Man stabbed to death in attempt to stop okada snatchers

Sunday, 05 June 2011

The victim, Bolaji Ishola on his hospital bed with stitches still on his stomach. Photos: Oluwatoyin Malik.

When Adewale Adisa Okusanya decided to leave his place of birth in Oru, Ogun State and look for greener pastures in Ibadan, Oyo State, he was full of hopes that things would be better for him. In fact, it was his late mother who took him to Ibadan years back to learn furniture making when there was no help back home after his father’s death.

After his freedom from apprenticeship, Adewale stayed back in Ibadan, moreso when his mother also died. He had also prayed that he would be successful enough to adequately take care of, and be a responsible father over, his daughter.

Being an orphan, 32-year-old Adewale knew the pains that children who have no parents go through and he was determined to work hard and leave a good legacy for his daughter and others that would come after her. Though his wife had left him when the daughter was about two years old, he was still determined to give the little girl a good life and living. Unfortunately, his dreams were aborted on Monday May 23, 2011 when his life was abruptly terminated by suspected robbers while he was trying to help his fellow okada rider who was attacked by the robbers.
Adewale, who had his furniture making business at Agbaje area of Odo Ona Elewe in Ibadan, also engaged himself with commercial okada riding, carrying passengers to augment the little he could rake in from his furniture business. He was well known among other okada riders as an easy-going fellow, and it is no strange news that it is common among okada riders to support one another whenever any of them falls into any problem or they perceive that one of them is about to be cheated.
This was what Adewale tried to do on that fateful day but which turned fatal for him as he lost his life in the process. According to a reliable source, an okada rider, whose name was given as Bolaji Ishola, had taken two passengers to St Leo’s School area at Ita Agbaje around 8.30p.m. on that day, unknown to him that they were armed robbers. As he wanted to drop them, he was attacked by two men suspected to be Hausas. In their attempt to dispossess Bolaji of his motorcycle, the robbery suspects stabbed the okada rider in the stomach and arms, took the snatched motorcycle and tried to get away with it.
Bleeding profusely from the different points of stab wounds, Bolaji feebly shouted thief! thief!! to alert the people around. Meanwhile, Adewale was in his shop with his own okada parked. It was the distress call of the injured okada man which he heard that made him run out in an effort to block the escaping robbers, unknown to him that they were armed with daggers.
A friend of Adewale’s, one Segun Oladele, who witnessed the incident from a close distance also told policemen that he was in the shop when he watched how his late friend struggled with the robbers and held on to the motorcycle. In the process, the robbers stabbed him and the bike fell. Seeing that attention had turned on them, one of the robbers was reported to have shouted Kai! and started running. Segun said he tried to pursue him but he could not catch up with him.
He returned to his friend and met him in a pool of his own blood. Seeing that he had been seriously stabbed, Segun, with the help of some other people, rushed Adewale to a nearby private hospital but he was certified dead on arrival. When Sunday Tribune visited the okada rider, Bolaji, the day after the attack on him at a private hospital, he was in an unconscious state with doctors battling to save his life.
The man had stab wound on his stomach with his intestines out. According to one of the doctors who later spoke with this writer, the victim also had a deep gash on his right upper arm and had to be placed on oxygen while doctors had to carry out an exploratory laparatomy surgery on him to save his life.
Recounting his experience to Sunday Tribune on Friday June 3, Bolaji said “I picked the two men from glo office area at Challenge. I was about closing for the day and I usually bought fuel at Falana petrol station not too far from there. When they told me they were going to St. Leo’s School area, I decided to drop them before going back to buy fuel. Both of them spoke pidgin English with me but with heavy Hausa accent. As I parked to drop them, one of them suddenly stabbed me on the stomach.
“ As I attempted to struggle with him, the other one  stabbed me on the left side again. We were all on the ground them. One of them held my two legs and the other one held my arms above my head. One held a dagger up to slash my throat and said ‘Bisimillahi’. Suddenly, I noticed an appearance and I shouted ‘Jesus!’ and used my right arm to block my neck. He gave me a deep slash on that arm again and left me. One of them took the okada, kicked and sped off while the other ran away. I summoned strength, got up and started shouting for help. That was what I could remember last as I later found myself in the hospital”, he narrated feebly.
Commercial motorcyclists who operate around Challenge area complained bitterly to Sunday Tribune of the incessant attacks on them by these robbers. Some of them who spoke in anonymity said that a number of motorcycles had been lost to the robbers. “In fact, we don’t understand what is happening.
Sometimes, we would lock the motorcycle and it would still be stolen. We don’t know whether they use juju to steal the okadas. The security agents should help us do something about this”, one of them said.
Meanwhile, the police have released the corpse to the family and he has been buried according to Islamic rites. Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer in Oyo State, Mr Olatunji Ajimuda, a Superintendent of Police, said the police were still on the trail of the suspects, stating that policemen were on surveillance in the area in efforts to nab the suspects or any other gang operating there.

Source : Nigerian Tribune