The Lagos state Police command is currently investigating circumstances that led to the gruesome murder of a 35 year old mother of 4, Mrs. Martha Ifeoma Ifewulu pictured left, in her home at Oke-Afa, a suburb of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area of Lagos State on Monday, Dec. 1st.
According to Sunday Sun, Mrs Ifewulu, a business woman, was found lying on the staircase of her home in the pool of her blood by her young children who just returned from School.
Narrating how he got to know of his wife’s murder, bereaved husband, 52 year old Chief Lawrence Ugochukwu Ifewulu (above), said he was still in shock and does not know how and why his wife was murdered
“Up till this very moment, I can’t just imagine that this actually happened. But, actually, it happened. On Monday, 1st December, we had our morning devotion and rejoiced that we were able to make it to December as a family. That morning, I was not really feeling fine and I thought of going for a medical checkup. I even jokingly asked her to go to the laboratory with me, but she declined because she wanted to go to Trade Fair to buy some things. So, I left the house around 10:30am. Even as I am talking to you now, I have not even gone for the result of the test because I left the laboratory around noon. When I wanted to leave the laboratory, I tried to call her to tell her I was leaving for the office but she did not pick the call. I kept calling her line up till 3pm but there was no response. I even got very annoyed wondering where she must have kept her phone.
Getting to my office, after the usual traffic jam along the road, I got a call from one of our tenants, a woman. The woman was just crying and telling me to leave whatever I was doing and rush home. I asked her what happened, but she only said I should start coming immediately. I had to call one of my staff to drive me home because, due to my condition, I couldn’t even drive. Getting home, I could not imagine what I saw. I was told that when the children came back from school around 3:30pm and opened the door of the staircase, they just saw blood flowing down from the staircase. One of my girls tried to go upstairs and that was when she discovered my wife’s corpse and then raised the alarm. Neighbours came to the scene.
It was when I got in around 5pm that I asked what happened. The chairman of our estate was the one that called the DPO of Ejigbo Police Division and informed him about the incident. The police came down within 30 minutes of getting the news. They went round, took pictures, and took away all that was at the scene as exhibits. Her wristwatch, wedding ring (which must have fallen from her hand when struggling with the killers), phones and everything else, were intact. Even her phone kept ringing”.
Mr Ifewulu says doesn’t know who he could have offended that would have wanted to hurt him by killing his wife
“I run my business all alone, and I can’t recall having any issue with anybody either in business or on the street. What will bring about such? If it is a matter of losing money that can cause a quarrel between me and anyone and I would just forget about the money. The arrangement we had that morning was that she would stop over at her shop and get some money to buy goods at the Trade Fair complex” he said
Asked whether his wife had any problems with anyone, Mr Ifeluwu said
” Hmm! I will like to hold on for now till a later time, because…let me just hold on for now.”
Speaking on the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer for the Lagos State Police Command, Mr. Kenneth Nwosu, said a full scale investigation has been launched on the matter and that the case has now been transferred from the Ejigbo Police station where it was first reported to the State CID headquarters at Panti, Yaba.
“A crime has been committed and the police have a duty to thoroughly investigate it,” Nwosu said.
Almost four weeks after 3 5 – y e a r – o l d Martha Ifeoma Ifewulu was gruesomely murdered in her home in the Oke- Afa area of Lagos, on December 1, more facts have emerged on her death.
Her grieving husband, Chief Lawrence Ugochukwu Ifewulu, has given an indication that she may have been killed by her boyfriend, who he suspects could have done so to prevent her from divulging their plans to kill him, dispose off his assets and elope to Canada with his children.
Still beset by the shock of discovering the corpse of his wife who was preparing to go out as he left the house to visit a clinic for some medical test, Ifewulu accused his wife of infidelity.
When the incident first happened, Ifewulu had been reluctant to voice his suspicions in an earlier interview with Sunday Sun, but having had time to reflect on the days, weeks and months that preceded the unfortunate incident, Ifewulu gave reasons for his strong suspicion that one Collins, the alleged boyfriend of his wife, killed her.
