When Mathias Eze of Umu-Aji village in Umuida, and
Patricia Ossai of Imufu, both in Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu
State got married, little did Patricia know that her heartthrob would end her
sojourn on earth in the most gruesome manner 16 years after their marital
union.
But on Saturday, July 21, 2012, Mathias, a former
Commissioner in the Enugu State Independent Electoral (ENSIEC), tragically
ended the union that had produced six lovely children with an alleged gunshot
over his wife’s failure to prepare stewed rice for the day’s supper.
The father of the deceased, Elder Alphonsus Ossai, now
a shadow of himself, told Sunday Sun the tale of his daughter’s forced death as
was narrated to him by the late Patricia’s 15-year-old daughter, Uju, who
witnessed the incident that night.
“On Saturday, July 21, 2012, at about 8pm, according to
my grand-daughter and Patricia’s first child, because I was not there, he
(Mathias) came back with a grass- cutter and asked his wife to prepare it, and
left the house again. My daughter cooked the meat and when he came back again
at about 10 pm and demanded for the cooked meat, she gave it to him. He asked
her to give him rice and stew but my daughter told him she didn’t cook rice.
What she cooked was ‘Otipiri,’ a local delicacy made from maize. “He flared up
and questioned why she didn’t prepare rice and stew with the meat; but my
daughter pleaded that she had started cooking the maize delicacy when he
returned with the meat. He then went to his second wife who hails from Ibagwa
in Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area, and asked her what she cooked for the
night and that one told him that she prepared yam porridge.
“At that point, he became livid and threatened that he
was going to shoot two of them if they didn’t go back to the kitchen to prepare
rice and stew that night. The two women pleaded with him to understand that it
was too late in the night and there was no more firewood in the house. Besides,
it rained heavily that night. They thought they had placated him and tried to
recharge their handsets, but he warned them not to do so since they refused to
cook stewed rice for him. They didn’t take his threat seriously.
“It was at that stage that he dashed into his room,
came out with a double-barrel gun and pursued them. The second wife was the
first to see him with the gun and she alerted my daughter but he had already
closed in on them. The other wife ran out of the compound while my daughter hid
at a corner of their kitchen because at that time, the generator had been
switched off, so the entire compound was enveloped in darkness. But he quickly
embarked on a search mission with the first son by his first wife who had died
many years ago.
“He had given up the search and was going back when his
son, who had finished secondary school, spotted my daughter and alerted him. He
called his father to come and see the ‘idiot,’ referring to his father’s wife,
my daughter. The man came there and aimed at my daughter who was then pleading
profusely with him to spare her life but all her entreaties fell on deaf ears
as he fired at her killing her instantly.”
The distraught father, who fought hard to control tears
rolling down his cheeks as he spoke, alleged that when Mathias who works with
the Enugu Sate Post Primary School Management Board (PPSMB), saw that he had
shot his wife dead, he put her inside the boot of his car and drove to a
near-by hospital in Ogurute.
According to him, the suspect told the hospital
workers, that armed robbers came to his house and while he was exchanging
gunfire with them, stray bullet hit his wife down.
Patricia’s younger sister, Edith, and her elder
brother, Johnson corroborated their father’s account of the incident and
wondered why an infinitesimal issue such as failure to cook a particular meal
could lead to such a dastardly act.
Edith said: “I feel terribly sad that a man could be
that bestial to his own beloved wife; the bone of his bones and flesh of his
flesh as the Bible tells us. It beat my imagination. It was a rude shock when I
heard the news.”
Also in a fury-filled tone, Johnson said: “I feel very
sad that my sister is lying cold in the mortuary. I live in Lokoja in Kogi
State, but I am home because my sister’s husband shot and killed her in cold
blood. My sister begged and begged that her life be spared but he adamantly
shot and wasted her life just like that. She had six children for him; four
boys and two girls. I am very sad because I can’t see why he should be that
bloodthirsty. I feel that government should mete out appropriate punishment to
him to serve as a deterrent.”
When Sunday Sun visited the country-home of the suspect
at Umu-Aji in Umuida, the house was deserted. Checks revealed that he had
been taken to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), at the Police
Headquarters in Enugu.
Women who live in the neighbourhood confirmed the
incident and described Mathias as a very harsh man who didn’t allow his wives
to relate with other people. They said his wives rarely came out adding that he
was a male chauvinist who believed that women should only be seen and not be
heard.
Another native who preferred anonymity, described him
as, “a very wicked man who derives pleasure in inflicting pains on people.” He
alleged that the suspect once threatened to drown his late first wife because
she denied him sex.
Also, a young lady in the community narrated how a girl
he had married, ran away and was later forced to cough out N150,000 that the
suspect claimed, as expenses he incurred during the marriage ceremony.
“The girl had to take up a paid employment and started
paying back until she paid to the last kobo. It’s just that the girl is now in
Lagos; otherwise, I would have asked you to go to her to hear more about the
man. He is wicked and people are afraid of him because he has money.”
Efforts by Sunday Sun correspondent to speak with Mr
Eze drew blank as the police did not allow him to see the suspect.
But investigation revealed that Eze gave two different
accounts on how he allegedly killed his wife. He was said to have told the
staffers of the hospital where he took his wife’s corpse to, that he killed her
in error during a gun duel with robbers that attacked his house. It was also
gathered that the suspect later told the police at Ogrute that he noticed
strange movement inside the bush behind his compound and because there was no
light, he suspected that it could be an armed robber, and fired his gun only to
discover that he had killed his wife.
When the State Police Command Public Relations Officer,
Ebere Amaraizu, was contacted on phone, he confirmed the incident.
“We are aware of the incident that involved one Mathias
Eze who was alleged to have shot and killed his wife. I can assure you that
investigations are on-going and we shall get to the bottom of the matter. The
police would do everything necessary to ensure that justice was done at the end
of the day”, he said.