Burning desire for revenge drove me to kill ex-FUTA VC –Sacked driver

78-year- old former Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Ondo State, Prof. Albert Ilemobade, who was gruesomely murdered by his domestic staff on June 21, seemed to have  had premonition of death.

“Reason: About an  hour to his death, allegedly  in the hands of two of his aides, his two sons- Prof Adesola Ilemobade and Adeseni Ilemobade-called him to wish him happy Father’s Day, celebrated that Sunday,  and his response suggested this.“His response, according to Adesola, a professor of civil engineering, based in South Africa, gave an inkling  he had premonition of death.“Adesola said: “Our last conversation was on Sunday, Father’s  Day, and that was the night he passed on.

I called to wish him happy Father’s Day and he told me he was very excited that day. He told me ‘I am happy and I don’t know why I am happy’. We believe that God gave him such a good day as a way to transit him.““Within  an hour of that conversation, he passed on”. “The second son, Adeseni, repeated he had same conversation with the father when interviewed separately at their No I, Ikere Street, Ijapo, Akure.“”The last conversation I had with my dad was on Sunday, Father’s Day, June 21.
He was so excited when I spoke with him. He told me he was excited and didn’t understand why and the last thing he told me was, ‘Seni, I know you’re going to be a very good father; and  I already see what you are doing”.“While the deceased was exchanging pleasantries with his children, Olayemi, 36, his former driver, sacked for dumping his boss  in church  at Easter, was said to have sneaked into the compound with the assistance of the security guard, Daniel, to take his boss life.

“It was  alleged by Adeseni that the former driver came back to kill his father to avenge his sack and detention after his alleged attempt to steal the former VC’s car was foiled by tracking device.“The son alleged that the suspect did that despite the fact that it was the father that asked the police to discontinue the matter, bailed him and even gave him money to continue life elsewhere.“Sunday Vanguard was informed by a family member that the deceased, after the greetings from his sons, sat in the living room watching television and later retired to his study at about 8.30pm.

“The suspected  assassins were believed to have, before that Sunday, agreed that the only way to succeed in their crime was to lure the deceased from his study to another  place within the compound to kill him.“The former driver, who the police called the ‘chief culprit’, said to have been hiding in the gate house, had agreed with the guard to raise the alarm that an electric spark had occurred near the pumping machine  close to where Olayemi was hiding.“Sunday Vanguard learnt that the guard walked to the window of the study and called the attention of the deceased to the purported electric spark.

“On hearing the alarm raised, the former VC  reportedly came out of the house through the kitchen door and walked to the gate house with the guard.“While he was examining the place the guard  was  pointing at, the former driver allegedly  grabbed him from behind and strangulated him while the guard used some of his clothes to cover his mouth to prevent  any noise  from attracting attention.
“While this was going on, the wife, Olakitan, 73, was in one of the rooms in the house, sleeping.“After killing him, his body was said to have been dragged from the gate house to the generator house, located at the other end of the compound and dumped there.“The decomposing corpse was discovered a week after he was declared missing by his family after his killers were apprehended in Ogun State while trying to sell the deceased’s  Toyota RAV4  SUV, which they confessed was the reason they killed at a ridiculous price to a buyer who tipped off the police.

“When the suspects were paraded by the police in Akure, they confessed to the  chagrin of the Ilemobade family how the deceased was nice to them, but that they needed to kill him ” to make good money and start a new life”.“Olayemi described how he planned the revenge and the reason  they had to kill their benefactor in cold blood.

What the three children of Prof Ilemobade – Adesola, Adeseni and Mrs Tolulade Ilemobade-Ozigbo – told Sunday Vanguard about their late father. Adesola spoke first: “”Our father was a great man . I am his first son and a civil engineer, a professor. Where I am today, my father had even reached there and did  more at my age. The last time I saw him in Johannesburg, I told him if I got to where he was, I will be proud.
“” I will miss a man who always encouraged me and boosted me by saying, ‘you  must not stop learning, you must continue to be the best you can be’. I will miss him.“ “He said to me several times that ‘I am so happy today and I don’t why, ‘ and within an hour of that conversation, he passed on. “”Irrespective of  the mode of exit , we are grateful for the life he spent and the heritage .

