Man stabbed to death leaving mosque

Homicides Detectives attached to the Lagos State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, are presently trying to fish out the suspect who stabbed a man to death as he leaving a mosque at the Abule-Egba area of the state.

The deceased, Taye Ogunlaja, was said to have gone for his afternoon prayers and was leaving the mosque when someone came from behind and stabbed him on his neck.

Ogunlaja was already planning to travel to France with his wife and kids when he was killed. He had only secured the visas for his kids and two wives.

Before he breathed his last, he mentioned the names of his assailants to his wife. The deceased was a member of the National Union of Road Transport Worker (NURTW), Marina Branch.

Ogunlaja was killed on November 3, 2015, at Abule Egba area, where he had gone to attend a meeting. The meeting was aimed at settling the crisis in the union.

The trouble in the union started some weeks ago after the union on the Lagos Island was polarised into two different groups. The union was split between one Sago of Kakawa branch and the state chairman of the union, Tajudeen Agbede.

The bereaved wife of Ogunlaja, recounted how her husband was killed.

She said: “On Thursday last week, my husband received a phone call from Wasiu Obadina alias Shile Burger. He called him to remind him of their monthly meeting at the state Secretariat. My husband immediately dressed and left. At about 1pm, I called him to know if he was at the venue of the meeting.

“He said he was already there. He said he didn’t understand the kind of prank some of the members were playing. He said they were asking him to give account of money he didn’t know about. He said he would soon leave the meeting to go to the mosque for prayers.”

Mrs. Ogunlaja said that at about 6pm, she was uneasy and called her husband again. She was shocked to hear screaming that he had been stabbed on the neck from behind. “He told me that he was stabbed while returning from the mosque. I never knew he was in the hospital when he was speaking with me. But he was able to mention the names of those who stabbed him.”

The widow said that as soon as she dropped the call, she alerted his family members. They all made a beeline to the hospital at Abule-Egba. They were told at the hospital that Ogunlaja had been transferred to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja.

“I was later told my husband died before they got to LASUTH. I’m begging the police to ensure my husband’s killers are fished out and brought to book.”

The twin sister of the deceased, who didn’t want her name mentioned, said that the crisis was about leadership.

She said: “My brother resides on the Island and refused to join another camp. I strongly believe that was why they killed him. They were able to attack him that night because some of the Island union members were not in the meeting. My brother had been avoiding the meeting before he was killed.”

When contacted, the State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Joe Offor, promised to get back to our correspondent, but had not as at press time.