Our tenant lured our son to his hometown, killed him for rituals, family alleges

For the family of Oladunjoye, trusting anyone will, henceforth, be a very difficult thing. This is because the trust reposed in one of their tenants has turned out to be something they will live to regret.
Already, the family residing at 30, Ademola Taiwo Street, Ikosi Ketu area of Lagos, has raised the alarm over the death of their brother, Kola Oladunjoye, alleging that he was used for ritual purposes by one of their tenants.
On December 28, 2017, oblivious of the fatal fate awaiting him, Kola had traveled in company with a tenant living in his father’s house, Mr. Mathew Iwanfo, popularly called Baba Emma, to his home town of Abakaliki in the Eboyi State capital for the yuletide celebrations, but instead of returning home alive, it was his remains that were packaged and sent back to his family members!
Our correspondent gathered that Iwanfo, a man in his mid-50s, who had been a tenant at the Oladunjoye family house for 15 years, had requested Kola to assist with driving him in his car to his village to mark the New Year and had promised him a job, thereafter. But both Kola and Iwanfo did not go on the journey with any of their family members.
Our correspondent learnt that before embarking on the journey, Kola was advised on three occasions by different persons not to go as he might not return alive. But he disregarded the spiritual advice.
“My younger sister told him not to go with Baba Emma; that he would not return alive. Another set of people, two prophets, told him not to go, but he refused,” the deceased’s elder sister, Ms. Nike Oladunjoye, told our correspondent at the family residence.
Recounting the circumstances that led to Kola’s death, her elder sister said, “Kola was not ill at all before he left. I still spoke to him on Tuesday evening, two days before the Thursday, January 11 Baba Emma told us he died. And he did not complain of any ailment to me. I know my brother very well. If there was anything wrong with him, he would have told me.
“Even some of his friends he spoke to that very day confirmed that he had a lively chat with them. And Baba Emma said my brother was ill and that he was admitted in hospital. He said he was in coma and had to be put on oxygen. This is somebody that spoke with us less than 48 hours ago. And even if he was actually ill, Baba Emma did not call to tell us. There is more to my brother’s death; Baba Emma used him for rituals.”
A neighbour and Kola’s friend, simply identified as Kamal, expressed shock at the incident, saying, “I’m surprised! I spoke with him two days before his demise and nothing was wrong with him. I asked when he was going to come back to Lagos and he said the following week. We spoke for long. He was a very nice, gentle man; generous, hospitable and fun to be with. His death is really a sad thing.”
But a friend, who lives with Iwanfo, Hyginus Akujuobi, said, “Baba Emma couldn’t have used Kola for rituals. What will he get from that? I have known him for a very long time and he has lived in this house for 15 years. He is not that kind of a person.
“Baba Emma’s failure to have informed Kola’s family when he was sick was not good at all. At least he should have called the family to tell them of the situation. Even me, he did not tell me anything.”
However, Kola’s sister alleged that when the family examined the corpse of the deceased, they found a cut around his pelvic region.
But Iwanfo, according to her, claimed that the cut was “Where the doctor used in passing drip on Kola, when he was admitted in hospital.”
Meanwhile, Iwanfo’s wife and children have surreptitiously left the house since the incident occurred.
Our correspondent learnt that Iwanfo had notified his wife of the development that Thursday morning to enable her and their children plan their escape.
Akujuobi said, “That Thursday morning, Mama Emma prepared the children for school and the school bus came to pick them while she went to work. I didn’t know they would run away from there. Even the door to their apartment is locked; I can’t enter.
“My grievance with him is that he did not call Kola’s family to tell them. But as for whether he used him for rituals, I don’t think so.”
Iwanfo initially asked the deceased’s family to come and pick the corpse of the late Kola in Abakaliki.
“He first told us to come and pick the body of our brother in Abakaliki. I told him it would not be well with him and he would die with Kola,” the deceased’s elder sister said.
It was learnt that Iwanfo, who on Saturday, January 13, delivered the corpse to the deceased’s family members at Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, around 10:00 pm, was escorted by a team of armed mobile policemen, perhaps, for fear of being lynched by the angry kinsmen of the deceased.
According to Yinka Oladunjoye, the deceased’s younger sister, Iwanfo allegedly bribed the policemen in order to prevent anyone from pouncing on him while delivering the corpse of the late Kola to his family members.
But the deceased’s sister, Yinka, said, “We wanted to teach him a lesson, if not for the mobile policemen that escorted him, because apart from killing our brother, he delayed us for hours.
“We arrived at Ijebu Ode at 12noon. But he didn’t come until 10:00pm and he told us he was at Ore since around six in the morning. I wonder what he was doing on the road since that time till 10 in the night. And he came with heavily armed mobile policemen
“I saw some of the officers passing money among themselves. I even overheard one of them saying Baba Emma spent a lot of money to have mobilized the team.”
The deceased has since been buried in his home town, Epe, Lagos.
When contacted, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent Chike Oti, said he was not aware of the development, but would contact the Ketu Police Division, where the incident was reported.
Oti, however, stressed that the case was not within the jurisdiction of the Lagos Police Command since the deceased did not die in Lagos, but in Eboyin State.
The Lagos PPRO said, “The case was reported at Ketu Division and the DPO confirmed that the deceased, who was a bank driver, followed his tenant to his village, but died while at the place. The corpse was deposited at Epe
mortuary.
“But the Lagos Command cannot handle the matter since he did not die here. If anything has to be done by the police, it should be Eboyin Command.”