- Police begin manhunt for husband in Lagos
Not even her co-passengers or the operators of a popular commercial transport company (names withheld) could withstand the shock occasioned by this strange incident! To say that everyone at the bus terminus in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, last Thursday was confused by this strange occurrence would be an understatement. Mouth agape, they were all just asking one another only one question, “What could have happened to her?”
A female passenger, later identified as Felicia, who had travelled in a bus from Lagos to Uyo, several hours after a man eye witnesses described as her husband had facilitated her boarding of the bus at the terminus in Lagos, collapsed upon arrival at her destination in Akwa Ibom and died on the spot.
An eye witness, who pleaded anonymity, said, “Earlier yesterday (Thursday 6.pm precisely), I went to Itam Park long distance bus terminus, where I was expecting a parcel from Lagos.
“On arrival I saw an unusual crowd and I decided to get close only to find this woman stone dead and laid beside the bus, which earlier brought her from Lagos to Uyo.
“I was privileged to ask a co-passenger, who boarded the same vehicle with her from Lagos to Uyo. She said the woman’s husband brought her to the park alive to board the vehicle, knowing that the woman wasn’t very strong to embark on such a long journey. I learnt that her husband had made an arrangement with a pastor here in Uyo to pick her up and commence prayers to heal her.”
The eye witness confirmed that the woman had arrived in Uyo alive, alighted from the vehicle and asked the driver for her luggage before she slumped and died.
“Seeing she was weak, they offered her a chair to sit on while waiting to be picked up by her host. The next thing, she fell off the chair and that was the end for her here on earth,” he added.
The eye witness added that after some few minutes, “the pastor she was expecting to pick her from the bus terminus came, but when he was told from a distance that the woman he just spoke with on the phone had died, the man (pastor) took to his heels and disappeared from the bus terminus.
“Everyone deserted her but the Good Samaritan in me came alive and I decided not to leave her there just like others had done. I had to put a call across to the police and they responded swiftly. They came to the scene, but my joy was complete when a woman came around and identified the lady as Felicia. She wept and said ‘Edoh eke wod,’ meaning ‘they married her to kill her.’ She has been taken to the mortuary, even as police insist that the matter would be investigated.
“But my question is this, why will a man allow his wife travel such a long distance alone, knowing too well that she was ill? Did he ever love that woman? Did he know the woman won’t survive and decided to send her back to die in her state? Why didn’t he take her to the hospital for treatment? Or could it be that he knew something about her death?”
A top police officer attached to the Criminal Investigations Department of the Akwa Ibom State Police Command told our correspondent that, a “good Samaritan” had alerted the police about the incident last Thursday. “I can’t exactly say what happened yet, because the investigation has just begun. From witnesses’ account here, it is like the lady had been sick and was travelling down here for treatment. But what we cannot reconcile is why a sick passenger would not be accompanied by anyone,” the police officer, who pleaded anonymity, said. The police have taken over the case and the driver of the particular bus that brought the woman from Lagos has been arrested and detained.
“The driver would have to find a way to get the man that brought her to the bus station in Lagos to board the bus to Uyo,” the police officer said.
The Akwa Ibom State Commissioner of Police, Don Awunah, in a telephone chat, confirmed the incident to our correspondent on the telephone. “Yes! My brother I am aware of that ugly incident and I’ve asked the SCID to take up the matter. Policemen would be in Lagos for the so-called husband, who took her to the bus terminal.
seeing she was weak, they offered her a chair to sit on while waiting to be picked up by her host. The next thing, she fell off the chair and that was the end for her here on earth
“I have also directed that the driver of the bus be detained. We would need them to assist us through the investigation. I am planning to issue a directive to interstate bus operators in the state that passengers’ health status bus be ascertained before they allow them to travel in their vehicles. Whereby it is establish that a passenger is not feeling fine, such a passenger must be accompanied by an adult,” Awunah said.
