Christina Onwuliri, who is married to Chukwuemeka Osmond Onwuliriwho, accused Goodluck Jonathan's Minister, Viola Onwuliri of trying to run her home because she married her son, has made more revelations. She explains explains why her documents were seized, and what really led to the detachment of her two daughters. Excerpt from her revelations.
Most people are
wondering why such issue became a public affair. Why?
Some people kept
asking why this matter became a public affair. What would I have done when I
tried all I could to hide this issue from my dad and close family members? There
was nobody around my husband’s place that I didn’t talk to.Some were unable to
speak. Some were scared to get into the matter because of his mother. Some were
looking out for an opportunity to cause more harm to our marriage. The one that
pains me the most was when I took it to our marriage sponsor. I expected a
better resolve towards it. At least when disagreement occurs in marriage, one
would either try resolving it, or to even talk to a family member that
understands. But here, I protected it from my family, to an extent that they
will call to know what was happening, yet I will pretend to the very high level
that nothing happened just to keep my home.
When it ran out of
hands with abuse after abuse, I went to see our marriage sponsor. He claimed to
understand the whole situation, but later, I was disappointed to see him trying
to seduce me. He promised to offer anything that will bring happiness to my life
only if I will go to bed with him. What happiness? When my home is on fire? When
I can’t even enjoy the joy of marriage? I felt highly disappointed and
depressed. It was as if nobody was around for me. I could have called my family,
but their option may not have been the best then, because the treatment I was
getting is a total insult to them, especially to my dad.
When your family
later knew of what you were passing through, what did they suggest or
do?
When my dad later
knew of what happened, he silently called my husband, asking him to secretly
dissolve the marriage in Canada since it wasn’t working. And I knew why he told
him that. He never wanted our problem to be at the public. He made that
suggestion to save the image of my husband’s family, especially the mum who was
serving as a Minister then. But, my husband didn’t oblige to it till when we
returned to Nigeria.
What led to your return to
Nigeria?
It was
in one of the interferences of my mother in-law. She said that my husband
is not obliged to keep me in Canada where we based or elsewhere in the world.
And after this encounter with her, my husband told me we will be visiting
Nigeria in February. I had no misgivings about it.
When we arrived to the family house
in Owerri, I noticed the presence of a Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Jude Onuoha, a
serving Honourable member at the Imo State House of Assembly, Hon. Mike Iheanetu
and few others that I don’t know their names. Later, I noticed that my husband
picked up a bag and was leaving without prior information to me. Cautiously, I
approached him to know where he was going, but to my greatest surprise, he
violently pushed me into a room and locked me up.
At that point, I saw those men taking
my children away without my consent. Then, I started screaming and was helpless
but had no option than to start breaking the window panes in the room to get
myself out. When they saw I was breaking the glasses, one of the drivers opened
the door and I came out shouting for help, and then my children were nowhere to
be found.
What exactly will you say made them to seize your papers?
You know I have dual citizenships.
Through marriage, he came to Canada on Immigrant Status basis. They don’t want
an immediate termination to all these benefits, and that’s why they are working
so hard to paralyze from taking steps at least till their consultations. I have
been used here. I have been humiliated. I have been traumatized. But I kept
asking, is he not the same man that promised to love and cherish me as a wife?
What went wrong? What did I do to him? Even if every other person fails to
understand the challenges we faced as a family, why will his case be different?
I have sacrificed everything to keep this marriage, yet, he kept frustrating my
efforts with his actions. Is it when I die from domestic violence that I will be
appreciated as a wife?
From the pictures released by your
husband, one would be wondering how you went about to cause that number of
damages. How true were those pictures?
When I saw them, I got surprised at
it all. I wondered how it all happened. But no matter the circumstances, I like
being truthful to myself first. One is that I told you I damaged the window pane
to get myself out of the house when I got locked up. It’s self-defense. What
surprised me most after all that happened were numbers of photos released. I saw
areas I didn’t even visit. I saw damages beyond what I placed my hands on. I
never did all that. Heaven knows, I didn’t. It was their own buildup to make
their claims look real and strong. Besides, how could they have allowed me to
cause that number of damage when they were all around? They are out to destroy
me and the image of my family. I never did all that.
He even accused you of being
mad?
