From Jude Chinedu, Enugu

It was a Friday morning like any other. Traders were displaying their wares and customers trooping in. Everyone was hustling for Sallah sales. But by noon, the market turned cold. A woman lay in a pool of her blood: Stabbed, helpless, dying.

That woman was Blessing Eze, a 33-year-old mother of two, wife, and trader. She hailed from Mgbom Enu in Mgbom Na Achara Autonomous Community, Okposi, Ohaozara Local Government Area, Ebonyi State.  Her only ‘offence’ was that she reportedly refused to give a group of touts, known locally as agbero, what they demanded as “Sallah money” during the last Eid Mubarak festival.

 

 

Now, her family is mourning, and her killer is purportedly unknown, though witnesses claim to have identified the person. John Eze, her brother-in-law, still struggles to find the words.

“Blessing wasn’t just my sister-in-law. She was my sister,” he began, seated quietly inside his modest electronics shop, just outside the market. “She was married to my younger brother. I’ve lived here for 30 years, and we were very close. We saw that morning. We even greeted. I still can’t believe it.”

The tragic incident happened on Friday, June 6, 2025. According to John, everything seemed normal until a few minutes after 10am.

“She was spreading her goods when I walked past. I asked after the kids and wished her good sales. That was our last conversation. Before I knew it, some people rushed to my shop shouting, ‘Your sister-in-law has been stabbed!”

Panicking and confused, John dashed into the market. What he saw still haunts him.

“I met her on the ground; she was bleeding from her chest area. She was struggling. Some traders helped me lift her into a keke (tricycle), and we rushed to the nearest hospital. But the doctor wasn’t around. From there, we rushed her to Ifo General Hospital.”

But the damage had already been done.

“Two doctors came out and said, ‘We’re sorry. She’s gone.’ I broke down. I screamed. I begged them, told them to try something; surgery, oxygen. Anything. I just didn’t want to believe she was gone,” he said.

The hospital eventually transferred her body to the mortuary, but even there, John said he could not give up hope.

“The mortuary attendant touched her and said her body was still warm. I said, ‘Bring her back to the hospital.’ The doctors listened. They brought her back on a stretcher. We stayed with her for four hours, praying, hoping she would move. I laid hands on her, called her name. But by 4pm, her body began to stiffen. That was when I knew she had truly left us,” John lamented.

Witnesses told the family that Blessing was accosted by young men collecting illegal levy from traders over the Eid Mubarak festival of Muslim faithful. Some said they asked for N200 while others claimed it was N1,500. When she refused to pay the “N200 Sallah levy,” on the grounds that she had not made any sales at the point, an argument broke out. One of them rushed out, got a knife and stabbed her in the chest before fleeing.

The shocking part? Days later, there was still no concrete information about her attacker.

“Some people said the boy was lynched. Some said he was arrested. I haven’t seen the person or heard his name. We were just focused on saving her life that day,” John explained.

The killing, which many traders now describe as “a wicked act,” sparked outrage among market women and shop owners who said they were tired of the extortion and harassment that had become routine during festive periods.

The late Blessing and her husband had been married for just four years. According to John, it was a marriage admired by many.

He said: “They were a peaceful couple. They supported each other. Everyone loved them. That’s why her death is so painful. She didn’t deserve it. She was a kind-hearted woman, always helping others, always cheerful.”

The grief is compounded by the fact that her husband currently lives abroad, where he works to support the family. A source close to the family said he was “completely devastated” by the news.

John continued: “I was the one who told him. He cried like a baby. He’s been calling every day since the incident happened. He’s alone there, and there’s no one to hold him. I’m even the one consoling him from here. I don’t know how he’s coping.”

As for whether the family would pursue justice or take legal action, John said it was indeed a hopeless situation.

“We don’t even know who to hold responsible. The whole thing is confusing. We’re still trying to understand what happened. But after our meeting with her family, I don’t see us pursuing any case. Our desire would be to take her body down home to Okposi, Ebonyi State and give her a decent burial. She was a wife and a mother; a good one for that matter. So, we will give her all the honour or rites,” the brother-in-law said as tears rolled down his cheek.

