Juliana Francis
 |
| Ogudoro |
A 54 years old man, Benjamin Ogudoro, accused of
killing his wife at the Festac area of Lagos State, a moment after she returned
from Scotland, has denied the allegation.
The suspect was further accused of not only killing
his wife by setting her on fire but also her brother.
According to the police, the deceased had just
returned from Scotland, where she had spent four years when the incident
occurred. There are allegations that she rushed back to Nigeria after receiving
information that her husband was planning to sell her property. Police are
working on the theory that Ogudoro killed his wife because he wanted to sell
her property.
Ogudoro, who was paraded on Thursday 14th,
2022 at the Command Headquarters, Ikeja, by the Lagos State Police Public
Relations Officer (PPRO), a Superintendent of Police, Benjamin Hundeyin, denied
killing his wife and his brother-in-law. He further denied coveting her
property.
Ogudoro said: “It is not true that I poured fuel on
my wife and her brother. It is a case of a fire incident. My wife just came back
on April 1, from Scotland. She called me about 9 pm, she probably wanted to take
me unawares. I started rushing home and got home about 20 minutes later. She
was already inside. When I got inside we hugged and I took some of her luggage. I welcomed her very well. We went to our rooms and started to kiss. But
after a while, her phone rang and she picked up the call. She said she wanted to
take the call where her brother, Ifeanyi, was because it concerned him. I said
all right. She headed to the guest room.”
He continued: “After 30 minutes later, she didn’t
return to the bedroom. I went to where she was with her brother and gave her a
sign that I wanted to go out, to have a bottle of beer. I went to a junction
about three poles from my house, and I had a drink. While I was there, Ifeanyi
came to buy sachets water at the bar. The bar owner told me that my brother-in-law came to buy sachet water. When my people visited me at the police station,
where I was detained I told them the truth that I was at the bar when the fire
started.”
He recalled that when he got home, he opened the
door to his apartment and saw flames of fire. He said that the fire burnt his
hands and legs.
He said: “I shouted Ifeanyi and moved back because
the flame was much. I started calling for help. Thank God the security guard
was still around. I ran to the place where I went to drink to get help to
rescue my wife and my brother-in-law.”
He added that it was because people usually stayed
late at the bar that made him run there for help.
He said: “I called for help and told them that my
house was on fire. I was begging them to pour water on me because my body was
hot. They poured me water, which was the last thing I remembered until in the
morning when I opened my eyes and found myself at the hospital.”
Responding to allegations that he killed his wife
and brother-in-law because he wanted to sell the house, the suspect explained
that he and his late wife agreed to sell the house because they needed to renew
their two years visa. The new visa would cost about an N8million and at that point
in time, Ogudoro said, his wife suggested that they should sell the house and
relocate, stressing that the house at Lagos was no longer useful.
He recounted: “That was the reason I stayed back in
Nigeria because I had a lot of things to do. I have my consulting firm and I
wanted to put certain things in order so that when I was away, the firm would
still be functioning. It was my wife’s manager who gave her the idea. They have
discussed it before she told me about it. At the same time when we were able to
gather the money for the visa renewal, we decided not to sell the house
anymore. We didn’t have any misunderstandings. I don’t have any reason to kill
her. If my phone was here, I would have shown you something; yes, a week
before she returned, I sent her N300, 000 for the accommodation over there. I
have been a very responsible husband and father to my children. Up till this
moment, if you ask the people that were with me at the cell, for like four days,
I had not taken my bath or eaten. I felt lost and when my friends visited at my cell, I told them that the news on social media was that I killed my wife. I
didn’t kill my wife. My wife’s brother Ifeanyi, lived with us for five years. He
used to spend his holidays with us. Our relationship was cordial; I have no
reason to hurt him. Ifeanyi was the only son of the family and I have made
every effort to raise him.”