He taught us to pray and, as a family, we pray together. Whether you like it or not, you must be at the family altar and not only the family but everyone who is a part of the family, biological and non-biological by 6am; you must pray with the family.“”During  Christmas,  we have Father Christmas  who gives gift to all the children in the house. It’s a tradition that’s happening in our home. He was Father Christmas as far as children were concerned”.

“Tolulade is the baby of the family. She said her late father lived a fulfilled life. “”My father was strict, he was a disciplinarian, he wouldn’t take nonsense, but my father was a good man, he never forced a decision on us,”she stated.“” He will give us his suggestion and then leave the decision  to us and, when you have a father like that, you would not want to take a decision he wouldn’t support.“” I look back and I don’t want to change anything;  if I have the chance to be born again and grow under him again, I will do it.

“” I miss everything about him. He was my father, my friend and my everything, I will miss everything about my dad”.“Adeseni  said:” I’m the third child of the late Prof. Albert Ilemobade. I saw my father last during Easter when that incident of the driver who took away his car happened. I was actually around and that was the last time I saw him.“”The last conversation I had with my dad was on Sunday, Father’s Day, June 21.

He was so excited when I spoke with him. He told me that he was excited and didn’t understand why. The last thing he told me was,’Seni, I know you’re going to be a very good father and  I already see what you are doing’. “”The conversation we had before then was during Easter. For a very long time, my father and I never had a discussion like we had that day because he actually called me to his study and said, ‘I needed to have a discussion with you’. He mentioned it about two times in the day when I arrived Akure and he told me he was very proud of me.“”I don’t live here. I  work in Lagos. So I arrived  Akure on  Easter Friday with my family.

When I arrived, he had gone to church and, when he came back, we had informal discussion but he kept saying he wanted to discuss with me and, for him to say he wanted to have  one-on-one with me, I knew he wanted to tell me something that was very important.  And what he said was that he was very proud of me. He just wanted to tell me he was proud of me”.“Speaking on the reaction of the family when the former driver absconded with the VC’s car at Easter, Adeseni said,  “The truth of the matter was that it happened on Easter Sunday. My father  was a chief in his church in Ondo and he always liked to go back home for service.

He would go at least once or twice a month for service. “”So he went for the Easter Sunday service in Ondo and the driver dropped him in church and, by the time my father finished the church service, he couldn’t find the driver and the car. “”He alerted the police in Ondo about the case and I had to go and pick him there and brought him to Akure and we also lodged, complaint at the police station in Ijapo Estate because this is where he lived. Arrests were made. “I was very furious because I knew the driver was trying to play pranks but my father suggested that something might have happened.
I had to travel back to my base on Monday and there was no trace of the car or the driver until Wednesday when the driver himself drove the car back and the police arrested him and I don’t know what his confession was. “”I heard after the death of my dad that he actually went to pay for his bail because my father said he didn’t feel good that the driver was in police custody. That was his nature. “”My father saw no need in charging the driver to court. He never told us the end of the story, he just told us that the car had been seen and I kept on calling him to get the full story but he kept the better part of the story from us.

It was his close staff in office that told us that daddy actually went to bail him. “The driver was sacked after he was released from police custody. I heard my father gave him some money to go and take care of himself but told him his employment had been terminated. “”I believe his coming back to commit the murder was a revenge and the fact that he still wanted money”. “The Vicar of the Chapel of Annunciation, Ondo,  Ven. Rev Ayodeji Fagbemi, where the deceased worshipped, said the late professor was in church during the Father’s Day celebration and even wrote a cheque in furtherance of the ?work of God in the church.“Fagbemi described his murder allegedly by the two accused persons as callous.

“According to him, the church had been praying for his release when  he was purportedly kidnapped not knowing that he had been gruesomely murdered allegedly  by his domestic staff.“He faulted  the intelligence gathering of the security operatives who were fooled by the aides to believe the former VC  was kidnapped.

