Governor Sullivan Chime has finally evicted his official wife from the government house in Enugu after several days of wrangling. The first lady of state was packed up and moved with her 4-year old son to her mother’s house in Enugu. Security agents were posted outside the house for several hours to ensure she did not return to the government house.
SaharaReporters broke the news about the illegal detention of Mrs. Clara Chime on orders of the governor, who claimed she had mental health issues. Mrs. Chime has since refuted the charge, maintaining that she was being held in the government house under duress and was heavily medicated by a team of doctors in connivance with the governor.
Speaking to reporters at her mother’s place, Mrs. Chime described how her marriage to the governor had broken down, with four years passing without any intimacy between them.
She said she continued to stay in the government house hoping that the governor might change his ways after receiving treatment for cancer in the United Kingdom; she also charged that several members of her family would not allow her to leave the governor because they were benefiting from the governor directly.
Mrs. Chime insisted she was not mentally ill as portrayed by the governor and his aides. She said the marriage was so bad that she frequently had nervous breakdowns, which led the governor to confine her to a section of the government house until she managed to smuggle out an email crying for help. A copy of the email published by SaharaReporters led to an inquiry by the National Human Rights Commission and the intervention of one of Nigeria’s foremost, human rights attorneys, Femi Falana.
Mrs. Chime’s community is reportedly outraged at her treatment by the Governor. The traditional ruler of Ozuluobu Community, Umunneoche, Abia State, His Royal Highness, Eze Bob I. A. Ogbenna, said the family had formerly informed him of the marriage breakdown and her eviction from the governor’s house. Obgenna, who said he handed over Clara to Chime when he came for her marriage some years ago, said in a press interview: “That is not how to return somebody’s daughter whose dowry was paid in Igboland. She was never a slave.”
After an interview with Mrs. Chime, the NHRC’s Executive Secretary, Professor Bem Angwe, downplayed the Governor’s assertion that his wife was mentally ill. Angwe said the ousted wife spoke to them fluently and coherently, adding, “She answered all the questions we raised in her presence as a person who is aware of the circumstances of her environment and the consequence of her action.”
However, he said Mrs Chime had admitted to suffering from depression and “hallucinations” which she has since denied.
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