The Ebonyi man who killed his wife over yam preparation

IN an extremely bizarre, tragic incident that sent shivers down the spine of many, one Joshua Nwafor allegedly killed his wife, Charity, over a tuber of yam in Ebonyi State recently. The incident was said to have occurred in Nsokkara in Ezza South Local Government Area of the state. While Joshua hails from the community, Charity was a native of Awkuzu in Onicha Local Government Area of the state. According to reports, the couple had been married for 17 years and had children. Eyewitnesses indicated that Joshua had given his wife a tuber of yam to cook for the family, but there had been a dispute over the method of preparation. While Charity wanted the yam roasted, Nwafor wanted it boiled, and told her so. However, she would not budge. Subsequently, Nwafor was said to have flown into a fit of rage, dragged her into the room, locked the door, and battered her till she died. Following the incident, the Ebonyi State Police Command arrested the suspect. The command’s Public Relations Officer, Joshua Ukandu, confirmed the incident, saying that the command would conduct a thorough investigation and charge the suspect to court.

This is, to say the least, a distressing story. How could a human life be terminated over a tuber of yam? The tragic absurdity that this story represents is underlined, among others, by the fact that Nwafor had to give his wife the yam in question to cook, and not that she simply took it from the store and prepared it for the family. We find it strange that in 2024, a man would have to “give” his wife yam to cook, and stranger still that such a trivial issue as the method of preparation would lead to death! If Charity wanted to eat roast yam and her husband wanted the boiled version, why not adopt a win-win situation whereby she would boil a portion of the yam for her family and then roast a portion for herself, assuming that it was only a tuber of yam that was available for the family to eat? Besides, if there was anything called love in the family, couldn’t the couple have agreed on either version of the yam preparation in the interest of peace and harmony in the home, particularly as they had children who would no doubt be watching their ways?

Nwafor’s is an act of savagery, and it is bizarre in the extreme. It is clear that as a husband, he hadn’t the slightest regard for his wife. Taking custody of the family’s yam and handing it out for cooking, as the story suggests, is not only bizarre but hurtful and mean. And if the dastardly details of the story, namely that Nwafor dragged his wife into a room, locked her up and battered her till she could literally breathe no more are accurate, it speaks to a demonic culture of assault that no one should be allowed to perpetuate in the modern society. While we recognise the place of a husband as the head of his home, we fail to see how wife battery is an expression of headship. Just how do you take your wife’s life over such a trivial issue that could have been easily resolved? What kind of anger drives a man to kill his wife of 17 years over roast yam? A husband who could treat his wife in such a horrendous manner would certainly have been battering her long before the incident under reference, and it is quite possible that the victim had endured life-threatening injuries long before she finally succumbed to her woes. What a tragedy!

Now that Nwafor has allegedly murdered  his wife over his craving for boiled yam, is he eating yam to his satisfaction in detention? Can he tell the police the nature of yam preparation that he prefers? Has he proved that he is a “man” now that his wife lies in her grave, betrayed and cruelly treated by her husband of 17 years? Evidently, for Nwafor to have descended into killing Charity over roast yam, he must be thoroughly depraved or insane. Why seek to settle such a disagreement through death as if willful killing was a simple matter and not a capital offence? Imagine the tragedy Nwafor has brought upon his family as he has to face the prospect of the full wrath of the law in addition to the loss of his wife, putting his children in a precarious situation. Certainly, as part of the healthy management of social interactions, Nigerians have to learn how to carefully handle anger and frustration without resorting to acts that have serious negative consequences. Mr Joshua Nwafor’s failure in this regard is what is responsible for the avoidable but regrettable situation in which he has found himself at the moment.

Life is sacred and no one should resort to taking actions outside the laws of the country over issues. Justice must be done in this case, if only to curb the proclivity by depraved men to treat women like animals or even worse. There is no reason to refuse bloodthirsty killers a dose of their own medicine: they must be sentenced in accordance with the laws of the land. When such cruel individuals realise that the hangman’s noose awaits them, they will rethink their preferred course of action.

May the soul of Charity Nwafor rest in sweet repose.

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