That Oyeyemi Riliwan Oladele, 22, still
lives today is a miracle: He was supposed to have died some months ago. His
parents, Mr.Sulaimon and Mrs. Kuburat Oyeyemi, and two siblings, Aminat and
Aishat were murdered in cold blood in their home on 83 Tokunboh Street, Lagos
Island, Lagos state, on January 11. Read more
His father was a freelance journalist with
one of the dailies based in Lagos. Oyeyemi who spoke to the reporter on phone
said he has since been hiding after running away from the hospital where he had
been receiving treatment for nervous shock under police protection.
On the night he lost his loved ones,
Oyeyemi said he was in the toilet when the evil men struck. According to him,
he suddenly overheard loud argument between his father and some unknown men
relating to a certain publication which his father was adamant to retract and
also refusing a bribery settlement.
"My parents and two of my siblings
were murdered on the night of January 11, 2013.
I would have also been killed had I not been in the toilet that time. We
were all watching the network news that night as usual, with the power from the
generating set, when I was pressed and had to visit the bedroom toilet. I
hadn't spent up to 10 minutes in the toilet when I suddenly heard a loud
argument between my Dad and some unknown men who were demanding for my father's
cooperation on their stand on ensuring that a certain story was retracted. My
father had told them he couldn't do their biddings and also he wasn't ready to
be bribed for doing the wrong thing. After that, I suddenly heard gun shots and
agonizing cries from my father who was pleading with the men to spare his
family, but his pleas fell on deaf ears as another agonizing cry that followed
was my mother's and then Aminat and Aishat also followed with their last cries.
Instinct
immediately told me to bolt away and I
suddenly found myself jumping out through the back door that leads to our
backyard. The loud noise I made by slamming the door after me must have raised
the suspicion of the assassins that there was still another person in the house
and the next I heard was a loud command from one of them demanding that I
should stop where I was, but I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. I guess
they didn't see me or didn't know which direction I took because I soon find
out that I had run for hours and far away from the house.
Since I had no other place to go because I
don't know any relative of my parents as I think they all live outside Lagos
and our parents didn't allow us to know them well enough, I had to return to
the house around mid-night when I thought things had calmed down. I walked for
hours before I got back home. I was too shocked to even tell anyone what had
happened, I just had the urge to return home and find out what had happened to
my family. I eventually got home and entered through our kitchen and that's all
I can remember now."
Oyeyemi actually passed out while he rested
against the wall in the kitchen that night, it was a neighbour, who craved
anonymity for security reasons, and said he was in the ill-fated family's place
early the next morning, that evetually came to Oyeyemi's rescue and took him to
the nearest hospital.
The Good Samaritan who said that he decided
to visit the Oyeyemis that morning, because he had heard gunshots from the
house the previuos night, continued the story: "I was shocked to see the lifeless
bodies of the Oyeyemis in the pool of their own blood early that morning,
January 12, though we heard gunshots the previuos night, no one could come out
because it was dark and there was no power supply. We had simply thought it was
either thieves or policemen scaring robbers away.
Riliwan (Oyeyemi) was lucky that I found
him after alerting the police. We took him to the General hospital for
treatment immediately because he had bruises on his hands and legs. We
discovered that he had been thoroughly traumatized. He narrated his account to the police that day on his
hospital bed where he was being offered treatment under police protection
before he finally ran away from the hospital on suspicion of attack and police
ineptitudeness. It was a such a traumatic experience for him you know, to
witness the cold-blooded murder of one’s parents and two siblings in one swoop.
"The matter was reported to the Lion
Building Police station, Lagos Island and the remains of Oyeyemi's decesead
loved ones were taken to the General Hospital, Lagos Island.
I heard the case was later transfered to
Abuja but it has since remained one of the many unresolved murder cases before
the Nigerian police." The man said.
Expalinng to the reporter why he suddenly
disappeared, Oyeyemi said: "Initially, I was determined to fight, to use
the instrumentality of the law to avenge my parents and siblings’ murder but some of my friends advised me
against it, saying it would be a careless decision. ‘Those who had ensured the
killing of your parents and siblings would not spare you when they know you are
seeking revenge. And we don’t have the means to protect you’ so counselled one
of them whose name I don’t want to disclose. Instinct told me to run and now I
feel like leaving the country entirely. There is no justice in this country. I
don’t think the law can protect the common man like me any longer. " He
said resignedly.
Culled from The Sun newspaper
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