Alleged Killer Husband Tells Own Side Of Story From Hiding, Claims Innocence

Lekan-RonkeMr. Lekan Shonde, the man who allegedly beat his wife – Ronke – to death and fled to evade arrest, has denied having a hand in her death, in spite of her purported confession that she was unfaithful in their marriage.
Lekan, who is a depot worker in the Apapa area of Lagos State, claimed that his wife of eight years and mother of their two kids, provoked him by bragging about her alleged extra-marital affairs with the general manager of a publishing company where she worked.
Speaking to PUNCH Metro from an undisclosed location where he is currently holed up, the suspect said he regretted marrying Ronke, explaining that his late mother had warned him against the union, but he never listened.
Insisting that he did not beat his wife as widely reported, Lekan, an Abeokuta, Ogun State indigene, said the last time he got into a physical altercation with his wife was three years ago after a disagreement and since then, he had never laid hands on her.
He said, “Since I married my wife eight years ago, she has never bought anything into the house. I gave her N5,000 on Saturdays and N3,000 on Tuesdays for soup. I also gave her money to make her hair.
“She was working with GTB as a marketer but she got sacked three years ago. For that period, I was the one feeding her and taking responsibility for everything in the family. I would wash her pants, bath the children and buy foodstuffs in the house. She later got a job with a publishing company owned by her uncle”.
Tracing his late wife’s alleged infidelity to sometime in March when she started dating the general manger of a publishing company, Lekan said she started going to office every day of the week including Sundays when she was supposed to be in church, adding it was “all because of this man. She called him ‘Eyitemi’ (My own)”.
He continued: “Last week Friday, she went to Abuja and came back on Monday. She never told me that the lover was there with her. I learnt later that the lover was there and they slept together in the same room for four days.
“When she came back, she didn’t know I was inside the house. She started talking with the man on the phone that she really had fun with him and I didn’t know how to make love. She again said her private parts were paining her”.
He said he confronted his late wife and she confirmed that she was seeing the other man, adding that he asked her to concentrate on a relationship.
Lekan said his wife refused to vacate their home at Tiemo Crescent, off Awori Street in Egbeda, despite his repeated demands for her to leave.
Narrating the incident of that night (last Thursday), which led to her death, the suspect said they had an argument over money.
He said, “It was around 9pm on Thursday. We had paid our nanny N20,000. Then we needed to pay our children’s teachers N30,000. I discovered she had taken N20,000 and when I asked her to return my money, she said she had spent it.
“I was angry because for the past three months, she didn’t allow me to have sex with her. I pushed her hand away from me on the staircase and I left her. She never tumbled or fell. In fact that night, I bought the food that we both ate because she said she didn’t want to cook.
“I didn’t know anything had happened to her until Friday when I saw her on the staircase. I thought she was still pretending. I just left her and walked away”.
Asked why he locked their six and four year old kids in the house before leaving, Lekan said he never did, adding that it was his son that closed the gate.
He also denied taking the victim’s phone away, saying he left it on the bed.
The suspect, who said he had no reason to kill his wife, added that he bought her two cars and always provided for her needs.
He said, “Jide, her family’s second child lived with me for three to four years. Their eldest daughter, Bolatito, has lived with me too.
“Although I am not a saint, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke. I am a responsible man. The problem with my wife was that she was temperamental. She shouted at me whenever she talked”.
“I am a Lagos boy and I can be in this Lagos for the next 30 years and nobody would see me”, Lekan bragged.
Meanwhile, the only surviving child of three children born by Ronke’s parents (her dad died since when they were little) and first born, Bolatito, has asked the police to try and locate Lekan, adding that the family would not want to talk about the incident yet.
She said, “My mother just arrived from Ilorin and the family wants to devote time to attend to her; we don’t want to talk about the incident. I am not in the right frame of mind to talk.
“But all I want to say is that her husband is somewhere out there and has been calling. The police should reach out to the telecommunications company to know where he is. He called me and he said he wanted to see me.
“He also said he wanted to see his children and I should tell him where they are because we might never see him again”.
The aunt of the victim, Bunmi, explained that the suspect had been threatening suicide, saying their mother had forgiven him.
She said, “Mummy is very sad with this, but she has forgiven him and does not want him to commit suicide”.