My pregnant wife was on phone with me when she was killed – Slain corps member’s husband

The late Agnes

Sitting dejected, gazing at the casket bearing the remains of his beautiful wife lying-in-state at the Government House, Awka recently, Mr. Peter Ezennaedozie was every inch a devastated man. He was still in shock and confusion, as he could not comprehend why his four months old marriage should come to a tragic end just because his wife, Mrs. Agnes Ezennaedozie (nee Anyanwu) went to serve her fatherland in Bauchi State.

The late Agnes, who was a Business Administration and Management graduate of Ebonyi State Polytechnic, was slain in Bauchi State during the post-presidential election crisis in the North, as she was burnt with her six weeks old pregnancy in a police station.

Telling the tales of his misfortune, the Achina, Aguata Local Government Area born Ezennaedozie, told Saturday Sun, in agony, that he was even speaking with his wife, who was reporting to him her helpless situation, before her assailants descended on her.
Describing his pregnant wife’s death as a great loss, Ezennaedozie urged the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, do something about the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme, noting that the northerners, having made it clear, with the killings, that they do not want southerners in their states, for the programme, it would only be fair for southerners to serve in the South, while northerners serve in the North henceforth.

He said: “It is callous killing innocent people because of politics. It is too bad for someone serving his country freely, armless to be killed by somebody, from nowhere. So I pray that the Federal Government should do something and stop this barbaric act.

“Again, I want the country to do something about this service of a thing. People from the north should serve in the North; then southerners should serve in the South because I see no reason somebody will freely go to the North to serve his nation and would be killed, for no just cause. After all, the northern corps members are in the South and nothing happens to them. We did election here; we did it in the North: there was nothing like riot here. It is only in the North, where they killed people.
Talking about his marriage, he said: “We just wedded in February. Now I lost her. She was pregnant, about six weeks pregnant. I lost everything. I lost her. I lost the baby.”

Narrating further his last discussion with the wife, on the fateful day, Peter said: “She called me on that day, telling me that there was trouble in the place; that they were rioting in the area. I then asked her, where she was. She said they had been taken to the police station. I asked her if the police station was safe. She said yes, adding that the police assured them that nothing would happen to them. I was reassured.

“But 10 minutes later, she called again and started telling me that the people are approaching the police station. I told her to leave the police station and run for her life. She said the attacker had already surrounded the police station and the police could not do anything to help them.

“They poured fuel on the police station building and put fire and when my wife was trying to run out, I was still communicating with her. So, at a time I lost contact with her, but I heard a scream, after that I did not hear anything again. I kept on calling the line but nobody picked it until after two hours; one man picked the call and I asked him if I could speak with the owner of the phone. He said the owner of the phone was seriously injured. I asked if I could speak with her, that she was my wife; the man now said there was no how I could speak with her, that she was unconscious, that they were trying to rush her to the hospital.

“So they rushed her to the hospital. After three hours, she spoke to me in pains and said that all her body was burnt. I even have some of her pictures in my phone. She received about 58 to 60 degree burnt.”

Source : Geoffrey Anyanwu, www.sunnewsonline.com