Community Where Women Determine How Long Men Live

CHUKA UBAH

Perhaps it looks strange but it is a fact in Ebonyi State in the Southeast of Nigeria that married women actually determine how long their husbands will live on earth because of their ancient tradition that had lasted for several decades.

P.M.EXPRESS confirmed that in the area once a married woman sleeps with another man, the husband must surely die if the wife did not submit herself to perform certain rituals.
That much was disclosed by some men in the affected towns who had been agitating that the tradition should be abolished and not allow women to decide their fate on earth.

Some of the affected communities included Ivo, Akaeze, Okposi and other neighbouring towns in the state.
P.M.EXPRESS findings revealed that marriage is a strong tradition in those communities and once a woman marries any man, she was bound by the sanctity of the marital vows to stick to her husband for life. Women are regarded as the pillars of the successes of their husband and so they determine the success and failure of their husbands.
However, once a married woman goes outside her matrimonial home and sleeps with another man, automatically it becomes a death warrant to her husband. Therefore, women are powerful, respected and dreaded in those communities as the people believe that they decide how long men lived on earth because of the tradition.

A recent matter before the Ejigbo Police Division in Lagos has confirmed the power of the women in those places and equally increased the agitation for the abolishment of the tradition which their elders had consistently refused to heed to.
There was a case of a Lagos based business man, one David, who went to their village in Ivo town and got married to his wife, Ijeoma, at her tender age, brought her to Lagos and they had four children.
In Lagos, Ijeoma got exposed to Western education and modern life and her lifestyle changed. She then ignored their tradition which has shattered the dream of their family and that of the entire community.
She was said to have slept with another man and suddenly her husband fell sick and was taken to many hospitals to no avail.
David was eventually taken to their village where it was discovered that Ijeoma had slept with another man and that was the cause of the strange illness.
P.M.EXPRESS gathered that Ijeoma was summoned by the elders to come down to the village to perform certain rituals so that her husband can recover but she refused and David eventually died.
The family then alleged that since Ijeoma knew their tradition and went outside to sleep with another man, that she was the one that killed her husband. She was then barred from coming for David’s burial and prevented from inheriting his property.
At that point, Ijeoma communicated that she was not ready to drag her late husband’s properties in the village with the family but that she must inherit those ones her late husband had acquired in the city but the family refused. She then went to the police and reported that her husband’s family and the community had conspired to take her husband’s properties from because she was a widow. The police summoned the leaders of the both family and the community in Lagos over the allegation.

P.M.EXPRESS gathered that at the police station, the community insisted that Ijeoma should explain what happened to her husband because she was aware of their tradition but she denied killing her husband as alleged.
When our correspondent visited Ejigbo Police Division, a police source confirmed that there was such report. Before the P.M.EXPRESS correspondent left the police station, the DPO could not be reached in order to know how the police intend to resolve the matter.