Tragedy struck at 50, Wright Street, Adekunle, Yaba, Lagos on September 6, after a man reportedly killed his pregnant lover.
The commercial bus driver, Okiki Arisekola has been declared wanted by the police for beating to death the estranged mother of his child, Islamat Bolaji who got pregnant for another man.
The suspect had a quarrel with her over the custody of their 11-month-old daughter, Kemi before beating her to death, according to the deceased’s 64-year-old grandmother, Mrs Gbemisola Agbola who said she had lost Ismalat’s mother, Aishat at just exactly the same age.
It was learnt that Arisekola was said to have been dating the victim since 2015 and the union produced the baby girl. However, he showed no move to marry her, apparently because he was still trying to find his feet. But he took responsibility for his daughter.
The deceased’s father, Isiaka Bolaji, was also inconsolable. Islamat was his first daughter and was nursing a little child she already had for her killer.
“He has not been visiting my daughter, but recently he just started coming and my daughter grew suspicious of his visits,” said Isiaka Bolaji.
“On the fateful day, he came, they were together and he left. On his return, they started quarreling, yet nobody paid them attention, because that was their usual lifestyle. But this time, it led to a physical fight and Okiki beat my daughter to a coma. After some minutes that he had left, my daughter fell and became motionless. We rushed her to the hospital and it was there she died,” Bolaji recalled of the incident.
Mrs Agbola said: “This is where I stood when I saw my granddaughter faint right before me just as her mother gave up the ghost. She was just recovering from a fever attack. She had not done any work for close to a week. On that day, she decided to treat herself with some medication.
She asked me to hold on to the child, an 11-month-old baby. I took the child and placed him on my lap. Not long after, Islamat’s sister, Kemi came in and asked me to give her the baby, I did and Kemi caressed the baby. She stepped out with her only to meet Okiki standing outside. He demanded to take the girl away and Kemi gave him the baby. But when Islamat saw Okiki with the child, she rushed to take the baby from him.
They dragged the baby between them, while Kemi stood looking at them. Okiki tried to leave with the baby, but Islamat didn’t allow him, because she feared that he was going to use the child for rituals. It was a passerby that called my attention to Okiki merciless beating of my grand-daughter. I almost had high blood pressure. I rushed out and called my grand-daughter. As I was leading her back into the house, she fell and fainted. The first hospital we took her to didn’t have doctors on call, but before we could get to the health center she died. It was confirmed by the doctors there,” the grandmother narrated.