“The cleric said if the detectives had combed the entire compound, they would have seen the corpse of the deceased the very day he was murdered and dumped in the generator house.“Fagbemi however said that ” it’s not only the police that were fooled but everybody”.“Meanwhile, Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, who raced to the family house of  Ilemobade on arrival in Akure from Abuja at about 7pm, last Sunday, declared that the murderers will not go unpunished.“
Source:Vanguard

My life is at a standstill – Widow of Lagos businessman crushed by trailer

In her mid-thirties, Tina Dimoji, is a woman who never imagined her life could come crashing down during an outing with her husband of 14 years, Okey.

For the first time since she lost her 44-year-old husband in a tragic accident at Mile 2, Lagos, when the vehicle they were riding in was stopped by a team of policemen on illegal duty, Tina decided to share her story with Saturday PUNCH in an emotional moment that threatened to break her down completely.

During the interview, Tina even required the support of a friend, who held her hand all through, to ensure she stayed strong.

She could not bear to narrate the story without such physical support because every memory was agony for her.

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“I lost my confidant, our breadwinner, a very loving husband and great father to his children,” Tina shook her head and tears streamed down her face.

On April 30, 2015, Tina and Okey left their Anthony Village home and set out for a service of songs at Navy Town, Mile 2, Lagos, without any premonition of a looming tragedy.

Tina told our correspondent, “Earlier in the day, we went to Ikeja and when we got back home, he changed into a traditional attire and I decided to do the same in preparation for the programme at Mile 2.

“We were on our way back around 7.30pm when we got to the interchange at Mile 2 and a policeman (Sgt. Victor Egbovour) stood in the middle of the road and stopped our car.

Okey

“I could see three other policemen on the side of the road behind him. He (Egbovour) told my husband to get down from the car but my husband told him he wanted to park properly.

“His voice grew stronger as he again ordered him to get out of the car. My husband insisted two more times that he had to park well. On the third time, the policeman cocked his gun and said ‘You want to teach me my job?’ That was when my husband got down from the car and the policeman seized the car key.”

But that obedient action would cost Okey his life.

It was apparent the account had got to the most painful part of Tina’s memory. She paused and held her head in her hands. Her voice shook but she mustered the resolve to continue.

She said, “Just a moment later, all I saw was that the policeman jumped out of the way. In a split second, a loaded trailer hit my husband and dragged him some distance under its tyres.

“The policeman was facing the coming traffic so he was able to see the vehicle in time. My husband had his back towards the traffic. But the policeman made no attempt to push him out of the way or warn him about the coming vehicle.”

Tina, who was sitting in her husband’s vehicle during the encounter, dashed out of the vehicle just in time to hear her husband groan under the tyres of the trailer, “Ah, this policeman has killed me.”

She screamed as she saw her husband bleeding heavily from mangled flesh on his body.

“The driver of the trailer came out with his conductor and attempted to extricate him from under the tyre, but each time they did, blood gushed out,” Tina said.

But what did the four policemen standing around do at that moment?

“One of them took a look and told the others, ‘E be like say this man don die o.’ That was the last we saw of them. Few moments later, they all fled. We did not even know how they disappeared. We later realised that the one who collected the car key had dropped it on the ground,” Tina said.

It was learnt that as they eventually extricated Okey’s body from under the trailer, Tina was asked to drive the car closer so they could put her badly injured husband in the vehicle. But she could not move as a result of shock.

When Okey was eventually put in the car and driven to the nearest hospital, he had lost so much blood. Added to that was the fact that the hospital officials said his case was beyond their capability and had to refer him to a bigger hospital. But it was too late for Okey, he died shortly after.

According to Tina, if the policemen had not fled, perhaps, her husband could have been saved.

“They would have been able to clear the road for us as we raced to the hospital. They could have done a lot to ensure that we get there faster. But they caused my husband’s death and abandoned us immediately,” she said.

All the policemen were later tracked down and arrested. Apart from Egbovour, the other policemen involved are Corporal Simeon Omaye, Corporal Sumalaan Corporal Arabama.

