A welder identified as Bidemi Akande has been arrested after he allegedly killed his wife's friend, Shakirat Fatusi, a.k.a Olopa during an argument in the Ogba Ayo area of Ogun state.
According to reports, Mr. Akande pushed Shakirat who was the breadwinner of her family and a mother of seven to the floor. She slammed her head on the ground and went into coma. She later died at the trado-medical center in Ogun state.
The two reportedly didn't see eye to eye after Shakirat intervened in a quarrel between Bidemi Akande and his wife.
They got into an argument after Mr. Akande made derogatory comments about the victim when she came to his wife's shop to buy stuff.
Narrating what happened to Punch, one of Shakirat's children, Bashirat Fatusi said Akande promised that her mother would regain consciousness after 24 hours, adding that instead, her condition deteriorated.
“My mum wanted to buy pepper soup from Iya Tolani (Akande’s wife). While she was waiting, she and Baba Tolani (Akande) started exchanging words. He came to report her to my father, but he was not around. He then reported her to Iya Idris, my father’s sister, and went back to shop.
By the time I got there to see what was happening, my mother was lying on the ground. He fled, but people caught him. I demanded that she should be taken to a hospital, but he said there was no need for that. He said she would be fine in the next 24 hours.
We brought her home, but there was no improvement. We rushed her to Tofunmi Hospital in the morning. A test was conducted on her and the doctor said her sugar level had risen. She was referred to another hospital, from where we went to Ota General Hospital. Immediately we got there, a doctor referred us to a hospital in Abeokuta.
Somebody directed us to Dr. D. John Trado-medical Centre in the Gasline area. She died at the centre. The man said a charm was used to hit her. We called Baba Tolani to give her the antidote, but he refused.”
Also speaking to Punch, Shakirat’s husband, Segun Fatusi accused Akande of killing his wife
“We have seven children together and she was the one catering to them. He had been having disagreements with my wife because she always asked him not to beat his wife. If he had allowed people to take her to a hospital that night, she might have survived. It was when I came back from a hotel where I worked that we took her to the hospital,” he said.
The deceased’s in-law, Kayode Akanni, who took her to the trado-medical centre, said the native doctor wanted to administer a concoction on her when she gave up the ghost.
“Before she died, I called the man (Akande) on the telephone to bring the antidote; he said he was at Agege, Lagos State. When I called him again, he said he was at Ibafo. I asked him to tell me the antidote on the telephone, but he said he did not care if she died and he ended the call
Akande denied the allegations that he used charm to hit Shakirat.
After I returned home from work that day, I went to my wife’s shop to eat. On getting there, I met an elderly man, Ajabale, doing the dishes for my wife.
One woman that was with us jokingly said, ‘Baba Tolani, Ajabale is your wife’s husband.’ In response, I prayed that God should not turn our destiny into a mess. I didn’t know that Olopa was at my back. She said I was referring to her and slapped me.
I went to report her to her husband, but he was not around. I reported her to a neighbour and he promised to settle the matter the following day. I went back to my wife’s shop so that we could go home together.
As we wanted to leave, she descended on me again and started hitting me. She tore my clothes. People came out to separate us. She came back and gripped my clothes. I pushed her and she slumped. A mob beat me up.
I was at work the next day when my wife called me that Olopa had been rushed to a hospital. I told her to borrow me some money to take her to the hospital. I didn’t use any charm on her.”
The Ogun State police spokesperson, ASP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the case had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department.
