Woman 56, held by Police for defending herself

An attempt by a 56 year old mother of four to defend herself from being strangled by her younger brother is being translated by the Nigeria Police as attempted murder leading to her being detained at the Nigeria Police Divisional Headquarters at Ikotun, Lagos today.     

Trouble started for Mrs. Rose Adigwe three weeks ago when her younger brother she had been harbouring since September 2010 assaulted   her after a slight misunderstanding at her Ikotun residence.       It was gathered that Mrs. Adigwe who had been harbouring her younger brother known as Felix Ojigbani (a.k.a Felix Goodwill) since he was deported from Germany last year, was being strangled by her brother when her two daughters ran to help separate them.

When all attempts failed to make Felix release his grip on the neck of his else sister who is said to have a Low Blood Pressure health condition, she gripped him by his manhood. Neighbours intervened and got the sibling separated; Felix packed out of the house that night.

Subsequent efforts of Mrs. Adigwe to get across to his brother proved abortive until early this morning when police officers led by one Inspector Florence came to arrest Mrs. Adigwe and her two daughters charging them with attempted murder. She later learnt that one of his brother's testicles had been removed surgically.     

They were taken to the police station at Ikotun and locked up with a lawyer who identified himself as Mr. Ojieh demanding that the family pays the medical bills of his client, Felix, which he claims is N350,000.     

While at the police station, the lawyer claimed that Mrs. Adigwe attacked his client and that there was never a time he (Felix) tried to strangle her in an attempt to   debunk the claim that Mrs. Adigwe acted in self defence; a misdirection neighbours faulted as false.     

With the   police making little or no effort to investigate the matter and determine whether the 'suspect' acted in self defence, some female officers kept advising the family to sue for peace and pay the medical bills as requested by the lawyer, Mr. Ojeih.     

When contacted on the development, Mrs. Josehpine Chukwuma, founder of Project Alert, an NGO that fights against violence against women said they would be getting down to the police station to have a look at the case.     With the husband of Mrs. Adigwe aged 75 years and her eldest daughter still looking for work, neighbours expressed worry where in the world they could get such huge amount of money to pay for the medical bills.         

From her detention cell, Mrs. Adigwe called on to Nigerians to come to her aid as she had no lawyer or any person to fight her cause.