Seven days after they heard about the killing of Ayodele Ige, a leader of Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), in Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State in the farm of Chief Olu Falae in Ilado in the council area, the wife and mother of the deceased, Funmilayo and Rachael respectively, refused to be consoled.
When our correspondent visited the home of the bereaved on Oshodi Street in Akure, the state capital, tears refused to dry up and they said the situation would remain until the killers of their son and husband are found.
Wife and mother of the murdered Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) leader, Ayodele Ige, who was killed in Chief Olu Falae’s farm, Funmilayo and Rachael Ige, have sought the intervention of the government in unravelling the circumstances of the death and to bring those responsible for it to book.
Ayodele was a leader of the OPC in Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State before he was killed by suspected herdsmen in the farm of former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae last weekend.
Since then, members of the organisation have been demanding the arrest and prosecution of the killers of the late OPC leader. While fingers were being pointed at the direction of Fulani herdsmen who have been terrorising different parts of the country, the mother of the deceased, Rachael, suspected a foul play among members of the OPC who she claimed could be responsible for the killing.
The woman who is in her 80s told Saturday Telegraph that Ayodele had told her about the plan to wrestle the leadership of the OPC from him and that he was ready to resist any attempt to dethrone him. According to her, he said he would not go down without a fight.
She said: “Ayo came home last Saturday and told me that some people were trying to depose him as the coordinator of the OPC. He now informed me that before the end of the month, the people would know his position on the leadership tussle.
I was praying for him. I don’t know this is how it would happen”. Rachael who was sobbing intermittently as she narrated the incident said the deceased was 33 years and her last child. She said her husband died when the deceased was a toddler.
She said: “He was my last born. He was the sixth of my children. When it happened, they did not allow me to know. It was three days after the incident that I saw pastors of my church and some family members. I asked them what happened.
They did not tell me. They started preaching to me and I asked them to come straight. They now explained that Ayo Ige who was the head of the security in Chief Falae’s farm has been killed. “I am pained because I suffered on him.
He was a toddler when his father died. I was the only one taking care of him and other children. I sent him to school, but when he was not doing well, I sent him to mechanic workshop as an apprentice.
He spent six years as an apprentice. I established a workshop for him and he was doing well as a mechanic. “It was later that thieves started disturbing him. They would remove tyres and engines of vehicles in his workshop.
He ran into debt and eventually, the land he was using for the workshop was sold. It was that that pushed him into security work with Chief Falae. It was after two months that I knew he was working with Chief Falae.” Narrating how it happened as told by the deceased friends, she said:
“I heard that they had worked and driven the Fulani herdsmen and their cows away. They had closed for the day and had returned to rest. I was told that he was at a place sleeping when two people came to call him and told him to follow them so that they can play around the farm.
“He told them he was tired. When he decided to follow them, he wanted to take his amulets and charms but those people said it was not necessary. They said he tried to wrestle with them. I was told they tied noose around his neck in order to kill him. After killing him, they removed his heart and tied a stone around his body and threw him into the river.”
Demanding justice for her late son, the woman said: “The father has no family members, there is nobody to fight for me. The government should help me find the killers. He had a plot of land where he was buried. He had two children and they need care.
I have no work to take care of these children.” Similarly, Ayo’s wife, Funmilayo, demanded justice, saying the killers of her husband should not go unpunished. The widow who is in her 20s said her late husband made many promises before he left for work on Tuesday.
Funmilayo who was observing widowhood rites according to Yoruba custom, said: “Before he went to work on Sunday, he came to me and said he was coming back on Tuesday .In the evening of Tuesday, I tried his number when I did not see him.
On Friday, someone called me and said my husband had an accident with Chief Olu Falae. I said he was not a driver and could not have had an accident. “I called his friend that came to my house with my husband.
He allayed my fears that nothing will happen to him. My mother came to me and said she heard that my husband had an accident. She said she heard when she went to Chief Falae’s house; he said they were still looking for him. It was later they said he was seen at the bank of a river after he had been killed. “I will miss him for many reasons. He promised to buy a sewing machine for me.
I just completed my apprenticeship. I have two children for him. I don’t know how to take care of them. I will forever remember him.” Meanwhile, members of OPC have demanded justice for the late OPC leader, saying the killers must not go unpunished.
Speaking when they paid a visit to Governor Olusegun Mimiko, the leaders said the only thing that would prevent reprisal attack is for the killers of the OPC leader to be found and prosecuted.