You read it! And we are here now, at
least you asked for this very interview probably to hear from me and to observe
if I’m mad as he claims. You are now in a better position to read his lines of
accusation one after the other, and then refute them yourself based on the true
fact you’ve seen. I am not mad. I never suffered
from madness. And I will not suffer from one. Remember, this is a man who
came and asked for my hand in marriage. Traditionally you know what it is to
enquire about somebody you want to marry, and which after being satisfied with
it all, you boldly go on to ask for the person’s hand in marriage. He did all
that, and we also did ours. We are not here to accuse anybody of anything in the
past we saw before going into our marriage agreement. But why are they accusing
me and my family wrongly? What is our offence? They took away my little
daughters. They took away my traveling documents, passports and academic
certificates. What for?
He claims that his late father gave
your dad his job as a lecturer. How true is it?
No single truth around it at all.
They did nothing. Even when his mum took my credentials to get me a job, what
happened? She kept misplacing them. Whether she was saying the truth or not, I
can’t tell. But I know she never took anything about me serious because she
hated me. I’ve been called to represent my husband at most family meetings, but
she will walk me out saying I’m not a member of her family. Or is it the one
that concerns my family? The only time she visited my father’s house was during
the traditional wedding where she spent just four hours and left. Since then,
she has not visited again. We even had issue of who visits our home from my
father’s family house. They enlisted names of people they would want to come to
the house or not to come. When I questioned that, they said they never wanted my
people to finish their money. What money? These were people coming to visit
their sister and daughter who left home for marriage.
In Port Harcourt as well, whenever
his mum will be visiting us, she will come with her own food in a flask. At a
point, he told the son that whenever she will be coming to Port Harcourt and
finds out he is not at home that she will not stopover. What did I not pass
through? I passed through hell in their hands.
She
never had it comfortable being with me as the son’s wife. I noticed it,
even as I stood not to accept the marriage, but then, my husband was so
desperate to get me into the family. Even when I confronted him over the mum’s
discomfort towards me, he would cover it up with words like I’m getting married
to him not his mum. And then, I would wonder what I
was coming into the family to do when I can’t see his mother as my own my
mother. But something solidified my position of acceptance. His late father
did. The late Prof stood against all wrongs in the family that we were
all afraid to dare his principles. Well respected man with great values, he gave
me all confidence to be a member of his family. But when I went through abuse,
depression and rejection, he was nowhere around to stand by me. He was nowhere
to consolidate on his words to me and to my family. I think his death caused the
biggest damage.
What further happened after the death
of Professor Celestine Onwuliri?
My mother in-law took over everything
by becoming a mini-god. She decides who stays and goes. I couldn’t even suggest
what my husband could listen to. Even all advises ended up in the mother’s ear.
It was as if I had no confider again. At slight issues, he would raise his hands
and will beat me like a common criminal. Between 2011 and 2014, while I was
living in Port Harcourt with my husband, he physically and mentally abused me.
For example, when arguments concerning on way forward in the marriage, he gets
infuriated and physically beats me and locks me up in the toilet for as long as
he wishes. I will cry and cry, but tears will dry without anyone consoling
me.
Do you
think your husband cheated on you?
It depends on the type of cheating.
If you mean the kind of cheating that involved him with another woman, I
wouldn’t know. And I can’t accuse him wrongly. But if it’s based on the fact
that he masturbated while in my presence, and even as he moves with some male
friends as if they were dating, I think I will agree to it.
Mastur-bated in your
presence?
Of course, he did. It irritated me so
much that I didn’t know what to do. I felt a time why he would engage into such.
I mean, I’m his wife and he had me around. What
stopped him from taking me to bed to catch some relieve of whatsoever?
He would just be mastur-bating, while I will be there crying. Most times he
would travel after my mum would have sent sum money for my up-keep and that of
the family, but he will disappear with it only to return looking so weak.
The truth is that he is a gay. He lied to
his mum just to stay overseas, because he knew that's where he can only stay to
indulge in such habits. While in Canada, he was bringing men to our home, even
as he would sleep with them on our matrimonial bed.
Why was your mum sending money for
the family’s up-keep?
You know
my husband lost his job at Schlumberger, and his papers were stamped
unemployable. Since then, we have tried getting another job for him but
no way. Even his mum who was a Minister could not get him a job. At least to
tell you how serious it was.
Why did he slap the
French woman?
He said he can’t work
under a woman. And at slight times, he would brag of his mum being a Minister.
He even said that if the French woman tries misbehaving that the mum will use
her contacts against her. When he lost his job, I wondered why his mum couldn’t
save the situation again.
