Pandemonium broke out recently when a 19-year old boy, Arochukwu Eze was stabbed to death by a 21-year-old girl, Gloria Effiong. The tragic incident occurred at No.6 Gbadebo Street, Ijesha Lagos, where both the victim and his attacker lived with their respective guardians. They were said to have a history of inexplicable enmity.
The ugly incident took place on the morning of September 13, 2011, when the two rivals met at the tap downstairs. One of the eye witnesses, Ijoma Hyacinth, narrated the plot of the cold murder: “I was in my house when I sighted her stabbing him with a dagger. As she was stabbing him, the boy was running and screaming. By the time he was rescued from the hand of his aggressor, the 19-year-old had lost so much blood from his fatal wound that he died soon after even as spirited efforts were made to get him to the hospital, where he was pronounced Dead On Arrival.”
The alleged killer, Gloria Effiong, who is a house maid to one of the tenants, Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Ekpanam, lamented that her action was not premeditated. According to the 21-year-old maid, she only brought out the dagger to scare him away when a fight ensued between them.
However, she ended up stabbing him thrice in the neck and in the process inflicted mortal injuries on him. She claimed however, that the late Arochukwu and her had been having a long-running bickering in the past few weeks.
A bereaved Nkiruka Aroh, sister-in-law and guardian of the deceased, confirmed that Gloria and the late Arochukwu had a dispute the previous day in which she intervened. Her words: “Gloria and one other girl were playing yesterday. Arochukwu was there and told them that he didn’t want to play. When little problem ensued, the boy pushed the girl. Out of annoyance the girl climbed upstairs where they live and, collected scissor, hide it inside her dress with intention of injuring the boy. The problem was resolved when tenants intervened. Unfortunately, this morning I was sleeping when I heard people shouting. I rushed outside and heard people saying that Arochukwu has been stabbed. Unknown to me and my husband, the boy was stabbed in different places and was bleeding profusely.”
A neigbour, Ijoma Hyacinth, who described Gloria as a “devil incarnate”, narrated an earlier incident: “Few months ago, I saw this same girl chasing one boy with pestle. The girl is evil. I have seen her slapped an Okada man of about 47 years”.
The late Arochukwu Eze, described as “quiet and easy going”, hails from Ishiagu, Ebonyi State. He recently came to Lagos about three months ago. Before his demise, he was a midfielder with Eleven Strikers Football club of Lagos and his uncle had been making arrangement for him to travel abroad to further his football career.
