Project Alert on Violence Against Women would like to express it’s deepest shock and concern over the almost deadly attack of Ivie Edobor by her estranged husband, John Edobor, a staff of Zenith Bank.
Project Alert first heard of the case through the social media last week Wednesday (Sept 21st) and immediately swung into action.
We established contact with Ivie and visited her last week Friday (Sept 23rd). Ivie in her sitting room, told us her story. She told us how her estranged husband of two years, laid in wait for her outside her home (an apartment she paid rent for and moved in just in April 2016, after living with her father for two years after he threw she and the 3 kids out) up on till 1 am.
Why would a man who is estranged from his wife; and who is not the owner or rent payer of the apartment she occupies, wait outside her house till that time if it is not for criminal purposes?
Ivie who on the fateful day attended her father’s 74th birthday and returned very late, was viciously attacked by John right outside her gate, with the help of thugs he had earlier bought drinks for and misinformed that the house was his and he had come to confront his wife whom he heard was flirting around.
Several questions to be asked:
1. If John Edobor had no criminal intent, why would he seat outside Ivie ‘ s house till 1 am, to await her return?
2. Why would he incite area boys with drinks and lies in order to get them to join in the attack?
3. According to Ivie, the police said they saw a knife on him, when he was arrested. Why did he have a knife on him?
4. Why would the police charge him with assault occasioning harm when clearly he came to kill his wife and according to Ivie he actually did say “I will kill you today”.
5. What action has Zenith Bank against it’s staff and also to support Ivie and the children since this incident occurred?
6. Who will pay the N2.7m hospital bill Ivie incurred during her almost 2 months stay in the hospital?
7. Who will pay for the upkeep of the 3 children she has been solely caring for as their father even yanked them off Zenith medical insurance?
We all must ensure #justiceforIvieEdobor. This is one in too many cases of domestic violence in Nigeria. We can not keep silent in the face of evil.
Domestic violence is not a private family matter. It is a crime. We at Project Alert will stand by Ivie through out this trying time of her life.
ProjectAlert Vaw on behalf of Ivie Edobor would like to thank all those who turned up yesterday morning September 27th, 2016 at Surulere Magistrate Court 1 sitting at Bode Thomas for the criminal case of assault occasioning harm against John Edobor.
In attendance were lawyers representing various government and non-governmental organizations such as the office of the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP;Office of the Public Defender, OPD; Domestic & Sexual Violence Response Team of the State Ministry of Justice, DSVRT; Due Process Advocates, DPA; and our own Jead of Legal, Barr. Benjamin Ocholuje Odeh, who discovered the real date as against the false date given Ivie.
The magistrate didn’t seat and that is understandable as the Lagos State judiciary just resumed this week and has various activities lined up to celebrate the new legal year. A new date had to be picked for mention and that is November 10th. It seems a far way off but its okay as it gives us all ample time to advocate and strategise on all fronts
To Ivie, we say stay strong. The silence on your case has been broken forever. Nothing can be swept under the carpet. We must get #justiceforIvieEdobor. Below is a picture of some of the lawyers who turned up, along with Ivie’s neighbours and some friends..
Signed
Josephine Effah-Chukwuma
Executive Director
Project Alert on Violence Against Women
This Ivie lady has such a coloured past. A very long history of lies, lies and many more lies. She pretended to be married when she worked with in Econet (now Airtel) at the call center. With one story after another, she borrowed money from all of us and never repaid. We donated money for her “so called pregnancy” medical bills. Her tummy was growing daily before our very eyes. Her water even broke in the office. Guess what at the end of the day we found out she was never pregnant and the man she claimed was her husband came to say he was never married to her. Econet disengaged her because her lies were found out.
I’m not sure her husband, John even knew about this because it was way before he met her. She was similarly thrown out of Stanbic for other sharp practices.
Last I heard she owes a multitude of people over N50 Million. I hope she is paying her debt with all the monies she is getting from all this public support. She has caused her many creditors a lot of heartache.
What broke the marriage was all this debt. Creditors were beating down their matrimonial home as early as 5 a.m. She could never explain why she asked for the money or more importantly what she used it for. John bailed her out as much as he could. She went as far as borrowing from his colleagues and stealing his zenith customers numbers from his phone and contacting them directly asking to borrow money and asking them not to tell John. John was forced to pay back the monies she ‘borrowed” from his colleagues and customers in order to save his job.
A month after the separation, she claimed she was pregnant with twins. Poor John was then ready to reconcile. Somewhere along the line, John found out that she had a long term lover MATTHEW AGBAIRE. They both went for counseling at St Dominic’s Church. John was ready to forgive for the sake of his children as the Church advised his only caveat was that DNA must be done on the pregnancy to ensure it was his. DNA can be performed on a pregnancy! It is believed that Ivie was not too sure so herself and Matthew terminated the pregnancy. She later claimed she had a miscarriage at almost 6 months.
Matthew Agbaire is her nemesis. She can’t seem to do without him. He has the looks and he sabi the thing!
Ivie and John still despite all that had happened, attempted reconciling at the beginning of the year. She helped John move into his new abode where they were eventually to move into as a family to start afresh in a new part of Lagos. John was spending time sleeping over at her place too. Only for that un-fateful night brought about by the innocent phone call of a child to her father, that they were alone at home with the young relative house help of about 13 years. I believe the oldest of the 3 girls is about 9 years old.
Unbeknownst to Ivie; John was in the house with the kids when he called her and she said she was at home and that the girls were sleeping. He decided to stay outside and await her return, to once again catch her in a lie. Ivie and Matthew drove in way after midnight. Of course a fighting match ensued between husband and wife. Matthew Agbaire, a married man with 2 children, stepped in as the gallant boyfriend. A fight ensued between the 2 men. Matthew who works with Centrix Construction was the one who brought out the crowbar from his car to use on John. Ivie stepped into the mix and got hit during the scuffle. People around stepped in to restrain all parties. Ivie opted to be taken to the hospital by her loverboy Matthew Agbaire.
To date all her medical bills have been paid. She never needed financial help from the larger society for her bills or for her kids. John pays school fees and has receipts. So all of you donating to her “cause” are being duped. You are just continuing to feed her incessant and dangerous need for money. What she does with it nobody ever knows. Its free money for Ivie, left right and centre. Christmas has come early for Ivie.
Ivie use it to pay all your many creditors please and for once think of your children. What you are doing to them by destroying their father’s life, is it fair? Will they really forgive you for they will one day know the truth!
Hello, I have taken time to read your comment. Can you get me in touch with her ex-husband John Edobor? I need to talk to him. He needs to state his own side of the story. Since you say he takes care of his children and has receipts to that effect, it will be good for him to defend himself.