A video which captured moment the widow who was thrown out by her mother-in-law from her husband’s family house in Ezinihitte community of Mbaise, Imo state was allowed to pack her properties after the burial of her husband, has been obtained by LIB.
It was learnt that the lady’s husband Emeka Festus Nwachukwu, a Veterinary Doctor died months after battling a terminal illness.
When LIB reached out to the lady identified as Ann Emeka, she confirmed the incident occurred on the night of Wednesday March 24, after her mother and her sister arrived to help her prepare for her husband’s burial.
She said she was queried by her mother-in-law and sister-in-law on why her mother and sister came to the family house to be with her, a night to the burial of her husband.
Ann told LIB that when she responded by asking why her mother and sister shouldn’t have come, her sister-in-law grabbed her and tried strangling her.
However after the fight was broken up, she and her family including her five children were pushed out of the family house which was locked thereafter. She added that she was allowed to witness her husband’s burial on Thursday March 25 after villagers intervened.
Recounting how she took her husband to his village from their base in Port Harcourt, Ann disclosed that she can’t go back to the South South state capital because their rent has expired. She also revealed that she is currently staying at her family house.
Members of Udo Development Frontier in the community also alleged that the woman’s only crime was not being the woman her mother-in-law wanted her son to marry.
A message shared by the group read;
*EMERGENCY INTERVENTION APPEAL FOR THE SHELTER AND SUPPORT OF THE WIDOW OF OUR BROTHER DR. EMEKA FESTUS NWACHUKWU AND HIS 5 FATHERLESS CHILDREN*
Umunnem,
This has been a very painful and excruciating day.
Words cannot express the bitterness and pain in our hearts. The heart is heavy. Our tank of reserved tears have long drained from our eyes. And we know without a doubt, that it is the same with a whole lot of our fair minded, compassionate and peace loving brothers and sisters on this very platform and all over the world.
*IT IS A BLACK THURSDAY IN UDO*!
Our brother, *Dr. Emeka Festus Nwachukwu* died, after months of battling with a terminal illness. And on a day that we should have been bidding him eternal farewell to the great beyond, a far greater atrocity and abomination has befallen us.
*His young widow and 5 innocent fatherless children (3 boys and 2 girls, for those who might wonder if it was because of the absence of a male child) were sent packing unceremoniously by her mother in law. They were thrown out in the pouring rain yesterday night and were only allowed to attend their husband and father’s burial today after the intervention of some Udo Stakeholders. But immediately after the burial, she was thrown back out again with her kids, bundled into a waiting vehicle and ordered out of Udo. Her only crime? that she wasn’t her mother-in- law’s taste of a wife for her son!!! EVEN WITH 5 INNOCENT CHILDREN DOWN THE LINE, THIS MOTHER IN LAW FROM HELL WAS STILL UNFORGIVING!*
It is shameful and despicable that such barbaric practice can still be seen, allowed and condoned in 21st century Udo na Obizi and Mbaise as a whole?
Right now, our immediate concern for this widow and her 5 innocent children are:
1. FOR their SAFETY.
2. Their feeding
3. A shelter in Udo… and
4. The Education of these 5 little innocent children.
.. so that the children can return back to their father land and back to school, and their mother allowed to mourn her husband in peace, as our custom and tradition demands whilst still being able to look after her children.
Our short term goal is food and feeding for them and a return to school pathway for the children; and in the medium term to secure a small parcel of land to erect a comfortable apartment for them which they can call home. We would make any long term plans after further evaluation of their situation.
*We are therefore appealing to everyone who can, to please donate whatever you can to support this widow and her innocent children at this very perilous times. We shall appreciate every kind gesture no matter how much. Clothes, mattresses, food items, school items and household items are highly welcomed.*
We shall appreciate and recognise private and or anonymous assistance to this widow and her kids if you pass it through us to mitigate any limitations in logistics and access to her.