When Mushafau Bilesanmi’s wife had a
baby boy, there was joy and jubilation in his family. Mushafau named the boy Saheed and
poured all the love in his heart into nurturing him.
When Saheed got to a certain age, Mushafau’s
asked that the boy should be allowed to stay with her in their village at Ijebu
–Igbo, area of Ogun State.
Mushafau was happy with the idea
because he didn’t want Saheed growing up in Lagos State. According to him, he
didn’t want to be influenced by Lagos bad boys.
Just when Mushafau thought that it
was time for his son to start taking care of him, the boy simply disappeared
out of the face of the earth.
It’s been three years now, but Mushafau
still believes his son is alive.
He said: “Without him, I don’t think
I want to be live. I have also visited different spiritual homes for prayers, and
their responses remain the same, that Saheed is alive, that I should have
faith.”
Mushafau (55), however, believed
that his uncle’s son, Seun, knew the whereabouts of Saheed or what had happened
to him.
Mushafau accused Seun of allegedly
luring Saheed from Ijebu –Igbo, area of Ogun State, to Lagos.
The distraught father said that 26-year-old-
Saheed was working as a bricklayer at Ijebu-Igbo when Seun went to the village
and advised him to come to Lagos to make more money.
Mushafau said that when his son was
planning to come to Lagos with Seun, he was not informed. He said that if he
had been informed, he wouldn’t have allowed it.
Mushafau, however, blamed his
daughter, Folashade for allowing Saheed, who is her younger brother to leave
for Lagos with Seun.
Mushafau said: “I’m the only child
of my parents. When my wife gave birth to Saheed, my mother begged me to allow
her take him to Ijebu-Igbo so as to have someone that would stayed with her in
the house; that was how I allowed him to stay with my mother. Whenever my
mother needed anything, I would send it to her. She was living well with her
grandson. After my son finished secondary school, he told me he wanted to learn
bricklaying. I blessed and asked him to go ahead, that he would prosper.”
Mushafau further said: “I spent a
lot on his graduation and bought him some of the tools to work with. After a
while, he called me on phone that bricklaying work was not thriving at
Ijebu-Igbo. He said that he was planning to relocate to a better place where he
could make more money. As a father, I advised him to exercise patience, that
God would make a way for him back home in Ijebu-Igbo. I reside in Lagos; I
don’t want him to join me there, so that he wouldn’t mix with bad boys.
“While Saheed was complaining to me
about non-availability of work in Ijebu-Igbo, I didn’t know he had also
informed my uncle’s son, Seun, that he wanted to leave Ijebu-Igbo. Seun promised
to get him a better place to work in Lagos.”
According to Mushafau, when this
entire plan was going on, both Saheed and Folashade didn’t carry him along.
He said that on February 16, 2016,
he called Folashade just to greet her, only for her to tell him that Saheed had
left for Lagos with Seun that same day.
Mushafau said: “I didn’t bother
myself too much. I believed they were
both families and would take care of each other. The third day, after Saheed
had arrived Lagos, Folashade called his phone and that of Seun, but both lines
didn’t go through. All efforts to get through to them were impossible. The
phones remained permanently switched off. When I couldn’t bear it anymore, I
went back to Ijebu-Igbo and reported the matter at Topon Police Station, at Ijebu-Igbo.
Seun’s father, who is my Uncle, was arrested and detained. He was, however,
later granted bail. Since then, I have not seen my son.
“When our family in the village
intervened in the matter, it was then Seun father said that he had warned his
son not to travel, because what he saw about him was terrible, that he was
going to board a one-chance vehicle. When I returned to Lagos, he also called to
tell me that Saheed and Seun had been found at Igbeba village. He promised to
go there.”
Mushafau further said: “I have visited Oba Prison in Abeokuta and
Kirikiri Prison in Lagos, to look for my son, but he was not there. I was at
home one fateful day, thinking of what next to do and just decided to try
Seun’s phone number again. It went through; immediately he heard my voice, he cut
the call and switched off the phone. Since then, the line had not been going
through.”
Mushafau added: “I’m suspecting that
my son had been sold to ritual killers. It was as a result of the incident that
Folashade also died when she was about to give birth. I fall sick every time I think
of my daughter and son. I just came back from hospital last week Monday. I’m
the one caring for my daughter’s baby and my aged mother. I’m ready to sacrifice
my life to find back my son.”
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