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the station, CSP Sunday Digha, was briefed about the matter, he ordered that Eledube and his wife, Chinenye be arrested and brought
to the station.
But Eledube was said to have gone underground since he allegedly attacked and injured Okolocha. When the suspect’s wife, Chinenye, went to the station, she expressed shock that her husband stabbed Okolocha, claiming she did not support her husband’s action.
“After my husband did that, he as afraid to come to the house. The youths in the area came to my shop to smash my show glass to pieces. The next day, I saw a long cutlass close to my workshop. I don’t understand what is happening now. We have resolved the matter and you collected N11, 000 from us.
You said my husband told your wife that what he did to you was just the beginning; that he would do something worse. I don’t believe that. My husband never said that to your wife. You can call her now and let her say it in our presence,” Chinenye
said.
Meanwhile, the police were said to have told Chinyere to produce her husband so that the matter could be resolved at the station or be charged to court.
