Human right groups and concerned members of the public in Enugu are currently in outrage after listening to the story of 38 years old Mrs Onyiyenchi Ozokolo, bagged water hawker, whose husband attempted to bite off one of her eyes.
A 38 year old pure water seller in Enugu, Mrs Onyinyechi Ozokolo
is about to loose one of her eyes as a result of her husband attempt to chop off the eye with teeth.
Mrs Ozokolo is a mother of six and has allegedly been subjected to domestic abuses which escalated to the point where she is about to lose one of her eyes.
Her husband of thirteen years Ndubueze Ozokolo is alleged to be the culprit of the abuses and the latest attempt on her.
Ozokolo who hails from Ezeagu and resides at Agric Quarters, Coal camp Enugu is currently going through pains as a result of domestic abuse as the said husband allegedly bit her eye
Narrating the incident leading to the latest episode where she almost lost an eye, Mrs Ozokolo 13 years marriage has been a tribulation.
She has been subjected to rampant abuses by her husband, she alleges.
But she added that the suffering took a drastic turn for worse three years ago when Mr Ozokolo resorted to maltreating and beating her.
Even their children are not spared in the abuse, she said, while narrating how the latest incident happened.
“I asked him why he was beating our daughter with cutlass and the next thing he did was to start beating me and then bit me on my eye.
“I was rushed to the hospital by my Neigbour’s and he never came to the hospital to see me nor pay my medical bills.
“After my discharge, I reported the case to the police and the office of Women and Child Justice Initiative which later led to his arrest by police.
“I am really living in fear with my kids because we don’t know what he will do next as we are still staying in his house because we don’t have any other accommodation, so I want to plead with government and other philanthropists to come to our aid and provide shelter for me and my children,” she pleaded
But Mr Nwokolo claims not biting his wife’s eye saying it was stone that hit her on the eye.
“I did not bit her eye, it was stone that hit her.
He further made a strange claim.
“I was beating my daughter on that fateful day because she disobeyed me and the mother came to fight back and as a result,” he said, “…. stone hit her on the eye,” his words.
Director of Women and Child Justice Initiative Nigeria, Barr Amaka Ilodigwe said the case was reported to her office and appropriate action was taken.
“We will ensure that the husband goes to prison,” Ilodigwe said.
“This is an assault and offense on its own because women have right and dignity of human person and should not be discriminated upon but must be protected,
Also, The Chairperson of Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Enugu state chapter Com Ngozi Ngene, who condemned the act, lamented over the alarming spikes in the cases of physical and domestic violence against women by their spouse saying “The ugly development is becoming worrisome, reprehensible, dastardly thus, totally unacceptable.”