Tina said her husband’s death brought her life to a standstill. Family members said she had barely been eating or sleeping since the incident.

Okey, whose grandfather was a retired Archbishop of the Methodist Church, met his wife in a church in Enugu and since then, they had been inseparable.

She said, “I cannot begin to explain what life has been for me and our two children (aged 12 and 11) since I lost the love of my life. Ours was a family filled with love. We were planning for his 45th birthday and had even informed all his friends. We planned a family trip. He was renovating this house in preparation for the birthday.

“The last two months has been traumatic for our children as well. One of my children recently won an award in school but rather than come home and rejoice, he was sobbing.

“The day we were supposed to celebrate the birthday of my second son, we were in the presence of the police provost marshal, testifying in the orderly room trial of the policemen involved in his father’s death.”

Okey was said to be a consummate businessman owning publishing, telecommunications, courier and security companies among others.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that the driver of the trailer, Abu Christopher, has also been arraigned for manslaughter.

Police sources said the four policemen are currently facing an orderly room trial for abandoning their normal duty and embarking on an illegal duty.

The family lawyer and a close friend of the deceased, Mr. Omeoga Chukwu, lamented the “wicked atrocity” that claimed the life of his friend.

He said, “As far back as 1994 he already employed as many as 30 people. He was such an industrious and honourable man. This is why we remain resolute in our commitment to justice.

“He died out of negligence and direct act of wickedness on the part of the policemen. We know we cannot bring back the dead but we would ensure justice is done for the deceased, his widow and children.

“We need to put it in the consciousness of other policemen in the country that they would be held accountable for their actions. We are aware the policemen involved are facing an orderly room trial. We are waiting for the final decision of the police authorities.”

The family expressed appreciation to the former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Kayode Aderanti, for taking a prompt action when the case was brought to his attention. Tina also said she could not have survived the last two months without the help of her family, her husband’s true friends, Prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria and other high ranking members of the church.

The deceased has not been buried due to delays in post-mortem processes. But the family said on July 17, he would be interred in his home town of Ihube in Imo State.

Source:Punch

Boko Haram massacres over 148 in Borno homes, mosques

Suspected Boko Haram militants gunned down 48 Muslim worshippers in two northeastern Nigerian villages, witnesses and a lawmaker said Thursday, shortly after some 100 people in the same region died in a similar attack.

“The Boko Haram gunmen killed 48 men and injured 11 others in the attack,” local lawmaker Mohammed Tahir said of the Wednesday raid in the flashpoint Borno state.
Also the militants killed close to 100 people in attacks on homes and mosques in a northeastern Nigerian village, witnesses said Thursday.

“The attackers have killed at least 97 people,” a local from Kukawa village, who gave his name as Kolo and who said he had counted the bodies, told AFP.
A fisherman who witnessed Wednesday’s attack corroborated the death toll.
“They wiped out the immediate family of my uncle…They killed his children, about five of them, and set his entire house ablaze,” Kolo said.

Another witness called Babami Alhaji Kolo who fled to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state where the attack took place, said more than 50 militants stormed the village early Wednesday evening.
“The terrorists first descended on Muslim worshippers in various mosques who were observing the Maghrib prayer shortly after breaking their fast,” he said.

“They… opened fire on the worshippers who were mostly men and young children.
“They spared nobody. In fact, while some of the terrorists waited and set most of the corpses on fire, others proceeded to houses and shot indiscriminately at women who were preparing food,” he said.
Source:Vanguard

Robbers strangle driver in Lagos gardens

Operatives of the Anti-Robbery Squad of the State Department of Criminal Investigation, Yaba, Lagos State, have arrested a five-man gang for allegedly strangling a cab driver, Sonye Chukwudi, aka Zack Friday.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the robbers ─ Anthony Toms (20), Godwin Francis (25), Michael Inyang (21), Evidence David (22), Etuk Tony (23) ─ tricked the 32-year-old to the Ransome Kuti Gardens, Anthony Village, thinking he had a lot of money.

They were said to have bound him hands and feet before strangling him, only to discover he had only his phone and N4,750 on him.

