Residents of Aduralere quarters at Ijoka Road in Akure are still in shock over the death of 14-year old Oluwaseyi Adewunmi Adelegan who was axed to death in his father’s bedroom on 5th September 2013.
Seyi, a Senior Secondary School One (SSS 1) student of a private model school in Akure was found by his younger siblings in their home last Thursday in a pool of his own blood. He was the son of Solomon Adelegan, the National President of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services (AUPCTRE). Chief Adelegan is also a former Chairman of the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council (JNC) in Ondo State.
When SaharaReporters visited the area, residents were wearing sorrowful faces over the tragedy.
Sources said the assailants were corporately attired as they stormed the building which is located at one end of Ijoka Road.
One merchant of a store where late Oluwaseyi and his siblings often bought snacks to eat narrated to SaharaRerpoters what happened before the sad news.
“On the day of the incident, their parents had gone out while Seyi’s younger ones were preparing for the summer lessons because they are all on holiday. His younger ones attend a summer lesson at the third street here. I even saw them when they were going but never knew Seyi was at home and they bought biscuit from my hand before I proceed to the market to get some goods I don’t have in stock”.
She said Seyi was last seen that morning when he accompanied his younger ones to the road after they had bought the biscuits from her on their way to their class.
Similarly, a neighbor of the Adelegans said he saw the deceased through the window while fetching water before the tragedy unfolded.
“I saw him fetching water because my own building is upstairs and you can easily see what is happening in their compound through the window. His parents were not at home at that time. If they had been at home you will see their vehicle and I think he wanted to take his bath when I saw him”.
He said, the whole compound was quiet in the early hours of that day due to departure of the children for their summer lessons while Oluwaseyi was home alone.
A shoemaker on the street further explained to our reporter that he saw an exotic Toyota Jeep parked at the front of his shop but did not know who the occupants were. Two of them, corporately-dressed, entered the compound.
“I was in my shop mending a shoe brought by a customer when the Toyota Jeep parked in front of my shop thinking they want to [come in] here. I told the driver putting on white cap that he should please
move [the vehicle] to the front a little because they were blocking my shop and he obliged me. Two men came out of the car and headed towards the building while the driver was inside [using] his phone”.
He revealed that when the men entered the building, he already knew they were looking for Chief Adelegan thinking they are among friends of the family who usually visit him as he is a popular and affluent man in the state.
The shoemaker added that the men came out about five minutes later beaming with smiles as they walked towards their parked vehicle, before they drove away.
“They even appreciated me after they entered their vehicle and told me they like some of my already made shoes. I told them, ‘thank you sir.’”
But could those two men be behind the murder of the teenager? SaharaReporters pressed him further.
“I can’t really say that because 30 minutes later they left, I saw Seyi closing the gate. He even joked with me as usual in front of the gate. I would have called him to come and play with me but the way he closed the gate seems to be that he was doing something important in the room.”
When SaharaReporters accosted some kids playing football in a section of the street, they jokingly said the deceased was the type that did not associate with other teenagers in the street, perhaps because of his father’s wealth and fame in the state.
“He doesn’t come out to play with us. You can’t even know when he is on holiday or going to school. His father likes him so much and you will always see him around his siblings either to buy something or coming from somewhere. They always walk together. We always thought his father’s money made him that way. Although, he is not proud with it but he doesn’t just associate with us and you know their house [has a] gate. Hardly will you see him coming out.”
A family member also told our reporter that nobody could say for certain how the boy was killed, or the reason behind his murder, asserting that it was only after his younger ones returned from their summer lessons that they raised the alarm.
“When they came back from lesson around 2pm, they saw Seyi on the floor after he had struggled from the bedroom with blood all over his body. He was axed on the forehead and his wrists were full of cuts.” A close friend said Seyi was a science student who had ambitions of studying medicine outside the country. He loved reading chemistry and liked the Scripture, the friend said, describing him as being like a ’saint’ because he always prayed in the class early in the morning anytime their teacher called upon him to do so.
Some speculations link the tragedy to Chief Adelegan’s closeness to the government and the recent battle with state workers over the recent detection of ‘ghost workers,’ suggestion it might have been a vengeance killing. Since the incident, Chief Adelegan has refused to speak to the Press but his recent post on social media reveals his deep love for his son.
“YOU RE THE SUN WHICH SHINES IN MY SKY, THE REASON WHY I AM ALWAYS INSPIRED GOODBYE MY PILLAR, MY LIGHT, MY HOPE, MY JOY. YOU COULDN’T WAIT TO FULFILL OUR PLANS, WE BOTH AGREE YOU RE GOING FOR PHARMACY OUTSIDE NIGERIA, WHAT HAPPENS TO THE STUDENT ACCOUNT AND THE INSURANCE POLICY FOR YOUR SAKE? OLUWASEYI ADEWUNMI ADELEGAN ON THE INTERNET, PAGES OF NEWSPAPER, RADIO AND TV AS LATE OH OH OH OH YOU PREACHED TO THE WHOLE CHURCH ON SUNDAY ON PERILOUS TIMES, GOODNIGHT MY BELOVED SON. PLEASE MY SON SHOW YOURSELF TO ME AND LET US CHAT AND KISS AS WE USED TO....”
Meanwhile, the Ondo State Police Command has vowed to bring the perpetrator of the crime to book. Spokesman Wole Ogolo said the case had been transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the state.
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