Untold story of Odoh’s death

Joy Anyim  &  Oguntade Ismaila

The case of Christiana and her late husband Romanus Odoh is another tale of when love goes sour.

The duo who had been married for over twenty years and blessed with seven children made a sad end to their relationship when Christiana was alleged to have stabbed Odoh to death on the 25th December 2016.

Earlier report had it that Christiana who had threatened to kill her husband before the incident and had  picked a fight with him over his inability to provide for the family’s need for the yuletide made good her threat.

However,  that seem not to be the case as a visit to the environment  where the incident occurred revealed the actually cause of the fight which resulted to the death of Odoh.

The house which is located at London Barber Street off Magijidun in the Ikorodu area of Lagos, played host to our correspondents last weekend.

The Odohs’ were the only once living in the six rooms dilapidated structure It was obvious that the family was living in poverty and squalor. They occupied two of the room while the others which were as shattered as the two they lived in were empty.

Six of the seven children were at home as at the time of our Visit. The children looked unkept  and their looks begged for urgent attention.

Investigations revealed that the couple had maintained a cat and mouse relationship before the ugly incident.

Mercy a niece to Christiana, who now takes care of the children since the incident tells more about the relationship between late Odoh and his wife.  The 24 year old who had lived with the couple for over five years said.

“I wasn’t around on the day of the incident.  I had gone to work because I work in a hotel where I serve as the bar attendant. I was only called in the evening at about 5pm to be told that my aunt’s house was no more.  I was also informed that my aunty was responsible for his death.

“The two of them have never been I peace.  They would fight always over every little thing and the neighbours would sometime overlook them while they fight because everyone is tired of them. It is just so sad that it all ended this way.”

One madam Joy,  a friend and neighbour to the odohs said.  “my friend Christiana has been through so much in the hands of her husband. As long as I have known them,  she has been the bread winner of the family.  It is from the little rice and pepper soup that she sells that she feeds the seven children,  cloth them,  and take care of their education alone. Late Odoh who is a welder at Orile can go for about a month without sending a dine. But whenever he is around,  he will start quarreling and accusing his wife of infertility.  He would allege that the wife is sleeping around with men and that’s her she is getting money to sustain the family.

She continues. “The bone of contention has always been sex. Odoh would always want sex whenever he is around but Christiana would always object because according to her since she isn’t on family planning and Odoh doesn’t like using condom,  she could take in again which is too risky as she has been through the pregnancy trouble eleven times. She said she easily takes in and doesn’t want to go through the stress as she is still struggling to take care of the seven left of the eleven children.

“This recent  fracas which led to the  death of Odoh started again on the 24th December. I heard them trading words as usual and I advised my friend to leave the house that day, as it may be a plot by the devil to cause havoc and spoil the yuletide for them.  She did and returned later that night.”

Madam Joy makes a shocking revelation about the couple. “Meanwhile,  about two months back,  late Odoh had gone to the Baale’s house to inform him to persuade their landlord to give them a quit notice.

” He had even threatened that if the landlord doesn’t,  he would kill his wife and take his own life or the wife kills him.  Upon that statement,  the Baale had convinced the landlord to give them a quit notice.  Christiana had even gotten a house and paid for it to move in on the 29th December 2016 before the ugly incident happened.

“Although I wasn’t present during the fight that led to the death of Odoh but one thing I’m sure of is that Christian would not for any reason kill her husband.  She is a good woman with a kind heart. She has been through so much and still stood strong.” she concluded.

On his part, 17 year-old Chidera Odoh exonerated his mother of allegedly stabbing his father to death.

Chidera the second son who also assists his mother in her pepper soup business said his father and mother were dragging the  knife between each other, when the knife allegedly pieced his father’s stomach.

According to Chidera, as usual,  his father had alleged his mother of infidelity on that fateful day.

He said: “on December 25, when my mother and I came back from market, where we went to sell rice and pepper  soup, she was trying to sleep when my father who had gone out to drink came back and started disturbing her that she had gone to see some of her male friend, argument later ensued between them.”

“Before we knew what was happening, my dad had picked up a bottle,  broke it and threatened to stab my mother, I and one uncle Kola persuaded him before he eventually dropped the bottle.”

Chidera added that: “after we collected the bottle from my dad, he went inside the room and brought out a knife also threatening  to stabbed my mother, out of annoyance my mother moved close to him to collect the knife from him, it was when they  were dragging the knife that it pieced his stomach.”

“Immediately, the incident happened I and some residents tried to rushed him to a nearby clinic when he gave up the ghost  and my mother was held by the residents who later invited the police who arrested her and moved the remain of my father to the mortuary.”

Chidera also disclosed that his late dad always accused some men in the neighborhood who used to come and buy rice and pepper soup from his mother of sleeping with her.

Our correspondent also took time to hear from the landlord who identified himself as Prince Wale Akinsemoyin. He alleged that the couple had been on each other’s neck.

He said.  “late Odoh and his wife are troublesome.  They would fight at every little thing. They can’t even take care of their children. Sometimes the children would stop going to school and I would personally take them to one of the government schools enrol them there,  buy them books and school uniform. The truth is that the couple never tolerated each other.  The fights were endless and the entire neighbourhood is even tired of them. It’s rather unfortunate that it ended the way it did.

“I was in a meeting when I was called and told that Odoh has been stabbed to death by his wife.  I immediately rushed down, called the police and assisted in depositing his remains at the mortuary. ” He lamented.