Tenants Lynch Landlord's Son, Dump Body on Road After Mistaking Him For a Kidnapper
Very sad story!
A 41 year old man was beaten to death by people who occupies the late
father's house. The man reportedly had been away for 24 years without
contacting his family, finally when he came back to the country, unknown to
him, his mother had died and didn't live in the compound he went to visit
that night. Probably because he wore dreadlocks, a woman saw him and raised
an alarm that he was a kidnapper and thief, he was attacked and lynched to
death by an angry mob.
Punch reports..Some tenants and members of the Odua People’s Congress have lynched a 41-year-old man in the Ajelogo area of Mile 12, Lagos State.
Tolulope Olajuwape, was beaten to death by residents of Fasanya Street near
his father’s house after being wrongly accused of being a kidnapper.An
unidentified woman was said to have raised a false alarm, after which
Olajuwape was beaten to death.
The elder sister of the deceased, Mrs. Oluwakemi Adesanya said that her brother had been away from Nigeria for many years.She said on the fateful day, the deceased had gone to the area to visit their mother, who he did not know was dead.
She said:
“My brother has been away from Nigeria for about 24 years. He spent five
years in Sierra Leone while he has
spent the last 19 years in Guinea Bissau. However, four years ago, he came
briefly to Nigeria and we discussed how we were going to renovate our late
father’s house on Fasanya Street and let it out.We begged him to stay in
Nigeria, but he refused. After he returned to Guinea Bissau, we lost touch
because he lost his phone and my elder brother, who had his phone
number, had misplaced his own phone
as well. So, when our mother died over a year ago, Tolulope did not even
know.On April 9, 2014, I received a
phone call from one of my elder
brothers in Kaduna, who told me that he heard that Tolulope was in Nigeria
and was being beaten up near our father’s house. It was quite late in the
evening and I was very far away, so I could not do anything that
night.”
Adesanya said the following morning, she visited the area where she was
informed that a suspected kidnapper had been lynched.The matter was then
reported at the Mile 12 Police Post after which investigations began.
Adesanya said,
“My aunt told me that my brother had gone to my father’s house around
7pm and did not like the condition of the house. He went inside the house
and threatened to evict some people, but none of the tenants knew him
because the house had been given to a developer.Maybe because my brother was
on dreadlocks, he looked suspicious to them. I learnt that a woman raised
the alarm and accused him of being a kidnapper and a thief. People
immediately gathered around him and one OPC man descended on my brother.My
brother ran to the next street – Fadare Street – where my mother’s house was
situated. He entered the house and started knocking on doors, shouting ‘Iya
Kemi e gba mi’ (Iya Kemi, help me). He did not know that Iya Kemi, our
mother, was deceased and the house had been rented out.”
It was learnt that the irate mob traced Olajuwape to the house and tortured
him for about four hours.The developer of the said property was said to have
called the tenants of the house on the
telephone to inform them that the
person being lynched was indeed the landlord’s son, but by then it was
already too late.
After killing him, his corpse was thrown into the main road and was crushed by oncoming vehicles.
After killing him, his corpse was thrown into the main road and was crushed by oncoming vehicles.
“After killing my brother, someone explained to them that he was indeed the
landlord’s son. When the mob noticed that they had made a mistake, they
threw my brother’s corpse into the main road so that it would be crushed
beyond recognition,”
Adesanya said while fighting back tears.Adesanya wondered how the lynching
took place without the knowledge of the police despite the fact that the
scene of the incident was just two streets away from the Mile 12 Police
Post.When our correspondent visited the house on Fasanya Street, all the
rooms were locked and the house was deserted.
However, it was learnt that some of the tenants, including the woman who raised the false alarm, had been arrested.A landlord on Fadare Street, who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, said many of them could not do anything to save the victim.
He said,
However, it was learnt that some of the tenants, including the woman who raised the false alarm, had been arrested.A landlord on Fadare Street, who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, said many of them could not do anything to save the victim.
He said,
“As you can see, I am very old and I have lost my sight. I knew the
victim’s mother, Iya Kemi. I heard when somebody was shouting Iya Kemi’s
name for help, but I cannot even walk without being aided.
It was later in the morning that I was informed that it was her son that
was killed. Before her death, Iya Kemi used to cry that she missed her son,
Tolu. It is unfortunate what happened.”
Police Public Relations Officer,
Ngozi Braide, had yet to reply to text messages sent to her
telephones as of the time of going to
the press.
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