An Ebonyi State High Court has sentenced a 39-year-old man, Chituru Mbam, to six months’ imprisonment without the option of a fine for forcefully evicting his wife from their matrimonial home and destroying the property.
The court, sitting in Abakaliki, also ordered Mbam to pay his wife, Mbam Ozoemena, ₦500,000 in damages and provide suitable accommodation for her.
The judgment, delivered on Monday by Justice Ruth Okeh, followed years of marital disputes between the couple, who married in 2009 and have five children.
Court proceedings revealed that Mbam, accompanied by two unidentified men, allegedly invaded their family home at midnight on January 6, 2026, and forced his wife out after moving into a newly completed building.
He subsequently caused her arrest and detention at the Police Headquarters in Abakaliki. While she was in custody, he allegedly returned to the property and removed its roof, doors, windows and other fittings, leaving it uninhabitable.
The case attracted the intervention of the Rose Foundation for the Protection of Women and Children. Its Executive Secretary, Professor Mike Ajanwachukwu, petitioned the Ebonyi State Commissioner of Police, leading to Mbam’s arrest and prosecution.
Delivering judgment, Justice Okeh found the defendant guilty of the charges and imposed the custodial sentence alongside the financial compensation and accommodation order.
Counsel to the complainant, Mrs Ijeoma Mike-Ajanwachukwu, praised the judiciary for upholding justice, insisting that marriage did not give either spouse the right to forcibly eject the other from a shared home.
She said Mbam’s actions violated Section 6(1) of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Law of Ebonyi State, 2018, which prohibits the forceful eviction of a spouse.
“He evicted his wife from her matrimonial home, destroyed the building, and moved into a new residence with another woman,” she said.
Mike-Ajanwachukwu added that the woman had been rendered homeless through the alleged use of police officers and thugs to remove her from the property.
Discussion0