Clara, the estranged wife of Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State, has fled the state barely one day after leaving the Government House. A report this morning in The Guardian said she has relocated to Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, with her mother, Patience Igwe.

The change of abode, according to the newspaper, followed the decision of Clara’s family to ensure that she “overcomes the sad memories of her over four years botched marriage with Governor Sullivan Chime.”

The Guardian quoted a source as saying: “They will stay in Port Harcourt for some time for now.”

The paper also quoted a family source as disclosing that Clara was overwhelmed on Monday morning when a convoy of six vehicles from Enugu Government House, filled with her luggage, brought her to her mother’s house at 67, Coal City Garden Estate, behind Central Bank Headquarters, Enugu.

On arrival at the residence, she was said to have flung into the waiting hands of her mother that her years of “pain were over,” the report said.

The paper said it gathered yesterday that Clara’s mother had on Tuesday visited their Ozulobu community, Amuda, Umunneoche Local Council of Abia State, where she briefed members of the Eze-in-Council on the development in the marriage between her daughter and Chime.

Mrs. Igwe, according to the paper, was said to have told the council that the marriage was over as the “governor has brought your daughter back under the guise that she is ill and cannot continue with the marriage.”

It quoted the traditional ruler of Ozuluobu autonomous community, His Highness, Eze Bob Ogbenna, as saying: “Clara’s mother (Patience Igwe) told us that the governor promised to take care of her anywhere she is,” adding that he (Chime) also mandated ‘the family to look for cure for her’. They have left for Port Harcourt.”

Continuing, he said: “I wonder why he thinks that the family should be the one to look for a place to cure her. Whatever be the case, the most important thing now is that our daughter has been released to us.

“Although we have not seen Clara, I am convinced that nothing is wrong with her. We have asked questions through her mother and she has not told us about any misbehaviour or strange attitude. As a family and community, we support that she moves somewhere to recover from the trauma she had been subjected to in the name of marriage. Clara will brief us at the right time.”

Clara had recently raised an alarm over an alleged confinement at the Governor’s Lodge, Enugu, on the orders of her husband. She had written to the human rights organisations, seeking her release.

Governor Chime had, however, denied any such motive, stressing that her wife’s restriction was based on her health challenges and on the advice of her doctors.

•Photo shows Mrs. Clara Chime.

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