One of the stories in this issue is melancholic. It is about a no-love-lost matrimony which eventually led to a loss of life.
A husband losing his life following the deliberate splashing of salt-laced boiling water on him by his spouse, which is what the story is about, is mind-boggling. Even more emotionally painful is the fact that four innocent children have been left at the mercy of family members. Their father is no more and their mother, of course, is being held by the Police as investigations continue.
We do not know what charge the police would prefer against the woman but whatever it is, she is in trouble with the state.
There is no dispute about the fact that when such anomalies occur, the need to isolate mental impairment should be paramount following which, the law should take its course without hindrance. In some communities, there have been attempts to intervene in such matters with so-called demands to have the case settled outside the law. Those who do so do not understand the severity of the case and for which matter it is beyond domestic settlement.
The suspect is said to have expressed no remorse after her action until she was later told that her husband had passed on.
The marriage has been troubled over a long time a fact known by family members from both sides. The deceased is said to have insisted on having his wife and stopping any attempt at suggesting a divorce. The outcome of pushing for the survival of the marriage by the husband, when it was clear that it could not, is palpable. A marriage is a contract but when along the line things fall apart and it becomes too obvious that parting of ways is in the best interest of the couple so be it. Unfortunately, however, family elders sometimes think they have the magic wand to let things be or the husband insisting on carry on no matter what the outcome is the worrying spectacle of fatality.
In the case in question, the deceased it was who insisted on letting the union continue when the suspect did not want it.
In societies where necessary divorces are not allowed even when that option is best, the outcome is what has befallen the family of the late Mallam Zuberu and his wife.
Family members who were witnesses to the cracked marriage failed the now semi-orphaned kids. Had they pushed further and obtained a divorce  perhaps the children would not have been exposed to the uncertainties of a world in which their father is no more and the fate of their mom unknown.
The lessons from the above deadly episode should not be ignored lest another avoidable fatality is repeated elsewhere perhaps in a different form. When divorces serve the best interest of couples, they should not be shelved.