The two heaps of fresh sand behind the three-bedroom bungalow in Ogooluwa community, Akiode Ibogun, Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State, are all that remain of a tragedy that has left residents struggling to make sense of what happened.
Placed side by side behind the house, the heaps mark the graves of a husband and wife whose lives ended within hours of each other following a reported domestic dispute.
The house, built beside the Celestial Church of Christ, Iri Orun Parish owned by the couple, was deserted when our correspondent visited the community on Thursday. The church was also quiet and the stillness of the air in the environment was a pointer to the tragedy that has recently visited the neighborhood.
But for residents, the silence has not erased the horror of Monday, August 31, when Bidemi Odukoya, the Shepherd of Iri Orun Parish of the CCC, allegedly macheted his wife to death during a midnight domestic dispute before reportedly taking his own life.The incident reportedly occurred around 2am.
After allegedly attacking his wife, Odukoya, a father of three boys, reportedly fled the community and headed for the Coker junction, Ifo section of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, about 20 minutes drive away from Akiode community.
He was later alleged to have thrown himself in front of a moving truck, resulting in his instant death.Both husband and wife were buried beside their home on Monday evening.
For the residents of Akiode Ibogun, the incident remains difficult to comprehend, particularly because the couple had lived in the community for about nine or 10 years and were generally regarded as friendly and respectful.
The Baale of the community, Chief Taiwo Akiode, said the tragedy had plunged residents into deep mourning.
“This unfortunate incident is the first of its kind in this environment. It is a tragedy of monumental proportion that no one saw coming. It is something that you only come across in Nollywood films, those ones we watch on television. Nobody ever believes that such a sad incident could happen just at our backyard.
“It is even more puzzling and very disturbing with the kind of personalities involved, I mean the Shepherd and his wife. Both of them were very jovial and respectful. They behaved so responsibly and greeted me cheerfully whenever they were passing by.
“Since over nine or 10 years that they have been living with us, you don’t get to hear that the couple are troublesome or quarrelsome.
“So I find it difficult to believe that it is these same set of people that could be involved in such a brutal domestic fight that claimed their souls in a very disturbing manner, leaving everyone behind to wallow in wild bewilderment.”
Speaking on how he got to know of the tragedy, Akiode said some residents knocked on his door around 3am to inform him that the Shepherd had allegedly killed his wife.
He said the residents had first informed the police and were later instructed to alert him.
Akiode explained that “I was told that the Shepherd had killed his wife, that he macheted her. I could not believe my ears until we got to their residence and met the woman in a pool of her blood.
“There was a wound that looked like a machete cut and there was also a stool which we also heard that the man smashed on his wife’s head.
“The police later came around and took photographs of the scene. All this while, the Shepherd was nowhere to be found. The thought was that he had taken to his heels, having realised the weight of his grievous actions.”
The community leader said another report came around 7am that Odukoya had allegedly jumped in front of a moving truck at Ifo along the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.
“We thereafter sent some residents to go and confirm the report, which they did. The police at Ifo got involved and took it up from there,” he said.
According to Akiode, some people in Ifo told residents that Odukoya had been crossing the expressway repeatedly before sitting on the median.
“Some people at Ifo told us that when the deceased got to the expressway, he was crossing the expressway back and forth repeatedly. He later sat on the divider, after which he saw an oncoming truck and jumped before it and died.”
Akiode said the wife was buried around 5pm, while the husband’s remains were returned to the community later in the evening.
“The corpse of the husband, which was brought back to the community very late, maybe because of documentation and other things, was buried beside his wife past seven in the evening,” he added.
The Baale said that the community had yet to recover from the incident.
“These are what we usually hear on radio, that a man killed his wife or a wife stabbed her husband to death. It is never what anyone of us thought could happen within our vicinity.
“So it happened so unexpectedly that the horror reverberated across the community, leaving all of us to keep wondering what could have gone wrong.”
Akiode said it was only after the tragedy that he heard claims that the couple frequently fought.
“It is after their death that some people were saying that the couple were fond of fighting, but like I said earlier, I never heard anything like that.
“These people were quite nice. You will even think that they were siblings. They cut a picture of a loving couple that I would never have, in my wildest imagination, thought could cause all of this anguish.”
