Peter Nwachukwu, the husband of late popular gospel artiste, Osinachi, has been arrested by the Nigerian police over the death of his wife.
The 42-year-old artiste died on Friday after spending days at an undisclosed hospital in Abuja.
Colleagues of Osinachi, who was a lead singer at the Dunamis International Headquarters, Abuja, accused her husband of beating her.
A popular singer, Frank Edwards, in a live Instagram video, alleged that Osinachi’s husband abused her on several occasions.
He said, “One time in a studio, this man slapped her just because she wanted to record the song in Igbo against his will. She does not do anything on her own.
“She would say, please beg my husband. She was at his mercy. I didn’t know the intensity of what she was going through; I didn’t know how somebody would be jealous of the wife he claimed to love.
“There are a lot of stories where people told her this and that, but what I know was that the control was too much. The other time somebody wanted me to get her for an event, and I contacted her, but she said ‘beg my husband.’
“She couldn’t even tell people what she was going through. I only got to know because Aunty Joy contacted me to promote her song. That was when I got a glimpse into what was happening.”
Another gospel artiste, Asu Ekiye, called for the arrest of her husband.
He said, “If what I hear about domestic abuse is anything to go by, then I hereby endorse the call for the arrest of the husband of Osinachi immediately for questioning.”
A woman, who claimed to be her friend, Chidinma Ezego, alleged that the late Osinachi told her the husband made her children flog her.
She said, “The husband has been beating and maltreating this woman, but she’s been dying in silence. Now, he kicked the woman on her chest and she’s been on life support for five days and finally died. Now, the man has been arrested and I pray he rots in jail. Remember how he tied her up and asked the children to beat her up with cane. She told me this.”
A former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, said the allegation of domestic violence worsened the pain of Osinachi’s death, calling on churches to take issues of violence against women serious.
A police source said Peter was arrested on Sunday afternoon.
The source said, “A young man who claimed to be a relative of the late woman came to report the matter at the station and the police went to arrest him at his residence.”
The FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Josephine Adeh, confirmed the development.
She said, “He is now in our custody. The younger brother of the deceased reported the matter and we have commenced investigation.”
The Dunamis church lawyer, Felix Tyokase, said the church’s General Overseer, Paul Enenche, just returned from a crusade in Cameroon and had not been briefed on the matter.
“And we have yet to receive any information from the hospital as to the cause of her death,” he added.
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