Ex-Soldier Punches Wife To Death

An ex-soldier, Sunday Agbiji Eyam is now sharing a detention cell at the State Criminal Bureau Calabar with hardened criminals after he allegedly punched his wife to death on suspicion of adultery.
Agbiji , a native Nkprura community in Ikom Local Government Area of Cross River State, Southsouth Nigeria, allegedly punched his wife, Mrs. Rose Agbiji following a fight which erupted between the couple over a perceived adulterous act.

Sources told a correspondence that prior to the day of the incident, Agbiji alleged that a young man who had become a regular visitor to his house, came again without an invitation, allegedly walked past him while he was at the entrance to the compound.
A few minutes later, he alleged that the wife was sighted standing at the corridor of his house with the man whom he had always suspected of having an affair with her, apparently planning to take her away.
Disturbed, Agbiji said he decided to accost them, seeking to know what their discussion was all about.
“I asked my wife to tell me what the man was discussing with her but she did not give any convincing answer. I turned to the man and he refused to tell me what he was discussing with my wife,” he said.
He said he tried to find out what transpired from his two children who were standing close, but none of them said anything. This made him angry and he left the house to see his girlfriend, Miss Agi Agbor, where he slept till the next day.
He said further: “I came back the next morning and met my wife cooking yam for breakfast, so I removed one piece to eat. As I was eating, my mother in-law suddenly stormed into the compound, ranting at me that why am I fond of accusing her daughter of sleeping with men.”
Convinced that his wife had an affair with the visitor, he said: “I went into my room and brought N1,000, which I gave to my mother in-law to take her daughter to the village shrine to swear, because that is where she would have been proved guilty.”
What culminated in the tragic incident reportedly started when the mother in-law and Rose declined to go to the native doctor and threw the money back at Agbiji.
He alleged that Rose had started starving him of sex because she had other men that always satisfied her sexual desire.
His words: “I am a retired army officer so I do things like a soldier. As I gave them N1,000 to go and take an oath and my mother in-law with my wife refused, I was provoked, so I started dragging my wife.”
The man, who claimed he did not use any weapon on the woman, said “I slapped her like a soldier and she fell down. I gave her only one slap like a soldier, I did not use any weapon on her.”
As Rose slumped, struggling in vain to stand to her feet, Agbaji said he left the scene to pick his machete to go to the farm.
Before he could leave the house, he said his only daughter and a neighbour ran to him, shouting that Rose was unconscious, and needed to be rushed to the hospital
The man allegedly abandoned his farm implement and took the woman to nearby Ekpokpa health post, where the health workers told him that the veins of the woman were no longer kicking.
He later transferred the woman who was in a state of coma to Monty Private Hospital in Ikom Town where she was confirmed dead by the doctor on duty.
Their 24-year marriage was said to have produced five children –four boys and a girl.
“This is a woman that gave me five children (four boys and a girl). I retired from the Nigerian Army in 1979 and got married to her in 1988,” he lamented.
He further claimed that he never wished his wife dead, and appealed to government and God to forgive him, as he was tempted by the devil.
Siblings of the late Rose told a correspondence at the State Police Headquarters that Agbiji had turned their sister into a punching bag since they got married, but the man maintained that the incident was their first fight in 24 years of marital relationship.