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• His family took all my late hubby and I laboured for in years, woman alleges
• No good wife abandons her husband on his sick bed, in-laws counter
From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
These are not the best of times for Chinemerem Augusta Ogbonna, 31, a widow based in Abia State. She’s accusing the family of her late husband of subjecting her to all manner of abuse since her husband’s death on February 20 this year. He was buried, according to her, two months later on April 20.
She told Saturday Sun that since her husband died, she and her one-year-old daughter had been forced to undergo tremendous psychological torture in the hands of her mother in-law and her husband’s siblings.
These, she noted, ranged from starvation, physical assault and abandonment to seizure of money, land and buildings she acquired together with her late husband.
Her late husband’s family, however, denied her claims, tagging them as a tissue of lies. They insisted she had abandoned her husband before his death and, as such, does not deserve any share in his property.
Chinemerem, who hails from Umuorie, Uga in Anambra State, said she got married traditionally to Eke Augustine Ogbonna of Umuobazie, Onicha in Ezinihite Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State on August 6, 2016. She recalled that since her husband was not doing anything tangible at their time, after their marriage, they lived in a one-room apartment in the husband’s family house at Umuode, near Aba, Abia State. Chinemerem said she assisted her husband financially to get a business started.
She informed that as her husband’s business began the business, things started moving on well gradually. According to her, they jointly erected a bungalow on the piece of land she bought and as they wanted to pack in, out of respect, they decided to first inform her mother-in-law, Mrs. Benedith Ogbonna of their decision.
Chinemerem said she was surprised at her mother in-law’s reaction. Her words: “She asked my husband where he built the house and he told her it was on my land and my mother-in-law was furious, lashing out at my husband for building a house on my own piece of land, instead of on his.
She continued: “In October, when I was about to give birth to my child, my mother-in-law asked me to come over to the family house so that when I put to bed it would be easier for her to look after my child and I. She insisted that if I stayed in our new house, she would not be able to come there for that purpose.”
Chinemerem said the couple obeyed and moved back into the family house. She recalled that on a certain date shortly after, her husband was preparing to go to the market when he started complaining of some strange feelings.
“I asked him to go to the hospital so as to have proper medical care. He promised he would, but that he would get to the market first. While at the market the lady said her husband’s sickness became worse and he was rushed to the hospital.
Chinemerem said her mother-in-law’s unbridled influence in her marriage was something that constantly worried her.
“By December of that last year, my mother-in-law said all of us would travel home to Mbaise for the New Year. I objected to this because my husband was yet to fully recover and my baby was also sick.
“The reason my mother-in-law gave was that she wanted to register my daughter and I in the women meeting in the village. She also said we would from there attend the burial ceremony of one of my sisters in-law. I wondered how she was contemplating registering a three-month old baby girl in the women village meeting that should be for mothers.”
Chinemerem revealed that they travelled home and came back on January 8, but said that husband fell sick again few days later and was taken to the hospital.
“While he was at the hospital, I went home to prepare food for my husband, and I was still in the house when my mother in-law sent someone to come and collect my husband’s ATM which he gave me before going to the hospital,” she said. She stated further that before she knew what was happening, her in-laws had cleared the money in her husband’s bank account and still asked her to go and source for more money for her husband’s treatment. Chinemerem said she was aware of this because she was having her husband’s phone number and was getting bank alerts from the account.
Chinemerem told the reporter that in a move that could be likened to a family coup, her mother-in-law asked her to go to the market and buy things she would prepare for the husband. She said she went to the market, but before she could come back, their one room apartment had been scattered and when she asked her husband, she was told her mother-in-law and her children came in, ransacked the room and made away with documents to their house and landed property.
“I told her it was unfair to take advantage of my husband’s health condition to act the way they did, and she started scolding me and threatening to deal with me. Till this moment, they are still holding on to the documents.”
Chinemerem alleged that at a point they started starving her and her daughter when the husband was unable to eat again.
The lady said at a point, she demanded the husband’s bank debit card, but said the demand landed her in hospital.
Hear her: “When I insisted they should give me my husband’s ATM, my husband’s brother, Chijioke started beating me to the point that I became unconscious and they rushed me to the hospital. By then, my husband was still alive, but he was not longer talking. They abandoned me in the hospital and threatened to deal with me should I come back to their house.”
She said having received such threat, following her discharge from the hospital, she said she went to her father’s house from where she was going to the hospital for the routine check up.
Two weeks after she left for the father’s house, Chinemerem said she received a phone call from Chijioke that she should come, that her husband was dead. She said she went there and discovered that the news was true.
She alleged that her mother-in-law and her children fixed the burial of her husband without her knowledge and also barred her from attending the burial.
“I had to report this to the traditional ruler of the community who told them it was an abomination in the community for a woman who committed no crime not to be allowed to attend the husband’s burial.”
Chinemerem claimed she only attended the husband’s burial who died at the age of 43 as a guest despite the monarch’s intervention. She said she had to leave Mbaise immediately after the burial for her safety and that of her daughter who she said was three months old when the father died. She said she did this because of the threats she was constantly getting from her in-laws.
“Since the burial of my husband, I have been idle. There is, most times, nothing for me and my one-year-old daughter to eat, as my in-laws seized all we have, including money. They are not interested in what happens to me and my child.”
Chinemerem said the must disturbing aspect of it is the house she and her husband jointly built on her land. In her words, her mother in-law and her son, Chijioke have forced her out of the house, locked the gate and threatened to deal with her if she dared set her foot in the building. The widow said she was pleading with the government, human right organisations and influential individuals to come to her aid and help recover the money and property she and her husband jointly laboured for from her in-laws.
But when contacted, Chinemerem’s mother in-law, Mrs Benedith Ogbonna said all her daughter in-law said was a huge tissue of lies. She said Chinemerem abandoned her husband when he was still alive and therefore had absolutely no right to lay claim to any of her late husband’s property now he was dead.
“The husband was still alive when she packed her belongings and left the house. One week or thereabouts, the husband died and we informed her about the development.
“During the burial of her husband, she came home and after the burial, she left the same day. Can a woman that behaved that way be classified as a good wife,” she wondered/
Her brother-in-law, her late husband’s eldest brother, Chijioke, corroborated what the mother said.
He admitted that his sister in-law had a daughter for his late younger brother, noting that it was for that reason that the family recently gave Chinemerem the sum of N100,000 to take care of the sick child’s hospital bill and other things.
