An Ekiti-based Islamic cleric, Ahmed Ojo, has been arrested for allegedly setting fire to his wife’s residence in the Egbe Odo area of Isua Ijesa, Ekiti State, due to her refusal to participate in a late-night prayer with him.
According to Punch, the wife, Bosede Afolabi, revealed that the incident occurred on April 27 when her husband returned home and requested they observe a prayer around 11 pm, which she declined due to exhaustion.
Afolabi stated that her refusal angered her husband, leading to a disturbance that prompted her to seek the intervention of neighbors to calm him down.
Despite efforts to explain her fatigue after a stressful day at work, her husband remained unreceptive, and when she sensed his escalating violence, she sought refuge at a neighbor’s residence for the night.
She narrated further, “At about midnight, a girl from our neighbourhood came to knock on the house to inform us that my house was on fire and that it seemed my husband had set the house on fire.
“I and some neighbours rushed to the scene only to see that the whole building had been engulfed in fire. Before we could get help in putting the fire out, the building had been razed.
“He was later caught and handed over to the police.”
She added that she remarried Ojo after her first husband passed away, and she has been accommodating him since they got married.
When asked if there had been recurring misunderstanding between them, Afolabi said they had no misunderstanding before the incident.
She, however, blamed her husband’s action on the influence of alcohol.
“What I observed that night was that he was drunk, which was why I tried to avoid the escalation of the disagreement that ensued on that fateful day. He often comes home drunk sometimes, but we have not had any serious misunderstanding in the past,” Afolabi noted.
She added that the incident had left her in a devastating situation due to the huge loss it had caused her.
“I have not been myself since the incident happened because of the loss it has caused me. I appeal to Nigerians to come to my aid,” she concluded.
The state’s Police Public Relations Officer, Sunday Abutu, disclosed that the suspect is under investigation.
“The incident happened. The man has been arrested and he is currently undergoing investigation at the state’s CID,” Abutu said