A family affair?
Within the communal space, people are always entitled to their privacy. But privacy reaches its limit when conduct within that space offends public sensibility or the mores of communal decency.
Within the communal space, people are always entitled to their privacy. But privacy reaches its limit when conduct within that space offends public sensibility or the mores of communal decency. That seems the case with Cross River State Lawmaker Ovat Dickson Agbor, who is accused of wife battery but who is being defended against public outrage by the wife he is widely reprimanded as having abused.
Agbor, representing Obubra 1 state constituency in Cross River House of Assembly, was last week suspended indefinitely by the legislature over reports that he repeatedly assaulted his wife. The decision followed a motion at plenary by which assembly members condemned the alleged conduct as inconsistent with ethical standards expected of lawmakers. The house also raised a committee to investigate the allegation and report back for further legislative action.
Among those said to have deplored Agbor’s conduct were State Governor Bassey Out and his wife, who condemned the behaviour as “irresponsible and unbecoming of a public office holder.” House Speaker Elvert Anyanbem also voiced outrage at the conduct, describing it as a public disgrace. Reports said he had to personally go to Agbor’s house to deliver the wife from battery.
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But Agbor’s wife, in a statement, described the matter as a family issue and accused the speaker’s wife of misleading her into making the assault public. She also renounced her membership of the Legislators’ Wives Association (LEWA).
The privacy disposition was reinforced this week when the police in Cross River invited the lawmaker to answer questions regarding allegations of domestic violence against his wife. Command spokesperson Sunday Eitokpah, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), said Agbor honoured the invitation alongside his wife and, during the interaction, both parties expressed willingness to settle their differences amicably.
Meanwhile, the embattled lawmaker has apologised to the state government, the legislature and his constituents over the alleged assault on his wife. In a statement posted on his Facebook page, he acknowledged the political and institutional implications of the entire episode and regretted the embarrassment it may have caused the government and people of Cross River. “First, I respectfully extend my heartfelt apology to Governor Otu and wife, First Lady, Eyoanwan Bassey Otu, for any embarrassment the situation may have caused the government and the image of our dear state,” he stated, as he also apologised to the assembly speaker and other lawmakers in the state assembly. Agbor extended his apology to political stakeholders, traditional rulers, members of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the two families involved – his wife’s and his.
The catch is, we didn’t hear him reserve a word of apology for his wife in particular. Or, perhaps, that is also a family affair. Well,…
