Alaba Aliu did not want the indolence of the fuel subsidy strike to continue. He agreed to go for his trading the very day the strike was called off. Like the strike, his life was to come to an end as a result of that decision. STEPHEN GBADAMOSI gives an account of how a friend hacked him to death on that day.

IF Pa Audu Aliu, father of Alaba Aliu, had foreseen what awaited his son, perhaps, he would have sent a message to him not to resume work on Tuesday, January 17, when the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) called off the one week strike called to protest Federal Government’s removal of fuel subsidy. May be the 35-year-old would still be alive today.

Sunday Tribune learnt that Pa Audu Aliu’s fatherly instinct made him to advise his son to go in search of his daily bread after having been idle at home for a whole week.

Alaba, a resident of Inu Koko area of Bodija, was said to have heeded his father’s advice by dressing up for the Kara (Kraal) market in Bodija, Ibadan North Local Government Area of Oyo State, where he traded in cows. He was said to have decided to eat before the business of the day would start. He had been served his food when a friend came and, according to sources, an argument which began way back in December reared its ugly head again.

The ‘friend,’ (names witheld), who was described as a Baba Ijebu (lotto) agent, was said to have alleged that Alaba was dating his girlfriend.

Sunday Tribune’s source said the late Alaba denied having anything to do with the said girl, and, indeed, advised his friend to stop calling the girl his girlfriend, “because many men, including Hausa traders, within Bodija market, had slept with her.”

Reports had it that this statement further incensed the friend to the extent that he immediately challenged Alaba to a duel. In the process of thumping each other’s chest, a fight reportedly ensued and Alaba gave Emordi the beating of his life.

“When they began to thump each other’s chest, a fight ensued and Alaba beat him in the fight. But the people around got to them and separated them. After they were separated, Alaba did not know that his friend had not been totally pacified,” an eyewitness told Sunday Tribune.

It was further learnt that Alaba returned to the meal, which was, however, going to be his last meal on earth. It was said that his friend returned and the fight continued. Alaba was said to have beaten him again before people intervened the second time and separated them. But unknown to them, an ambush was laid for Alaba Aliu. His friend was reported to have seized a bottle, broke it and stabbed Aliu in several places, including neck and left arm.

A brother to the deceased, Idowu Aliu, told Sunday Tribune that Alaba’s arm was bandaged at the University College Hospital (UCH). He, however, said staff of the hospital who attended to them asked them to take the body to the Catholic Hospital, Oluyoro, as there was only skeletal service at UCH, owing to the subsidy crisis.

Okene, Kogi State-born Alaba, however, died on the way to the Catholic Hospital. Idowu narrated that the caretaker committee chairman, lbadan North Local Government, Mr. Lapade Babatunde Idris, heard about the matter and helped the family to call a doctor from UCH to do an autopsy on his body.

“Of all the wounds on his body, the one on his head, I believe, killed him. Until we buried him, he never stopped bleeding from that wound. Though the one on his left arm was deep and long, I believe it was the one on his head that killed him,” the deceased’s sibling said.

He added that after the doctor called by the local government chief had examined his brother’s body, he confirmed him dead and added that he was killed with broken bottle.

But what appeared a twist crept into the matter when the matter was reportedly lodged at the Oju-Irin (Railway) Police Station in Bodija and the assailant was later arrested. Sunday Tribune’s investigation showed that after killing Alaba, the assailant simply fled the scene. Perhaps, he did not reckon that he had inflicted enough injury to kill the young man on him. He was said to have gone to the man under whom he works as a lottery agent. Having been informed of the crime he had committed, the man (names withheld) did not give him an inkling of what he knew as he invited him to a cool spot where they were having cold drink together before policemen were tipped off to effect his arrest. Members of the deceased family were later to say that the policemen at Oju-Irin told them that the suspect had been transferred to the Railway Divisional Police Headquarters at Dugbe.

It was from Dugbe in Ibadan that the case was reportedly transferred to Ebute Metta in Lagos. This development also appeared to have triggered fear in the family members who began to wander how a crime committed in Ibadan would be investigated in far away Ebute Metta, Lagos.

A police source at Oju-Irin (Bodija) Police Station, however, confided in Sunday Tribune that transferring the case to Lagos was only routine as police stations along railway lines were usually linked in their operation. He added that the case was so big that the commissioner in charge of the command had to know about it in Lagos.

When Sunday Tribune visited the command’s office in Ebutte Metta, it was confirmed that the suspect was being held there, but efforts to speak with the suspect proved abortive. A police officer, who did not want his name in print, said the suspect could only be spoken to when the commissioner was around. It was learnt that the commissioner was in Abuja on official assignment as at press time.

The police source, however, gave the assurance that the case would be returned to Ibadan as it might not be handled in Lagos for lack of jurisdiction. It also advised the family of the deceased to contact the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP) for assistance and counseling.
What the Aliu family wants is justice. The deceased’s mother said her son left five children and a wife as an additional burden for the remaining members of the family.

Additional reports from Olalekan Olabulo