Enugu Gov’s Wife to Human Rights Commission: Stop humiliating me
Oladunjoye Opeyemi
Following the on-going drama surrounding the health of Mrs Clara Chime, the wife of Enugu state governor, Sullivan Chime, whose husband has said is mentally unstable after his distress calls to foremost lawyer, Femi Falana SAN, were revealed; the First lady has sent letters to the Human Rights Commission and the Lawyer himself asking that they retract every information they put out about the call.
Falana claimed that the first lady called him to brief him on how her husband was keeping her under house arrest and that he wanted to kill her. She,afterwards, asked for his help and that of the Human Rights Commission.
In a Press conference by The Chime family, the governor said that the Matriarch is having Psychological problems and part of her treatment is to keep her confined. He said he chose to keep her in the Government house, and not a mental home so she would be close to her family, a decision which was also supported by her doctors.
He said that his great mistake was to have given her access to the telephone in her state as he didn’t know she could use them in an inappropriate way and he was paying dearly for it. He added that he would do anything to protect his wife’s integrity.
In the letter Chime sent to Falana, she said:
“Dear Sir,
I am very disappointed to read what has been narrated by the Human Rights Commission. Apart from the fact that the information was largely false, it showed lack of sensitivity in publishing sensitive medical detail. This has the effect of tarnishing and damaging my reputation. It is as though the Commission set out to ridicule me.
I made it clear to them that I had a nervous breakdown and found it inexplicable as to how hallucinations featured as part of my symptoms. It is important to make this clear so that the public should be made aware of this and that the Commission should recognise part of her ethos in protecting human dignity.
It has been suggested by some quarters that the Commission appears biased already because of the profile of the person whose reputation is at stake. I want to believe that the Commission would approach my case with open mind and in particular recognise me as a victim of crime. I hope that common sense would prevail and that the Commission should now retract the damaging publication and stop stigmatising me.
Clara Chime nee Igwe”
The letter Chime sent to the Human Rights Commission reads thus:
“The human rights commission
Abuja.
Dear Sir,
You have published medical information which are sensitive and not true and here by request you to retract same immediately. I regret that failure to do so will result in not granting you further audience. Thanks.
Clara Chime nee Igwe”