News
Kenyan Police
Battles to Prosecute Nigerian Envoy over Wife Assault
Written by Watchdogreporters’ Fan, Nairobi
The wife of the Nigerian High Commissioner has written the
Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere asking him to arrest the
diplomat for assaulting her. Mrs Tess Iyi Wigwe accuses her
husband Chief Dr Chijioke Wilcox Wigwe of causing her serious
bodily harm.
Wigwe is the High Commissioner to Kenya and the Seychelles. He
is also the permanent representative of Nigeria to the United
Nations Environmental Programme and the UN Habitat in Nairobi.
In a short biography Wigwe is described as a devoted lover of
music of all kinds and genre ranging from Classical to New Age.
"He enjoys singing and dancing, is an avid reader, writer of
short poems, an art and opera lover with other interests
including bird and aircraft- watching".
Yesterday Wigwe denied battering his wife. He expressed shock
that the police had been asked to arrest him. "I am shocked
about her actions. They have not notified me of any plot against
me. I have just arrived from a foreign trip," he told the Star.
A letter from lawyer Judy Thongori to Iteere dated Monday (May
23) says Tess sustained injuries on the face, neck, fingers and
spine after a quarrel which resulted in the beating on May 11.
In an exclusive interview with the Star yesterday, Tess said she
was rescued by her 20-year-old son and 23-year-old daughter who
rushed her to hospital while bleeding profusely.
The diplomat’s wife said she was admitted to the Aga Khan
Hospital, Nairobi, on May 11, operated on and discharged on
Sunday, May 15. "I am still living in the ambassador’s
residence. I still feel a lot of pain from the injuries despite
the ongoing medications,” she said, adding that she had been
advised by her doctors to be careful as the injuries to her
lower back might lead to paralysis.
Tess, herself a lawyer with dual British and Nigerian
citizenships, said she had suffered previous beatings by her
husband during their long marriage. The couple has five children
— four boys and a girl aged between 32 and 20 years. They have
five grandchildren.
Tess said she had in 1999 left her husband due to his womanising
and frequent beatings and went to live in the UK where she got a
job. She claimed that he had two traditional marriages with two
women during their separation.
Tess said he pleaded with her to join him when he got his
posting to Nairobi in 2008. "I thought he had changed his ways
and l was prevailed upon by the community to join him," she told
the Star.
Wigwe reported to his new station in May 2008 but Tess only
joined him months later because she had to get a leave of
absence from her employer in the UK. Tess said he beat up her in
October that year when she questioned him about bringing strange
women to their matrimonial home.
She said she kept the matter quiet but the relationship has
become so bad that they have reached a point where he
communicates with her by writing and leaving her notes. "This
time, he left a note about his dinner. I told him his dinner was
ready and asked him not to be asking for dinner to be prepared
if he was not going to eat it. He grabbed me by the hand and
when l tried to pull away, he hurled me against the wall before
he started punching me," she said.
Tess said she has opted to come out and explain her situation to
show that domestic violence cuts across cultures, education and
social standing. "I cannot keep quiet. I have kept quiet long
enough," Tess said.
From today Wigwe is expected to play host to a four-day
Nollywood roadshow and fair organised by the Nigerian Export
Promotion Council, the Nigerian Guild of Actors and the Nigerian
High Commission which is expected to culminate in a gala dinner
at the Safari Park Hotel on Sunday night.
Yesterday lawyer Thongori who is acting on behalf of Tess said
they would demand that Wigwe's diplomatic immunity be lifted so
that he could be prosecuted. “Though Dr Chijioke Wilcox Wigwe is
a diplomat, we are of the considered view that any diplomatic
immunity that he enjoys is subject to him upholding and
respecting the fundamental rights of others as enshrined in the
Constitution,” Thongori said in her letter to Iteere citing the
rights which include freedom from torture, freedom from cruel
and inhuman treatment.
Thongori told the Commissioner that her client wants her husband
prosecuted. “We have instructions to demand the immediate
prosecution of the husband in accordance with the law,” lawyer
Thongori says in the letter.
No arrest can be made at the High Commission residence or
offices of the embassy as they are considered the territory of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
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