The police in Edo State have arrested a 21-year-old youth, Salami Anedu, for allegedly killing his wife, Esther Friday, 21, following a misunderstanding over food.
The suspect was paraded by the Edo State Police Command alongside other suspects arrested for various crimes in the state.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Chidi Nwabuzor, said Anedu was arrested on August 30 by men from the Fugar Police Division.
He said one Aluaye Momoh reported to the police that Anedu used a stick to kill his wife during a misunderstanding at their house in Ugbekpe community.
Nwabuzor said the police stormed the scene and arrested the suspect before taking the corpse to the Fugar General Hospital mortuary.
According to him, the case was transferred to the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation Department, Benin, for investigation.
In an interview with journalists, the suspect, while denying killing his wife, said he had a quarrel with her over food.
He said, “She cooked rice and said I should not eat from the food. I went to cook yam and egg on my own, but she said I could not eat the food. As I was still eating the food, she started quarreling with me and threatened to bring her brothers to my house to beat me up.
“I thought she was joking. But she came back with two of her brothers, who were armed with sticks and they started fighting me. After the fight, my wife went to my mother’s house to pass the night, but I was surprised when vigilantes came to arrest me that I killed my wife.
“I didn’t kill my wife; I didn’t hit her with wood. It was her brothers that came to my house with wood but because I dragged with them, they said I was the one that killed her. My wife was sick before.”