Our correspondent was told that the suspects hid the corpse in the gardens.

They were about escaping in the victim’s white Mercedes Benz E320 saloon car, when a team of policemen, acting on a tip-off, apprehended them.

The incident happened on Sunday around 9pm.

A police source said the suspects thought Chukwudi was rich because of his car which he usually parked around the Ikeja GRA for hire service.

He said, “They were four that planned the crime. Toms was their informant. He told them the man was rich.

“He told Chukwudi that he had a job for him. He said the man would carry some flowers for a customer from Anthony Village to Obanikoro.”

It was learnt that Toms, who hails from Cross River State, also arranged with another friend to drive the victim’s car after it had been stolen.

A police source said the man, who was to drive Chukwudi’s car, alerted the police to the operation.

The policemen reportedly trailed him to the scene.

PUNCH Metro gathered that around 9pm, the victim drove into the gardens and parked his car facing the Gbagada Expressway.

It was gathered that Toms began to load some bouquet of flowers into the booth of the car.

A source said, “Toms called the victim to assist him. As he stepped out of the car, other members came out of their hiding place and hit him in the head with a plank.

“They bound his legs and hands and used his clothes to cover his mouth. They then strangled him.”

Our correspondent was told that the suspects ransacked the deceased’s pocket and found his phone and N4,750.

“Soon after, they called their hired driver to pick them because none of them could drive.

“As soon as the driver got to the place, the police surrounded the suspects,” the source said.

Our correspondent was told that the police were forced to open fire on two of the gang members who attempted to escape.

They sustained gunshot injuries in the legs.

The police were said to have found the victim’s corpse hidden in the gardens and covered with flowers.

Our correspondent was told that Chukwudi lived alone in the Egbeda area of Lagos, while his wife and four children lived in their hometown in Imo State.

It was learnt that none of the suspects had their relatives in Lagos as they came from Cross River, Rivers, Bayelsa and Anambra states.

The prime suspect, Toms, however told our correspondent he never meant to kill the victim.

He said, “I am a gardener. I work in that garden at Anthony. I met the man about two years ago.

“That day, I just wanted to collect the money and steal his car, which we estimated at about N2m. He struggled with us and died in the process.”

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Kenneth Nwosu, said he would call back.

But he had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.

But a police source said the men were arraigned on Wednesday before an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrate’s Court.

They were said to have been remanded pending legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.

Source:Punch

Ebola returns to Liberia four months after clearance

The corpse of a 17-year-old boy has tested positive for Ebola in Liberia, the country’s deputy Health Minister said late Monday. He added that no other case had been reported.

Tolbert Nyenswah, who is also head of the country’s Ebola response, told newsmen that the teenager died June 24 in Nedowein, a town situated close to the country’s international airport, about 48 kilometres south of the capital, and was given a safe burial the next day.

Liberia had been the country hardest hit by last year’s Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The World Health Organisation, WHO, declared Liberia Ebola-free on May 9 after the country went 42 days without reporting a case.

Nyenswah said: “We have said over and over again that there was the possibility of a resurgence of the virus in Liberia. But our capacity is very strong.”
The deadly virus, which has killed over 11,100 people mostly in West Africa in its worst outbreak ever, is hanging on stubbornly in Guinea, where the Ebola outbreak was first reported in March 2014, and in Sierra Leone.

It was not known how the 17-year-old contracted Ebola. The town where the teenager died is far from the borders with Sierra Leone and Guinea, so Nyenswah said they were investigating whether his case might be linked to travel.

Specimens were taken from the corpse before burial, and the tests later came back positive.
“The only complication is that the person died before we tested the body as part of our surveillance system of testing living and dead people,” Nyenswah said.

Nyenswah said teams are already doing contact tracing in the Nedowein area.
“There is no need for pandemonium; people should go about their normal business,” he said.
He called the Ebola testing of the young man’s corpse “a success story for our surveillance system.”

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon had warned earlier this month that as long as there is one Ebola case in West Africa “all countries are at risk.”
Source: Vanguard