iyin-Ekiti, a sleepy community in Ekiti State was on Friday, March 20 thrown into pandemonium as a 25-year-old resident of the community, Wale Ede, allegedly beheaded a 50-year-old man, Mr. Joshua Olaseinde Fagbola, a father of seven.
The suspect is currently being held at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Ekiti State Police Command Headquarters, Ado-Ekiti pending the conclusion of investigation by the police.
The deceased was, until his death, a patrol assistant with the Directorate of Road Traffic Service in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State. The incident happened at about 8pm in Iro Quarters, Iyin-Ekiti.
Investigations by Daily Sun revealed that Ede attacked Fagbola at about 8pm in the evening of Friday, March 20, when the deceased was about to start the engine of his motorbike and leave the venue where he had just attended the wake of a relative.
Residents who witnessed the incident informed the reporter that Ede suddenly brought out a cutlass from the umbrella he was holding and cut down Fagbola, first from his neck and then his face and other parts of his body. The victim was immediately drenched in blood. He later died in a hospital where he was rushed to in the area in the presence of his wife.
“Immediately he committed the crime, Ede ran away to his place at 6 Baba Moni Street, Iro Quarters. He took his mother and bolted from the community. But the police later found him and have detained him since,” a resident who claimed to have witnessed the crime told Daily Sun.
When the reporter visited the house where late Fagbola was living with his family of eight, a wife and seven children, relatives, friends and sympathisers were seen mourning and discussing the dastardly incident.
Wife of the deceased, Mrs. Aina Fagbola, 43, who had a baby strapped to her back, was crying as she recalled the tragic incident. Amidst tears, she told the reporter how she learnt about her husband’s horrifying murder.
“It was about 8pm last Friday that people came to our house, crying. They told me that my husband had been attacked. I rushed to the place where we had just held the wake for his late relative. There, they told me that my husband had been rushed to the hospital. It was there that I met him. He was drenched in blood. He took one look at me before finally giving up the ghost.
“My husband was a very peaceful man; he never had any quarrel with anyone, and residents in this Iro Quarters can attest to this. This man that killed him had collected N500 from my husband since January this year. With the money, he was supposed to get the things he would use to make some blocks for the house we are building. But he refused to do that thing since and also refused to refund the money. I was told that my husband seized his cell phone on Thursday, March 19, in order to ensure that his money was refunded. That was why he attacked my husband on Friday and killed him and has now made me a sudden widow. Look at me; I’m wearing rags. My husband was just a junior government worker and we have seven children already. The baby I’m holding is just a few months old and he’s our last born. Our first born just turned 19 and has gained admission into the Federal College of Education, Ila-Orangun. Who will sponsor her now? Where will I get the money to feed our children? I have no work at all,” she sobbed.
Also speaking with the reporter, Fagbola’s first daughter, Modupe, 19, said she had just been admitted for a three-year course in English and Yoruba Education at the Federal College of Education, Ila- Orangun, Osun State. She said she was with her father a few days ago when he promised to pay her school fees.
Her words: “My father was a very caring and reserved man. He had promised to pay my school fees the last time we spoke. Now that he’s suddenly gone, there is no one to help me. Our mum is not educated and she’s not even working. But if the government can employ me, I can struggle to take care of my siblings and still go to school. All we need now is help. Please, we need help. We are appealing to people out there to help us.”
Residents said that the suspect had been at the wake for over an hour before he struck.
“We had seen an umbrella with the suspect in which he hid the cutlass with which he struck Seinde. He had been sitting around at the event and some of us were asking him what he was sitting there for. He said he was just waiting, not knowing that he was planning how to unleash terror.
“The deceased wanted to leave the place, so he went to a corner where he had parked his motorbike. He climbed the bike and was about starting its engine when Wale, who had been trailing him from behind, suddenly struck him on the neck with the cutlass. He then began stabbing him on the neck and face and other parts of his body. After committing the crime, he ran away from the scene and went to his mother’s place. He would have run away from this area if the police had not apprehended him,” a resident explained.
Police Public Relations Office in Ekiti State, Mr. Alberto Adeyemi, a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) who confirmed the incident, said the suspect was being held at the CID in Ado-Ekiti.
“It has been reported that Wale Ede allegedly beheaded Mr. Olaseinde Fagbola on March 20. The suspect is being held at the state CID and we are still investigating the matter,” the police spokesman told Daily Sun.
