The former Inspector-general of Police, IGP, Ibrahim Idris appears to be having family and marital issues which have blown up into enormous proportions but solutions are reportedly being sought by family and friends.
According to Peoples Gazette, the former police chief is being housed in the palace of emir of Bida after losing his Abuja home to his new wife, Asta Ibrahim Idris.
The IGP’s family accused Asta, a retired police helicopter pilot he married in 2017, of taking over the assets he had laboured to acquire all his life; while also ruining his life by subjecting him to physical and psychological ordeal, Peoples Gazette reports.
They have kick-started a judicial process to seek a divorce from his wife. But, they first they want to ensure that Mr Idris’ assets are not entirely depleted before the final court resolution on the marriage.
In an interview, Mrs. Idris admitted to the Gazette that a divorce process was underway, but said she was still in love with her husband and family assets were properly preserved.
The crisis between the couple reportedly started since their elaborate wedding ceremony in early October 2017 which was attended by top politicians.
Their relationship blossomed when Asta was a then-deputy police superintendent who trained at the aviation college in Kaduna.
61-year-old Idris then allegedly made efforts to quickly elevate his newfound lover as a police superintendent, but this was frustrated by the Police service commission, sources told Peoples Gazette.
Mr. Idris then suggested she abandon her police career altogether in the pilot wing under operations department.
He subsequently took her as his new wife and rented a new apartment for her in Abuja. A few months after, Mr. Idris had a clash with his first wife.
The ex-IG asked the first wife to move out of the official police quarters the family was occupying in Maitama at the time, after which the new wife moved in, sources said.
Idris had prior to his retirement, acquired new assets and moved into one of them when he after the handover of office duties to the new inspector-general in January 2019.
But Mr. Idris’ family said he never enjoyed his marriage to Asta, and sought regularly to punish the former police chief with physical and mental assault.
“Every time she would lock him inside a room,” a family source said. “After many hours and noises from our brother, she would then feed him yam and palm oil to calm him down.”
The family sources, who spoke under anonymity because of the ongoing divorce, said Mrs. Idris’ treatment of her husband left him “physically and mentally” ill for too long.
The families said Mr. Idris was finally rescued three weeks ago from their home on Nile Street, Maitama, and taken to his hometown in Bida for “proper care.”
“We got the blessings of the emir to bring him back to the village,” a source said. “And the emir has been taking care of his feeding allowances.”
Mrs. Idris was also accused of changing titles of assets acquired by her husband and they had to use the police to recover some cars from her recently.
“When we brought the former IG back to the village, we took him to elders for traditional healing,” a source said. “She had cleaned him out of everything — mentally, physically and financially.”
Family sources said they had kept him in a safe place pending the conclusion of divorce at a court in Abuja.
A police source said it was appropriate for the family to claim the three children they both had together to prevent them from emulating Mrs. Idris’ controversial lifestyle.
“She scattered the police officers’ wives association while she was then, which led some members to boycott activities of the organisation,” a police source said. “It is okay for the court to give the custody of the children to the husband’s family.”
But Mrs. Idris insisted she had no issues with her husband but only his family. She also said she has been working to rescue her husband from his family, whom he accused of “stealing” him from her.
“As far as I am concerned, there is no divorce,” Mrs. Idris said. “They brought court papers but my husband said he did not approve any divorce papers.”
Mrs. Idris also said she sent three cars to her husband when some family members came to ask for it, although family and police sources strongly refuted this, saying the vehicles were forcibly recovered from her.
She said the family “locked” her husband “in the house and ran away with the keys” in the village, making it difficult for her to return him to their family assets she had been preserving in Abuja.
“The lawyers said that they cannot deprive him of his constitutional rights to move about,” she said.
She told the Gazette she has not seen her husband since he was removed from Abuja three weeks ago, but she did not clarify where she was when her husband was being moved. Family sources Mr. Idris was locked at home and alone when they rescued him in Abuja three weeks ago.
“The family people have issues with me but me and my husband have no issues without ourselves,” Mrs. Idris said. “I am still in my husband’s house.”
“They served me a court order that there is a divorce and I told them I am still married to my husband,” she said. “They cannot do this.”
Mr. Idris’ relatives revealed that they have been working to see how they could help improve his life.
