Mrs Ngozi Funmi Ademoye, who confessed to killing her husband, Kazeem, last Friday, spoke for the first time Thursday, insisting that her husband was indeed a cultist.
In giving graphic details of the events that led to the eventual murder of her husband, the suspect now held at the Force CID, Panti, Lagos, explained that all she wanted to do was maim her husband, not kill him, after a fight ensued between the couple.
Ngozi said that five days before the fight, she had discovered that Kazeem was engaged in occultism, a find that was shocking, as they had been married for 13 years and without her knowing whatsoever.
Shaken to her bones at the strange discovery, she said her brother in-law’s wife, Elizabeth, took her to Ikorodu where she met a prophet.
She went on to say that immediately she stepped in there, the prophet told her that he sensed a dark presence around her that was sucking all her virtues.
She disclosed that she opened up to the prophet about the charms in her home when he said it was revealed to him that she was co-habiting with an evil spirit at home.
The prophet, THISDAY gathered, then gave her a candle, some palm fronds and holy water with some prayer points to dispel the evil spirit.
Ngozi said because she knew her husband would not let her carry out the cleansing, she waited for him to leave before undertaking the exercise.
She stated that it was then that she lit a candle in the middle of their building and sprinkled the holy water around the house before she proceeded to the room where the charms were kept.
She went on to say that inside the wardrobe was a pot, a bird in a cage as well as some cowries.
She claimed that when she attempted to pour the holy water on the charms, the water magically failed to flow from the jar, and so she started praying.
She noted that it was only after the prayers that the water started to flow again and a tortoise crawled out.
She said” “I started to hear noises in the room but I went on to pour the holy water into another pot and in there I saw some feathers inside with some currency notes - N50, N100 and N1,000 - tied with a red cloth around it and a list of names.”
She claimed she saw her name and that of some of her husband’s brothers there. She also noted that when she poured the holy water, smoke appeared in the pot but it did not evaporate.
While her prayers continued, Ngozi claimed the cowries and the bird in the cage suddenly disappeared. She said she returned the remaining items and left.
To buttress her point, she claimed that it was then it hit her that Kazeem uses the room on Tuesdays and Thursday claiming that he wanted to use the internet and that nobody should disturb him.
She noted that it was unfortunate that she did the cleansing on one of such days, Thursday, because when he wanted to use the room, he noticed that something was wrong and a fight broke out.
Narrating the chain of events that led to the fight, she said Kazeem came back from work and took a bottle of beer and sleeping pills because he had heart problems.
Suddenly, Ngozi said the deceased came into the room by midnight dressed in a red apparel and started beating her up.
She said the fight woke the children up and they were knocking at the door telling daddy to open but by then the fight was too intense.
She said she only retaliated when she started bleeding. She said: "I don’t know what came over me but I became very strong and at a point when he wanted to hit me again, I carried the UPS and hit him with it and he slumped.”
She disclosed that although he grew weak, he tried to strangle her but surprisingly, she was able to overpower him and she in turn kept on strangling him.
She however posited that her intention was not to kill him as she just wanted him to pass out. She said it was only until later when she tried to wake him and he did not respond that she realised she had taken it too far.
Rebuffing claims that she killed her husband over money, Ngozi said she only collected N14,000 from the accountant to buy things for the house as it suddenly dawned on her that she had become the man of the house.
She said after that, she went to withdraw N500,000 from her own account as she needed the money for mortuary payment, embalming and other expenses that could arise for the burial of her husband.
She however denied insinuations that she was behind the attempt made on her husband’s life three weeks before she killed her. Rather, she pointed accusing fingers at Jameel, the deceased's younger brother.
Buttressing her suspicion, she said Jameel had always had an eye on the late husband's property even when he was alive.
She went on to say that the latter had in the past, threatened to kill her husband and take over his wealth.
According to her, "It is on record that my husband and the family never had a cordial and familial relationship.
"When my husband was alive, he had on one occasion reported to the police that Jameel made an attempt on his life and Jameel had even boasted to people that he would inherit my husband’s property.”
She lamented that since the death of her husband, her in-laws had seized the opportunity to rip her children off the husband’s property.
Ngozi said that even when Jameel came to meet her at the mortuary, the first thing he demanded was the keys to her husband's properties.
She said since the unfortunate incident, the husband’s family had never bothered to ask after her three children or how they had coped with the trauma.
But the spokesman for the Ademoye family, Mr. Adesegun Agbaye, debunked claims that the family were after the deceased’s wealth. According to him, it was a strategy by the suspect to make them leave the issue at hand.
THISDAY gathered that Agbaye, who resides in the Unites States of America, has been forced to stay back because of the murder incident. According to him, the issue of Jameel withholding the key to the Magodo residence has been resolved as the family had given the keys of the house back to the suspect.
He told the newspaper that when the corpse of their brother was first discovered, the suspect had tried to turn the minds of the neighbours against the family.
He said Ngozi told neighbours that Kazeem’s family were out to fleece her. This allegation, he said, poisoned their minds against the family members.
Agbaye told THISDAY that the allegations made by the suspect that Jameel had made an attempt on the deceased’s life three weeks back was all falsehood. He challenged her to come out with an authentic proof to back her claims.
In a no-holds barred expose, the suspect insisted that her actions were not premeditated rather, an act of spontaneous overflow of emotion.
She lamented that prior to the fatal fight, she had always been close to the husband; a fact the deceased's family confirmed.
Confirming the report, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Samuel Jinadu, a deputy superintendent of police, said the law would take its due course.
He however applauded the deceased's neighbours for their courage in coming forward and giving the police relevant information.
By Chiemelie Ezeobi
THISDAY
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