A so called man of God and the General Overseer of the Victory Pentecostal Church located in Mbaitoli Loal Government Area of Imo State, Pastor Mark Chukwudi Etiti, has been arrested by the state police command for allegedly butchering his banker wife, Perpetua Udoka, to death.
According to reports, Etiti an indigene of Agwa in Oguta Local Government Area of the state, is a secondary school drop out and was a wheelbarrow pusher before he got the ‘call’, had allegedly deceived Udoka into marrying him after she went to him to seek God’s intervention over whom to choose out of three suitors who wanted to marry her including a medical doctor, a fellow banker and a public servant.
But Etiti told her that none of them men was the chosen one for her except himself, and she ended up marrying him.
According to sources, the Udoka’s family was not particularly happy about the union considering Pastor Mark’s educational background and social status but she stood her ground by telling them he was God’s choice for her, not knowing that the man she loved and got married to would turn round to be her killer.
This is an account of a close relative of the murdered woman:
“Unknown to Udoka, the biggest attraction was her lucrative career at the time. Just within a space of twenty months, a car was bought, a landed property and a shop was paid for all in the name of the husband Pastor Mark Chukwudi Etiti.
Udoka built a house for her Pastor husband on bank loan. She did a lot both for the husband’s family and the husband himself on loans including borrowing money on behalf of the husband to the extent that repayments become a serious challenge and she ultimately lost the bank job.
It became a pitiable situation better imagined, after she lost her job. Udoka became a punching bag. On many occasions, the mother in-law will come all the way from the village to order Udoka out of the very house she built.
Udoka had sustained various degrees of injuries inflicted on her by the same husband she picked from the gutters. She was hospitalized severally.
The mother in-law had once threatened that it is either Udoka leaves the son alive or the deceased body will be carted away like nobody and her threat came to pass after all.
Udoka’s thirteen year old daughter had once reported to the police of how the father had beaten the mum to stupor on the fear that the mum was dead.
The first brutal cutlass injuries on Udoka were recorded in 2013. This time, Udoka’s family thought it was indeed enough.
The matter was formally taken to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Nigerian Police in Owerri, who documented the evidences, detained the pastor and later released him.
The family had actually concluded plans to forcefully relocate her and her children after so many refusals from her before the brutal murder of Udoka by the same man who she gave three beautiful children.”
This is also an account by the couple’s teenage daughter:
“On that faithful day, my mummy in her usual manner, woke up around 5.00am, got us ready for school, gave us our food, asked me to take my younger sister to her school and return the key to her in the church, while she left for our church early morning prayer session.
I finished dressing up and told my daddy who was in his room that I’m off to school. He asked me to lock the gate to our house from outside and I asked why and he shouted me down.
I did exactly that and returned the key to my mum in the church. I went back to my mummy’s shop around 1:00pm and could not meet her in the shop.
That was unusual knowing fully well when we usually come back from school. I called her line and she was not picking. I asked her neighbors and they said she told them my daddy called her. I then took my siblings along to the house.
On getting to the house, every place looked deserted. We usually access the house through the kitchen door, but that faithful day, the kitchen door was locked. I called my dad to ask him if he has seen mummy.
He asked me where we are and I said we are at home and the doors were all locked.
Within 2 minutes, daddy appeared. Unusual of daddy, he decided to follow the back door instead of the usual front kitchen door and asked me to stay outside.
I could not comprehend my father’s body language and I quickly followed him and went straight to my mum’s room while he made his way to his room.
The sight of flowing blood in mummy’s room got me more frightened and when I shouted blood, my dad ran straight to the kitchen where my mum’s body was used to block the kitchen door, the same door my daddy strategically avoided on entering the compound.
I later saw my mum’s phone near the kitchen window with my daddy’s 3 missed calls on the phone.
My daddy has always been chasing us about with cutlass all the time. He has severally threatened to kill mummy and her people won’t do anything.
The last time, I thought my mummy was dead when she was brutally beaten with cutlass by my daddy and blood was gushing like water.
I called my uncle and he was not responding. I then went to police to report him and he was arrested. Two days before he killed mummy, I saw him from the bathroom cutting the ceiling of our house.
The following morning, I heard him telling my mother that armed robbers came to the house and that the entered through the ceiling. He was showing mummy the note he claimed they brought which read;
“Pastor Mark be careful, this is to tell you we can come and go”. I told mummy that I saw dad cutting that place two days back and was not done by any armed robber.
I told mummy we should go to my aunty’s place that dad is up to something but mummy refused. Now look at where she has brought us to. Daddy has simply fulfilled his wish and God will judge him.”
Pastor Mark is currently cooling his heels in detention and the state police command has vowed to do everything that justice is served.
