A woman, Alice Effiong, has alleged that her husband, Columbus Effiong, physically assaulted her and knocked out her teeth after punching her in the face violently.
The woman said her husband, who is a lawyer, beats her consistently despite having produced three children in the marriage.
A clip obtained by SaharaReporters showed the woman’s mouth filled with blood after allegedly receiving punches from her husband.
In another clip, a conversation between their landlord and Columbus, the lawyer was heard complaining of the frustrations he had experienced at the hand of his wife.
He said his wife pushed him into it, citing several ways she had allegedly not lived up to her responsibilities.
He said: “If it is prison, I am ready, even if it is for 10 years, I’ll be happy, so she will feel the brunt of what I am feeling, the school fees, the feeding, the nonsensical thing she is doing in my house. She has pushed me into this. Why will somebody with children be sleeping around 8:30 am?
“There is no love, it is the children that are making me condone her in this marriage.”
He was heard promising to further assault his wife for trying to take legal steps against him.
Alice, whose front teeth are not missing, said the doctor has informed her of the need to get artificial teeth installed.
She said her husband had been beating her for a long time but she described the latest assault as brutal.
“We have three children: two boys and one girl. He has been beating me for a long time, I reported him to his people thinking it would stop but it didn’t. In 2017, he married a policewoman but he was beating her too and she left him because he had beaten her up to 5 times. I am just coming from the health centre, the doctor said they will put artificial teeth for me.”
Alice is trying to take legal steps but she is confused by the procedure. According to her, she was issued some letters by the Ministry of Justice, instructing her to submit the letter to the social welfare office at Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Secretariat in Lagos.
She said the chief welfare officer asked if her husband had been paying rent and their children school fees, to which she said yes.
“The landlord took me to Akinpelu Police Station but it seems they are not serious, so he referred me to Alausa and there, they gave me a letter that I will submit at the local government secretariat.
“But they told me it is not a welfare issue but rather a purely domestic violence issue and then, I was referred back to Akinpelu Police Station Human Rights Unit.
“When I got to Akinpelu Police Station Human Rights Unit, the woman there said I should wait till this Saturday morning because my husband might have a case to attend to during the week.
Alice said she doesn’t want to separate from her husband but hopes he can be prevailed upon to stop assaulting her.
She said, “I don’t want to separate from him but when the deliberations are concluded on Saturday and he doesn’t change, I might have to leave him. All I want is that they should ensure he doesn’t beat me anymore. It’s the beating I don’t want.”
