Joy Anyim
When Murtala Jimoh Ado, left his home at 12 noon on Friday, September 27, to attend a friend’s party, his wife, Ayo, and family had no premonition that the father of her three children would never return alive.
A prince of Ado Kingdom, Abule-Ado in the Amuwo Odofin Local Governmnet Area of Lagos, Jimoh, 44, who lived in Ijegun area of Abule-Ado, had after the party, called his wife, informing her he needed to intervene in a matter between his community and some hoodlums.
According to Mrs. Jimoh, her husband had told her he was off to attend a meeting with Lawal Akeem, the said leader of the hoodlums in Abule-Ado community.
The Nigerian Xpress gathered that the meeting, which was supposed to discuss peace turned violent, as an army of hoodlums stormed the Ado family office, the venue, attacking the prince and others with guns, cutlasses and bottles.
Jimoh Ado, who held the traditional title of ‘Akogun of Ado’, suffered serious wounds from the attack. He was rushed to a private hospital at Satellite Town, where he passed on two days after.
Investigations into the cause of the circumstances that had warranted the peace meeting, revealed that earlier that Friday, a slum in the Abule-Ado area, with makeshift houses and shops, caught fire, at 9 a.m. While the residents scampered for safety, the hoodlums in the community took advantage of the situation to rob the distressed residents.
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Members of the Ado Royal family, who had gone to sympathise with residents witnessed massive looting by the hoodlums. Rilwan and Tobi, both members of the Ado family, cautioned a hoodlum, who had allegedly stolen a television set, insisting he returns it.
Angered by the directive, the hoodlum had threatened to deal with the duo. News later reached the Ado family that the hoodlums were spoiling for war.
To avert any form of crisis, Prince Ado, who was alerted to the threat of attack, had invited the leader of the hoodlums, Lawal Akeem, for a peace talk.
Akeem allegedly got to the family office about 9pm that Friday for the talk with Prince Ado and other representatives of the Ado family.
It was shortly after Akeem’s arrival that the hoodlums stormed the Ado family office with dangerous arms. Prince Ado ran into one of the offices to take cover, but was trailed by the hoodlums. Several other members of the family were also injured.
Mrs. Jimoh, who spoke with The Nigerian Xpress, said she wanted justice for her slain husband.
Recalling the last discussion with her husband before the attack, she said: “That friday, my husband left home for a friend’s party. He later called me, saying Akeem called that they should meet that night. He said they were going to settle a matter and that was the last I heard from him, before I was called and told of the attack.”
Asked to talk about the personality of her late husband, Mrs. Jimoh said he was a peace-loving man. “My husband was not troublesome and he would never be a party to anything that would cause chaos in the community. I am just confused right now and do not know how to go on. My children are still very young, the eldest is aged 12, the next is seven, and the last, four. I hear Akeem has been arrested. I just wonder why my husband was killed. He had wronged no one that I know of.
An eyewitness, Afeez Olorunkemi, who spoke on the incident said Akeem had told Ado not to run while the hoodlums were approaching the family office, promising to handle his boys.
Olorunkemi, who is the ‘Otun of Ado’, gave details of the incident that led to the death of the prince. He said: “The hoodlums are members of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC). We were all with Ado when he was having a discussion with Akeem, the OPC coordinator. It was barely 30 minutes after they had started discussing that we saw a group of guys, they were almost 50, coming towards the office.
“They were brandishing guns, machetes, axes and even carried sacks and wheelbarrow loaded with bottles. Ado and all of us seated were afraid and thought of running for safety. Akeem insisted we sit down, that he was in charge and would handle his boys. We took his word for it and sat down. But before we knew what was happening, the boys started throwing bottles, we ran to different parts of the office.
“As men who were on a mission, they pursued us, they caught Prince Ado, he was injured on the head, face and other parts of his body with cutlasses. Prince Fasiu Ado was also injured in the head. In Fasiu’s case, he ran into the toilet and hid under the washbasin. When the hoodlums rushed towards the bathroom and did not see him, they had out of anger, hit the washbasin with an axe, which broke and fell on his head.
“Others also sustained serious and minor injuries. What surprised me was even the fact that Akeem, who had asked us not to run, fled when he noticed the boys had become violent. Akeem boarded a waiting bus and drove off. We took the injured to the hospital, but Prince Jimoh Ado gave up on Monday morning. The hoodlums even made away with money. They also robbed some residents.”
Asked if they alerted the police on a possible crisis, Olorunkemi said the Trade Fair Police Division was called and informed of the situation and even begged to be on standby before the hoodlums attacked the Ado family.
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“We informed the Trade Fair Police Division of a likely attack by this set of hoodlums, based on the information we got, but it was surprising that they did not show up. It was only after the attack, and we had gone to the Division to complain, that the police came around to see the level of damage, even the Divisional Police Officer was here. But it was after the harm had been done.”
Another eyewitness identified some of the hoodlums. The source, who did not want his name mentioned, said: “Some of the boys that attacked us were Sunday, Fatia, Okocha, Ali, Jacob, Saheed Abore and Sodiq Rafiu.”
The Nigerian Xpress correspondent visited the Trade Fair Police Division to know the state of the investigation. Surprisingly, the Division Police Officer (DPO) denied knowledge of the incident, saying the case was never reported at the division.
Contrary to the DPO’s claim, a police source at the division told the correspondent that the matter was reported, eight suspects were arrested and the case had been transferred to the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Panti, Yaba.
The Lagos Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), Elkana Bala, was contacted for comments on the incident. Bala did not respond to calls. A text message was also sent to him, but he was yet to respond as at the time of filing in this report.
It was, however, gathered that the deceased Prince Jimoh Ado had been buried.