Dangerous Women

THE evil of  'Face-Me-I-Slap-You' houses are numerous. A lot of terrible things happen in those tenement houses. Vices such as envy, jealousy, gossip, backbiting, fornication, adultery, child abuse etc abound there. Fighting among tenants are very very common and even killing during such fights. But when I read this story some weeks ago, about a woman killing another woman in their tenement house, and claiming the devil did it, I was stunned. I would not have imagined that a woman would killed another woman for a mere fight over soiled clothes.

What would have possessed a 40-year-old woman to kill her neighbour by slitting her throat with a knife? What would have taken hold of her mind, body and soul to transform her to a merciless and heartless human being? I mean what came over her and made her take a knife and slit another woman's throat that was not a rival? Even if they had quarreled that is not enough reason for her to kill another in such brutal and heartless way. .

It was even more alarming when Okeke claimed she did not know her neighbour had died until Police came to arrest her. What a senseless waste of human life. From the news, Helen Okeke, aka Mama Chinedu and Rosemary were neighbours in the Ikota Housing Estate in Lekki/Ajah axis of Lagos State.
Okeke, who said she was unmarried and had a son out of wedlock, asked the family of the deceased to forgive her, as she was not in control of herself during the incident. This is really sad.

More heartbreaking is the fact that the deceased, Rosemary,  was reportedly preparing for her wedding. The enemy is wicked. Why wait till after the ladies struggle to find a life partner before they snuffed life out of her? Sad.

And what caused this quarel that led to the slitting of throat?

The deceased returned home and observed that the clothes she spread on her door before leaving home earlier had been soiled with urine. Though she suspected the killer, Rosemary, she decided to report the incident to the landlady who pacified her. She left and went back to her room but death followed her because minutes after, neighbors heard her sudden cry for help. When they rushed in, Okeke had already slit her neck with a knife. Unfortunately, she died on her way to the hospital.

Hear what Okeke, who works as a cleaner, said when she was interviewed by journalist at Panti:

 “I have been living in that house for more than two years. The first time we fought, she shone her torch on me and I queried why she did that. She then hit me with the torch, and that was how we fought.
The landlady, Alhaja, never gave me any quit notice as she claimed. I was even the one preparing to leave the apartment because it was too small for me.On that day, she carried a bucket of water and stood in front of my room saying I should come out if I know I was woman enough.
“I had just returned from where I went to buy bread and was inside my room. I did not want to come out.
But a spirit just entered into my room and entered me. I was shaking uncontrollably and that was when I went out. I took a bucket of water and poured it on the floor in front of my room. But Rosemary poured her bucket of water on me, and that was when the fight started.
“I cannot explain what happened next. I have never had this kind of experience in my life. It was while I was at the police station that they said she was dead.
I need forgiveness from Rosemary and her family. I want people to learn from my example that fighting is not good.

 Actually, ENVY would have caused it. Envy is a feeling of grudge and a desire to have something that is possessed by another. Envy is deadly. Its a spirit that possesses one and causes rage and bitterness against another who seems to be doing better.
Helen was probably envious of Rosemary getting married while she is stuck with a child and no suitor in sight. She envied her coming marriage and goodluck and could not take it. When anyone allows such evil feeling to take hold of their mind, the outcome is always disastrous and fatal.
Instead of counting her own blessings, Okeke  was busy counting Rosemary's own and allowed the enemy into her mind and now she will pay for that gruesome murder.