It’s killing season or so it seems following after several cases of women butchering their husbands or battering them as we have been forced to witness in the last few months.
It’s strange because the women involved are mostly educated, they are women who could have walked away from their marriages and still live well; these women are also aware of the consequences of their actions and most importantly, they know that they are unlikely to get away with murder and yet…they plunged the knives.
Recall the case of the Yewande Oyediran, the lawyer who stabbed her husband, Lowo Oyediran to death; then Temitope Adebamiro who murdered her husband Adeyinka Adebamiro in Delaware USA, a country where the woman gets a listening ear especially over domestic violence; Maryam Sanda, rich and educated, stabbed her husband Haliru Bello to death; Victoria Gagariga, a staff of Arts and culture ministry in Bayelsa state, stabbed her husband, Henry Gagariga, to death. The latest is a Lagos lawyer, Udeme Otike, who murdered her husband, Otike Odibi, just weeks ago.
The curious thing here is the meticulous nature of their actions; they had time to think, they had time to back off or call a friend or family or seek help for their homicidal thoughts; they chose not to, they bode their time; they waited for their prey; and when the men came home, tired from the day’s labour, these women took out the knives and ended the game.
Why?
These were women scorned.
And hell hath no fury for these types of women…
They lived in bitterness and they bottled up the rage against these men; they smiled at the world but inwardly devised a plan. They took notes, they never forgot nor forgave. That old flame the husband swore meant nothing to him; those late night calls that had become too frequent; those lipstick stains he could no longer explain away; the rumour of a child outside; the lame excuses of being ‘with the boys’ that no longer rang true…
So, these women waited in the comfort of their homes for their prey to get lazy and careless and familiar and in the midst of that familiarity, in the midst of that usual banter between husband and wife, the usual spousal quarrel that never leads to anything major, they found the right spot and plunged their knives in.
It is calculated, it is meticulously planned, it is cold blooded!
While hell may have no fury to match these supposedly scorned women, their lives going forward will be one long living hell.
Why?
They have all murdered sleep and its accompaniments; they have murdered a human being, a brother to someone, a confidante to someone, the beloved son of someone, a father to some kids; a long-time friend to so many people…they have taken away joy, laughter, the future and freedom to be at ease.
You murdering Iyawo, why didn’t you walk away? You could’ve; especially since you can fend for yourself.
Why didn’t you explore other options like the rest of womanhood?
We don’t kill people because they cheat on us, we have the option of confronting them, we have the option of walking away from them, we have the option of kicking him out if we own the property, we even have the option of cheating back, just to slight the blighter and show him two can play, what we don’t do is kill them!
No, Iyawo, you crossed the line, there!
And because of that, you will know no sleep; you will know no rest, you will look for death and it will shun you; the pain you feel will be incomparable; like a parched throat constantly filled with sand; it will hurt like hell; it will threaten to choke you but won’t. You will cry out as the ghost of the dead haunt you day and night; you will regret your actions a thousand times and wish you could turn back the hands of the clock. Your story will be told as a lesson to other young women preparing for marriage; old wives will use you as an example of how not to be a wife; they will mock your method, they will scorn your family; they will tell their sons not to marry into your family because you have tainted your heritage.
Iyawo, killing your husband was not a good idea, ra ra!!!