Meanwhile, market traders in Ifo are calling on the Ogun State government and security agencies to take urgent steps to rid the markets of touts and violent louts who now pose a threat to life and livelihood.

So, on Monday, June 8, the Igbo Market Union at Ifo Market, in solidarity and mourning, shutdown their businesses in protest. They observed four days mourning and within the period, their members did not display goods.

A member of the market association recounted that the son of the Baba l’oja (market head), Waheed, stabbed his wife last year, though he was lucky she did not die. According to him, he involved the Nigeria Police, but was advised to withdraw the case for the sake of his life. He was warned that the said young man was highly connected and deadly.

“We implore the Ogun State government to intervene and make sure the perpetrators are brought to book. Festival money shouldn’t be by force, it should be a free will thing,” he said.

The Baba l’oja of Ifo Igbo Market Traders (market head), Theophilus Ikpeghibumo, who led his people on the mourning and protest expressed shock over the incident.

He said: “Igbo traders in this market have been experiencing all manner of intimidation and injustice for a long time. But this incident was just shocking.”

The tragedy has sparked deep mourning in Eze’s home community in Ebonyi State, where traditional leaders and the local development union have vowed not to rest until justice is served.

President -General of Mgbom Na Achara Development Union (MADU) has instructed the union’s Western Zone to collaborate with Igbo and traders’ associations in Ogun State to pursue justice for the slain woman.

In a condolence message to the family, the PG said: “It is truly a sad event to you as her husband and to us as a community. More saddening was that she was a victim of a heartless and unprovoked killing of our people in some parts of Nigeria where they were doing their legitimate businesses.

“The spontaneous reaction of the larger Igbo nation is very resounding; enough is enough.

“I am personally aware of certain steps being taken by the larger Igbo community to obtain justice for our sister. We must not allow this murder to be swept under the carpet. Blessing was one of us.

“So, the local branch of MADU shall continue to liaise with the Igbo community to give us feedback. The zonal executive of MADU shall step in to ensure that justice is done in this case.

“Once again, we express our deepest sympathy for the loss of our sister and pray to God to grant her soul eternal rest.”

Former Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria Enugu Campus (UNEC) and founder of Women Aid Collective (WACOL), Prof. Joy Ezeilo condemned the killing in strong terms. She said it was a heinous act of gender-based violence and a reflection of systemic failures in Nigeria’s security and governance.

“Justice for Blessing Eze, a trader whose life was tragically taken by touts who preyed on the public for money, is urgently needed. This is a stark reminder of the unchecked lawlessness and impunity in our society,” Ezeilo said.

She demanded a full-scale investigation by the Nigeria Police Force, the immediate arrest of the perpetrators, and a public condemnation from the governor of Ogun State.

“We demand the disbandment of unauthorized revenue collectors, the provision of security for witnesses, and a comprehensive inquiry into the conditions faced by women working in informal markets across Nigeria,” she stated.

Describing the situation as intolerable, Ezeilo stressed that every Nigerian deserves the right to live without fear and exploitation, especially in the course of seeking their daily bread.

She said: “We owe it to Mrs. Blessing Eze, to her family, and to all who suffer under the weight of injustice, to fight with unwavering resolve for a future where no life is callously stolen, and no voice is silenced. The time for decisive action is now.”

Rights activists, market women’s associations, and Igbo community leaders in Ogun are expected to hold a press briefing in the coming days to formally petition the Ogun State government and the police authorities.

“If government doesn’t do something fast, more people will die,” one of the traders said. “Today, it’s Blessing, tomorrow it could be anyone.”

For John Eze and his family, the pain is personal and permanent.

“She was just trying to earn a living. Is that now a crime? She didn’t deserve to die like that. Just like that, gone. And her children? Who will take care of them now? Who will explain to them what happened to their mother,” he queried. 

As the family prepares to lay her remains to rest, many questions still remain unanswered: Where’s Blessing’s killer? Will she get justice? Will her death bring a change in the market with regards to extortion?