The community leader said the incident should make couples more tolerant and patient in dealing with marital disagreements.
“It is worrisome that this could happen between husband and wife. It calls for lots of sober reflection. We should know that even if we disagree as couples, it should not be to the extent that life will be lost.
“We should see ourselves as partners and we must build our relationship on genuine love. We should also not wait for things to degenerate if we are having challenges with our marriage. We should seek help and counselling before things get out of hand.”
The youth leader of the community, Seun Adelana, while speaking to journalists, alleged that the crisis that claimed the lives of the couple was rooted in infidelity.
He said, “Allegations of infidelity from both the husband and wife were said to have been the major reason responsible for this sad event.
“The husband was said to have been alleging that the wife was dating another man, and some people also said that the shepherd was dating another woman. So, this is what we gathered led to the altercation, which made the husband kill the woman,” Adelana added.
However, a neighbour of the deceased couple, Mrs Oluwatoyin Oseni, gave a different account of their relationship.
Oseni, who could barely hold back her tears, said the couple frequently engaged in domestic fights, some of which allegedly left the late woman injured.
“Sincerely, Mummy Daniel and her husband, who we fondly called Iri Orun, have always engaged in domestic fights. Recently, I had to help take care of the wife after their usual fight.
“There was even police involvement, after which we thought that the misunderstanding had been settled. It was after the tragedy of Monday, August 31, that we got to understand that both husband and wife had reportedly not been on speaking terms since June as a fallout of their regular squabble,” Oseni said.
She recalled that it was Daniel, the couple’s 14-year-old first child, who woke her around 2am after he realised that his father had attacked his mother after which she and another neighbour rushed to the couple’s home.
“By the time myself and one other neighbour got to the residence of the couple, we discovered the lifeless body of Mummy Daniel with a broken head, all covered in blood, on the floor.
“We later got to hear that the Shepherd used a machete and wooden stool to smash the head of his wife. We also saw Daddy Daniel with a cutlass in his hand.
“As I was asking him why he would go to the extent of killing his wife, he calmly said that he too was as good as gone. But because he was holding the cutlass, we could not move closer,” she added.
Oseni said Odukoya later went inside the house, but the neighbours did not know that he had left the community.
“He later went inside the house, but we never knew that he had escaped that midnight from the community to go and kill himself at Ifo along Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway,” she said.
The neighbour lamented the tragedy had been particularly painful because she had repeatedly advised the late woman to seek peace in her marriage.
She said, “Nobody knows that such a huge calamity could befall us here. These are what we hear on radio or watch on television. Nobody could have thought that such would happen in our community.
“I have particularly been weeping since this incident occurred because I have always told Mummy Daniel to try and be patient and give peace a chance because I am always troubled by the couple’s persistent fight.
“But she would always tell me that she can’t leave her children behind, particularly her last born, who is seven years old. But sadly, everything has ended this terrible and painful way.”
The Asiwaju of Ibogun Akiode, Chief Oluwasegun Adeboye, also expressed sadness over the deaths.
The 76-year-old community leader said residents were finding it difficult to believe that the Shepherd and his wife could have been involved in such a tragedy because they were regarded as peaceful people who related well with others.
He said residents only began hearing more about the couple’s alleged marital problems after the incident.
“It was after the tragedy that we began to hear that they were given to frequent fights and all that.
“We even heard that they have already taken their case to court and they were asked to go back home and see if they could amicably resolve their differences, after which they return to the court for the next course of action.”
“According to what we heard, they were supposed to have returned to court again on Wednesday, but everything has ended on Monday, two days earlier,” he stated.
The community leader said some residents had also attributed the tragedy to spiritual forces.
“Some of us also believe that what happened might not be unconnected with some diabolical powers; it goes beyond the ordinary. We are only praying that the devil will not have a foothold in our homes,” he added.
When contacted for reaction, ASP Opeyemi Oluborode, the Deputy Police Public Relations Officer of the state command, said the police was already investigating the incident.
He said, “The command is very much aware of the case. The case file is currently being transferred to the SCID for diligent investigation into knowing the actual facts surrounding the sad incidents”.
Source: punchng.com
FOLLOW US ON:
