From Olalekan Awojodu, Abuja
In spite of her popularity, and acceptability of her music, the late gospel singer, Osinachi Nwachukwu at the point of death was so broke she couldn’t treat her ulcer. This revelation was made on Tuesday by her keyboardist, Adetunji Moses, as a witness in the trial of her husband Peter, before a Federal Capital Territory(FCT) High Court, Wuse Zone 2, Abuja.
After the death of Osinachi, Gavel International reported that Peter was arrested and subsequently arraigned by the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation on charges of domestic violence and homicide.
The death of Osinachi in April 2022 made her colleagues and family members accused Peter of maltreating her, leading to her death.
Moses is one of the witnesses listed by the prosecution lawyer, Yewande Gbola Awopeta. He told the court how the late singer informed him that all monies and honorarium went into her husband’s bank account as he is the producer and team lead.
According to Moses who is also a musician, keyboardist, music teacher and a music producer, the late singer he added had no money despite ministrations locally and internationally. He described Mrs Osinachi as a worship leader in Dunamis, spiritually filled and a humble person.
He explained further that at one time, Osinachi told him she had ulcer but “had no money with her” to buy “Gestid” – a medication for ulcer. According to him, she said “the blessings, honorarium in cash are all paid to Mr Peter Nwachukwu’s bank account. She then brought her ATM, we both checked and there was no money in her account,” he added.
He said, ” I know Mr Peter Nwachukwu in our church, Dunamis International Gospel Centre, Area, Abuja, adding that “he approached me around September 2018 that he wanted me to play the keyboard for his late wife, Mrs Osinachi Nwachukwu. That is how I got to know about him.
“After I agreed to work with her, we began to go to programmes, locally and internationally. I was her keyboardist and Personal Assistant as commanded by Mr Peter Nwachukwu.
“In 2018, we traveled to House on the Rock, Enugu, the people that invited us told us that Mr Peter said no visitors should come and see his wife, that he does not want disturbance in the hotel.”
The producer said he got to know that the family of late Mrs Osinachi resides in Enugu State, adding that the invitation that nobody should visit the hotel was to disallow his in-laws from meeting with her.
He said the accused told him that he believed that the family members came around to hinder her ministry and to shut the door of blessings to his family. “I did all I could to ensure that nobody visited Osinachi in the hotel.
“When we got back to Abuja, he then told me the reason why he does not want any visitor to visit Osinachi. “In his words, I quote, there is a soul tie between Osinachi, between my wife and her twin sister that he wants to disconnect and he does not want two of them to minister together as twin sisters thereby depriving both of them a privilege of relationship,” he said.
“When the Osinachi ‘s crew met Mr Peter for an increase in their pay based on the agreement that he would pay according to the blessing of God to the ministry, Peter refused to increase their pay because there was a lockdown at the time, and there were no more invites.
But when asked under cross-examination by Peter’s lawyer, A.I. Aliyu, if he was aware of the sickness that Osinachi suffered from, but feigned ignorance, saying “I am not aware”
The music producer was also asked whether he told the Nigeria Police that he didn’t understand Igbo language, a language being spoken by the deceased and her husband, the producer denied saying any of that.
The lawyer (Aliyu) then put it to him that he (Moses) was angry at Peter because he (Peter) was not paying him as expected, he again denied and was asked to step down from the dock.
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