A 62-year-old housewife, Beatrice Safiu, has regained her freedom from prison nine years after she was sentenced to life in prison for killing her husband in Igere, Ihunusa Opic Extension, Agbara, Ogun State.
The woman was found guilty of killing her husband, Morufu Safiu, after the man’s mistress reportedly gave birth to a baby.
The woman poured acid on the man’s face while he was asleep and hacked him to death with a pestle.
It was learnt that luck found her following the recent pardon of some inmates by Governor Dapo Abiodun.
Abiodun, in his address on Democracy Day, ordered the release of 41 inmates and commuted the death sentence of 45 convicts to life sentence.
Governor Abiodun noted that the prisoners who received the gesture showed remorse for their misdeeds, gained skills and certificates while incarcerated, and that several of them had even graduated from the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) with degrees.
Speaking with newsmen, the woman said, “I had a fight with my husband over a strange woman whom he impregnated and wanted to bring into my home.
“I resisted and that caused a fight. He was coming from the restroom with a bucket of acid he wanted to pour on me and in self-defence I used a pestle to hit the bucket and the whole liquid poured on him.
“All I was hearing was ‘Ara mi o, ara mi o (my body, my body), then he ran into the bathroom, entered the bathtub and tried to wash his body.”
She said her husband died after he was rushed to the hospital, adding, “Whatever we do in life, we should be patient and never allow anger to take over us.”
The Deputy Controller of Corrections in charge of Ibara Maximum Correction Centre, Opadeji Ayoola, expressed gratitude to the governor, and pleaded with the public to welcome the released inmates with open arms in order to help effectively reintegrate them into society.
