Mrs. CLARA Chime on Monday left the Government House in Enugu
claiming she had been under pressure to remain as wife of the Enugu
State Governor, Sullivan Chime.
She
said she would have walked away from the marriage during the period
Chime was sick and was away for five months, but remained on
“very compassionate grounds.”
Mrs.
Chime said her thinking was that the sickness would change the
governor’s ways towards her but that he got worse months after his
return from cancer treatment abroad.
According to her, on many occasions
she attempted to leave but her family members, for pecuniary reasons, insisted she stayed put.
She said even when it was apparent that
Chime no longer wanted the marriage, her family would not let her go.
She disclosed this through the mobile phone of one of her male siblings, about four hours after she eventually
packed out from the Governors’ Lodge on Monday.
The
sibling declined revealing his identity to The PUNCH, but stated that
he was one of the few family
members who supported Mrs. Chime’s
agitation to quit the marriage.
He said if he revealed his
identity, it could cause a stir between him and other family members
with whom members of the Chime family were still holding meetings on the
matter.
He claimed that Chime had long lost interest in the marriage but held forth because he (Chime) didn’t want his image stained.
“So
there was no need joining other family members into forcing her to
remain in a marriage that he (the governor) was no longer interested
in,” said the source.
He said,
“Governor Sullivan Chime
just wanted to keep her within the lodge for fear that she could open up
on certain things she knew about him if she was allowed to leave
unceremoniously.”
When the source eventually brought Mrs. Chime on the phone to speak with our correspondent, she said,
“I
regained my freedom to move around on Saturday and I eventually forced
my way out of that place (Government House) today (Monday).”
She said,
“I am not the one who is sick, but I became sick because of the way I was treated. There are some things people would do to you that make you sick or even die.”
“After treating myself, I will never go back there again. I will not even wish my enemy to marry in that kind of place again.”
When contacted, the state Commissioner for Information, Mr. Chuks Ugwuoke, said he just returned from Lagos and was not aware.
“I
have been away in Lagos and cannot speak on anything I don’t know of,
especially when it is a family matter. I will call you as soon as I am
briefed,” Ugwuoke said.
Meanwhile, a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Fred
Agbaje, has called on the National Human Rights Commission to probe
further into the issue between Chime and his wife.
Agbaje said in
a statement on Monday that as personalities who lived on public fund,
the citizenry deserved to know the truth about the situation and Clara’s
true state of health.
He said both the governor and his wife might not have told the whole truth about the issue.
He
said, “There must be an end to sinking lies. The Chimes of this world
need another fatter lies to cover their present lies. The truth is that
one Mrs Clara Chime is ill. To cover her public odium, she was cleverly
and unconstitutionally detained by Chime.
“As for the NHRC, they
need to do more research into the Chimes’ affairs and expose every
unconstitutionalities, not the present contradictory conflicting charade
coming out of the commission.”
READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/51816.html
Social Plugin