Date Published: 05/12/09

Blackmailers swarm hubby of slain Lagos Socialite

Since the murder penultimate Sunday of Lagos socialite and businesswoman, Mrs. Patricia Obiageli Chidiac, by yet-to-be identified persons, on the grounds of Sacred Heart Catholic church, Apapa, Lagos, blackmailers have reportedly falling over themselves to get Obiageli’s Lebanese husband, Habib, part with huge sums of money “or face untold embarrassment.”

This comes as the children, who are all based in Lebanon, are said to have rallied support for their father, suspecting their father’s business rivals may be moving to exploit the death of their mother to settle scores with the very successful Lebanese businessman.

A top retired military officer, a member of Parish where Patricia was killed, told Pointblanknews.com that the suspicion that fifth columnists may be at work emerged when, no sooner had the woman been killed than certain persons who had questionable interests, began to fly the story that Habib was behind the woman’s murder.

The officer, who was on his way out of the church when the woman was shot, told Pointblanknews.com that the assailants had come on motorcycle and posed as worshippers, and laid siege in the church premises, fully aware that Obiageli’s favourite was the second service of the church. He confirmed that panic on the part of the other worshippers contributed to the woman’s death.

“The manner she was killed showed that the boys were not professionals. Any assassin knows that you have to hit the head or the heart. In this case, when the boy seized her bag and pumped pellets from a local shotgun into her bowel, and fled, so much could have been done to save her life.

“But the crowd, in the panic, instead of cordoning off the place to catch the assailants, relapsed into a stampede, making it difficult for some trained hands around to help salvage her intestines. But for the confusion, perhaps she would have survived,” the officer offered.

He said he was scandalised by rumours that Habib may have sent hired killers after his wife, saying the disagreement between the Lebanese businessman and his late wife was, for obvious reasons, blown out of proportion.

The military officer hinted that some Lagos and Abuja-based politicians had actually approached close associates of Habib with offers laced with blackmail to help “douse the tension” if huge sums were given them. The persons, the military officer disclosed, had vowed to “run him out of Nigeria” if he failed to play ball.

According to the source, an influential politician from Obiageli’s home state, Imo, had actually been moving around trying to sway public opinion and security agencies against Habib, insisting that “this Kora man should not be allowed to get away with this.”

He quizzed: “Which husband and wife do not disagree? How many husbands and wives of Nigerian origin are today separated or divorced? Of course, when a wife or husband dies in questionable circumstances, the hubby is usually the chief suspect.

“In this case, the difference between them wasn’t much. They spoke regularly on the telephone. The four kids are with their father in Lebanon, with one in medical school. The man has been meeting all his financial obligations to his wife, including a proposal I know of to finance her diesel business,” the officer explained.

He pointed to the total involvement of Habib in the burial ceremonies, particularly the plans to bury her in Lebanon later in the week as pointers that the immediate families of the Chidiacs in Nigeria and Lebanon are convinced that Habib, whom they described as a philanthropist, could not have harmed Obiageli.