Woman accused of attacking husband with machete while he slept 'after he tried to marry second wife'

Polygamy is legally recognised in Nigeria's Muslim-majority north - but in the south, it can mean women are denied basic marriage rights

Police identified the suspect as Oluwakemi Etu, and said she used a newly-bought machete to attack her husband in his sleep (Nigerian police)

A woman in Nigeria is suspected of attacking her husband with a machete while he slept, after he admitted he planned to marry a second wife.

Police said the woman bought the weapon two weeks before inviting her husband to stay in her apartment in Ijebu-Ode, a city in the south-west of the country.

She waited for him to go to sleep, police told Nigeria’s The Nation newspaper, before hacking at him with the new machete.

The man was taken to the Ijebu-Ode General Hospital, where he remains in a coma, though doctors suggested he was responding well to treatment. Graphic images published in local media reports showed a man lying on a hospital bed, with deep wounds to his chest, shoulders and legs.

One arrest has been made, and police said a suspect identified as Oluwakemi Etu would be charged with “wounding or attempted murder” at the Ogun state divisional court.

On Tuesday, images emerged showing a woman believed to be Ms Etu standing against a wall, holding what appeared to be the machete involved in the attack.

Ijebu-Ode’s acting police spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the weapon used in the attack had been recovered.

He told the Punch newspaper: “The woman has told the police that she bought the cutlass she used in inflicting cuts on her husband two weeks before she attacked him.

“She claimed that she attacked her husband because he wanted to marry a second wife.”

Though Nigeria does not have a national law covering polygamy, the practice is recognised and the rights of multiple wives enshrined in civil law in 12 of Nigeria’s northern, Muslim-majority states.

In southern states such as Ogun, polygamous marriages are recognised in customary law. But the lack of civil recognition can mean women do not have their rights protected.