For 22-year old Chika Egbo, student of the Enugu State College of
Education, life will never be the same again as her estranged lover,
David Sulaimon, has bathed her with acid – destroying every visible skin
from her chest upwards.
Chika who is currently receiving treatment at the Burns Unit of the
Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, had met Sulaimon
sometime last year and they immediately struck a chord to the extent of
planning marriage.
Chika’s father, Matthew Egbo, a Taraba State-based businessman,
narrated the incident that led to his daughter’s state – the story
brought tears to his eyes as he lamented that his daughter would never
be normal again.
According to Matthew, after agreeing to give his daughter’s hand in
marriage to Sulaimon, he requested him to bring his parents for proper
introduction, but the suitor said his father was ill and needed to be
taken abroad for treatment. He also said his mother was abroad.
However, a date of June 25 was agreed on and Sulaimon brought seven
men and four women dressed in Yoruba attire to the Matthew’s hometown,
Enugu, where the introduction was held.
“But around November last year, my wife traveled from Taraba to
Enugu and Chika told her she was pregnant” Matthew narrated. But Chika
told her parents they should not be alarmed since she and Sulaiman had
agreed to get married.
Chika was instructed to go to Lagos and tell Sulaiman’s relations about the pregnancy.
But when she got back from Lagos, Chika told her father that she
discovered that most of what Sulaiman had told her about his parents
were lies. While his supposedly ‘ill’ father was not only hale and
hearty, he denied knowledge of any plans by his son to get married.
Likewise, Sulaimon’s mother was not abroad as claimed – she received
Chika well and even expressed joy that her son had found someone to
marry.
That would be the last time the Matthew’s family heard anything from
Sulaimon nor his family until she put to bed a baby girl on May 4. Chika
still informed Sulaimon of her safe delivery but he gave series of
excuses why he could not visit her.
He reportedly told her he was facing some challenges and did not have the wherewithal to take care of the baby at the moment.
After a few months and Chika’s baby girl was weaned, her parents took
the decision to take care of the baby so she could continue with her
education.
It wasn’t till November that Sulaimon began to request that he needed
to see his baby, but Matthew told him to bring his parents to come and
iron things out.
Chika was said to have insisted she did not want to have anything to do with the young man anymore.
But on November 5, Chika travelled to Lagos after Sulaimon had
informed her that his mother wanted to see her. The unsuspecting girl
left Enugu without informing her parents. That would later turn out to
be a move she’ll rue for life.
From what Matthew gathered, soon as Chika got to Igando, Lagos,
Sulaimon met her and she demanded that he should take her to his mother
who wanted to see her.
“What we gathered from the little she could mumble to us was that
Sulaimon went behind a house and as they were about to pick an okada to his mother’s house, he brought out a polythene.
“But when they stopped at a point and Chika thought they were going
to proceed to his mother’s house, he just opened a container in the
polythene he was carrying and emptied its content on her head.
“She told us when she realized that what Sulaimon poured on her had
began eating into her skin, she raised the alarm and called for help.”
It was learnt that passersby and sympathizers, who had been alerted
to the young woman’s plight, pursued the fleeing Sulaimon and when he
was apprehended, they took him to Ikotun Police Station.
“Till now, I still don’t know why he did what he did,” Matthew said.
Divisional Police Officer of Ikotun, Mr. Augustin Akika, confirmed
the incident, but said the suspect had been transferred to the state
Criminal Investigations Department, Yaba.
Culled From PUNCH
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