Explaining the basis for his suspicion, he told Sunday Sun: “Remember I did not complete a statement I made while speaking with you when this incident happened. I wanted to be sure of what I was going to say, though I had no two persons I hold as prime suspects. I am not having any doubt or maybe suspecting any two or three people. Even if he did not execute it by himself, he sent some people to carry out the operation. I am quite sure of who killed my wife; he is responsible. This is beyond suspicion. This guy went as far as telling me that he had been dating my wife for two years. He went as far as telling me that if they kill me, they would sell my house and then he would take her and the kids to Canada. After all he told me about all that had been transpiring between my wife and himself, he expected me to divorce my wife but I did not do so. He would have thought that so many things were hidden and that if I should continue to live with my wife, she would tell me all and he would not be safe anymore.”
“I gave the name of the person I am suspecting to them (the police) and I even wrote that in my statement. See the person I suspected, from day one (showing a picture). This is my wife beside him. This picture was downloaded from Facebook. We were only able to get this because the person that saw it saved it and after he copied the picture from Facebook, he said that he could no longer see it there some days after. It had been removed from Facebook.”
When asked what relationship existed between Collins and his wife, Ifewulu did not hesitate to say: “He was her boyfriend. That is why I said my wife killed herself. The people that brought the picture from Facebooksaid this boy (Collins) made a comment, “Perfect Match” against the picture of himself and my wife which he posted on Facebook.”
The said picture, Sunday Sun gathered, was taken when Ifeoma (the deceased) and Collins attended the burial of her mother, which was held in October this year.
“From the very first day I saw her corpse, I said it even to the face of one of her siblings that she killed herself. I am not in doubt over what I am saying because of all that transpired,” lamented Ifewulu.
“I can remember that he (the suspect) gave me a call on the last Saturday of October, this same year, and from what he told me, they had been going out for two years. My wife opened up when I told her that I would forgive her for anything she must have done wrong. He belongs to this syndicate of boys who prey on married women and tell them lies about their husbands and before you know it, the women have put themselves in bondage,” he added.
The late Ifeoma is yet to be buried. It was gathered that the autopsy was performed as part of the ongoing police investigation. The relations of the deceased have been very helpful in the ongoing investigation to fish out the suspect.
Hear Ifewulu again: “Her family has been cooperating. Even the brother of my wife knows this guy but he knows him as one of my workers. We went to meet his (the suspect’s town union here in Lagos and they promised that they would pass the information to the people in the village so that his people can come and answer. The police have even invited the caretaker of the house where he was living to make a statement.”
Sympathizers have continued to throng the home of Ifewulu and express their shock over the murder. “The woman was a very good woman,” revealed a passerby who spoke to Sunday Sun.
Further findings revealed that the deceased had on several occasions sent the two maids living with the family to deliver both food and money to the suspect whose house was not far from that of the Ifewulus.
On the fateful day of the incident on December 1, the corpse of late Ifeoma was discovered by her maid who had just come back from school with the children at 3.30pm. As they got into the house through the rear staircase, the maid and the children were confronted by the sight of blood splatered all over the floor, and flowing freely down the stairs. The maid tiptoed upstairs wondering where the blood had come from. It was then that she and the children saw the dead body of Ifeoma sprawled on the floor in a pool of blood. The maid raised the alarm that attracted the attention of their female neighbour. The sight of Ifeoma with the silky-soft skin of her throat hideously slashed with a knife as one would do to a goat was gut-wrenching. The female neighbour equally screamed upon sighting the corpse. It was long sustained for help that brought other neighbours from nearby house rushing into the compound to know what was amiss. They too were shocked to the marrow. While still sobbing, the female neighbour called Ifewulu on the phone, and frantically urged him to rush back home immediately, but the neighbour kept him in the dark about the death of his wife. All the way home, Ifewulu wondered what could have happened. It was when Ifewulu got home at 5.00pm that he was told about the murder of his wife. Soon after the chairman of the estate called the DPO of Ejigbo Police Division and informed him about the incident, and the police rushed to the scene within 30 minutes.
Until her death, Ifeoma was a staunch member of the Noble Fitness Club of Nigeria and was said to be so committed to keeping fit that she never missed her training sessions for anything.
Meanwhile, police sources told Sunday Sun that investigation in the case was ongoing, but added that no suspect had yet been arrested. While the police go through the painstaking process of investigating the murder, the four bereaved children of the couple – Chidera, Ugochuchukwu, Mesioma and Onyinyechi – are still overcome by grief. Truly, this year’s Christmas season may rightly go down as the darkest since they were born and may remain so for long.
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