By Chioma Okezie-Okeh
The alleged lover of the 64-year-old man, Osita Anyanwu, who slumped after a heated argument and fight at a bar at Arida area of Ikotun in Lagos, Juliet Eguebor, said that the deceased became aggressive over mere suspicion that she was double dating. Anyanwu was alleged to have stormed the bar, accusing his lover of infidelity, and also attacked 37-year-old Ngozi Emezue, who works as a chef at the bar.
According to the state police spokesman, Muyiwa Adejobi, a chief superintendent of police, operatives at Ikotun acted based on the report of one Linda, who claimed to be the daughter of the deceased. According to him, she said that she was informed that her father was lying down at a bar at Arida after he had a misunderstanding with one Juliet Eguebor and Ngozi Emezue.
He stated that preliminary investigations revealed that the deceased had gone to check his lady friend, Juliet, at a bar where Ngozi was working. He engaged both women in a hot argument and there was physical assault before he slumped. They were arrested and transferred to State Criminal Investigative Department (SCID), Panti for further investigation.
In tears, Juliet said she was terribly wounded by the deceased out of jealousy.
Her lamentation: “I am a single mother of four and I sell fairly used clothes at Ikotun Market. I had issues with my husband and we separated. I was managing my life till I met chief. We started dating last year and when I had accommodation problem, I told him and he promised to help me out.
“He later called that I should go to a bar at Arida and talk to the woman cooking food there whose name is Ngozi. When I got there, she was very busy, so I sat at the bar listening to music from my phone.
“In less than five minutes, chief arrived and I did not even notice when he was parking his car. Next thing he started shouting and beating me. He was shouting, why I did not tell him that I was coming to the bar. He collected my phone and threatened to break it when Ngozi walked in. He left me and faced her while people around were shouting that I am bleeding on the neck.
“I was terrified and ran to the nearest pharmacy to stop the bleeding. I was there when police came and arrested me.
“Heaven knows that I did not touch him, he was just angry that I did not tell him that I was going to the bar. I was there just to sort out my accommodation problem. I know that he had high blood pressure issue; I really don’t know why he would allow jealousy to drag him to that extent.”
On her part Ngozi, who is 37, said her only mistake was to accept to help chief’s lady friend, Juliet.
She narrated: “This bar belongs to my brother Ejike and chief, as he is popularly called, is one of our regular customers who does not owe. He told me that his lady friend had accommodation problem, asking if I can accommodate her. I said no because I do not know her personally. He later called and pleaded with me that the woman is an Igbo woman, that I should please help her. The woman later called me and I asked her to come over and she did.
“I asked her to wait that I was frying chicken. Minutes later, I heard screams outside. I came out and saw chief beating up the woman and everyone was just looking. They thought it was a husband and wife fight.
“I went close and greeted the chief so that he would know that I was around. As soon as I greeted him, he left her and grabbed my dress. He started beating me and asking why was I giving boy friends to his woman?
“I asked him, if that was how he felt, why did he ask me in the first place to arrange accommodation for her? I told him that I don’t know what he was talking about and the people around forced him to leave me alone.
“He said he would deal with me and started making calls. I ran back to the kitchen to check the chicken that I was frying. I was there when I started hearing people screaming.
“I heard people shouting that the chief had fallen down, that it could be high blood pressure issue. People ran away because they were afraid of police problem, he was still on the floor shivering.
“They said I should go and find his lady friend and she was not around. I called my brother who quickly rushed him to Igando General Hospital while we alerted his daughter. We went home and later in the night police came with Juliet and arrested me. At the police station, we were told that he was still alive but the next day, they told us that he is dead.”
It was gathered that Anyanwu’s family are not interested in pursuing the matter further.