My Neighbor Locked His Wife Out Because She Cooked Rice Instead Of Eba

I was coming back from court on Wednesday evening, tired as usual, when I saw Mama Ngozi sitting on the staircase with her wrapper wrapped tight around her chest. It was past 8pm. Her husband had locked the door because she cooked rice instead of eba.

I asked her what happened. She said the man came home hungry, saw rice on the table, and asked her if rice was now swallow. She said she didn't answer him. He carried her plate, threw it in the bin, and locked the door. Their two children were inside. She sat outside for almost one hour before I met her.

See ehn, I have seen many things in my 26 years at the High Court. But this one pained me. A man who cannot buy a bag of rice is the same man shouting about eba. And the annoying part? If she had reported him at the station, they would have told her to go and beg him. The law is there. But the system sometimes forgets the person standing in front of it. So I want to ask una something. If your wife cooks rice and you wanted eba, wetin you go do?