I didn’t want my friend to die during our fight —Suspect

When Odeh (first name withheld) of and his friend, Tunde (first name withheld), a.k.a Sapele, had an argument at Oluwo area of Abeokuta in Ogun State on August 18, never did it cross their minds that one of them would end up dead. Enraged, the two friends had allowed their anger to boil over, resulting in a fight during which they broke some bottles on each other’s heads.  Unfortunately, the fight, fueled by anger, eventually led to the death of 23-year-old Tunde also known as Sapele.

Odeh was arrested by the state police command for causing the death of Tunde when a piece of broken bottle got stuck in his head after Odeh broke on it. The action of Odeh, it was learnt, was in retaliation for same thing done to him by Tunde.

The police spokesperson, SP Omolola Odutola, who confirmed the incident to Sunday Tribune, identified Odeh as a Yahoo boy and a cultist who belonged to Eiye Confraternity. The PPRO said that the suspect told his friend, Tunde, who said to also be a Yahoo boy, a cultist and drug addict that he was coming to his house to sleep.

She said that on Tunde’s return home at dawn, he reportedly knocked on the door but Odeh was sound asleep and did not open it for him. Angry, Tunde was said to have kicked the door open, forcing Odeh to wake up abruptly. Then it became the suspect’s turn to be angry after being woken up unexpectedly.

According to SP Odutola, an argument ensued, which made Tunde to smash a bottle on Odeh’s head and caused him to bleed. Odeh went to the backyard of the house where he saw a bottle and also smashed it on Tunde’s head in retaliation. As he did, Tunde slipped and hit his head on the sharp end of a piece from the bottle he earlier smashed on Odeh. The broken piece of bottle pierced his head and he started bleeding.

Sunday Tribune learnt that neighbours had to call the police from Oluwo Police Post and Odeh was arrested while Tunde was rushed to Federal Medical Centre, Idi Aba. From Oluwo Police Post, Odeh was taken to Adigbe Police Station from where he was transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department, Eleweran.

It was further gathered that few days after admission in the hospital, when Tunde’s mother could not afford the cost of taking care of him, she asked for him to be discharged and took him home to be taken care of by her. Unfortunately, after some days, Tunde died.

In an interview with Sunday Tribune, Odeh spoke on his background, saying: “I’m from Cross River State. I live alone at Olomore in Abeokuta but my mother is in the same town. I’m 25 years old. Before my arrest, I was into Yahoo business. I passed out of secondary school in 2014 but started doing Yahoo business in 2013. I was introduced to it by a street elder brother. My father is late.”

Continuing, Odeh said: “Tunde and I were involved in Yahoo business but we were not staying together. It is true I was a cult member but I didn’t join willingly. I was forced into it. I was forced to join Eiye Confraternity in Lagos in 2019. The thing is that because of Yahoo business, we don’t stay in a place to avoid being caught, so we move around. I used to go to Oshodi in Lagos where other guys used to be. We knew ourselves.

“One night, I wanted to go and buy food to eat at Brown Junction, Oshodi, when I just saw a motorcycle which parked beside me.  Someone called my name and held my trousers. It was someone I knew in Oshodi. We used to call him Amber. He told me not to be afraid. He was not the only one. Others were on three other motorcycles, with the one Amber mounted being the fourth. I was asked to join him. I was blindfolded.

“They took me to a field in Mafoluku, stripped me naked and started beating me. I was shouting: ‘Please, don’t kill me. What do you want from me?’ They told me that they didn’t want anything and that I should not worry. They poured alcohol on me as libation. When they stopped beating me, they told me that I had become one of their members. They said I had become rugged. They gave me Peacock as my bird name.

“I told them that I should have been informed before I was initiated. After the initiation, they were taking all the money found on me forcefully all the time, to the point that I had to finally leave Oshodi to escape from them. I returned to Abeokuta.”

Incident with Tunde

“I got know Tunde on the street. We had only been together once to take hard drug. We used to work (Yahoo) separately, but the problem I had with accommodation made me to seek help from him. I never knew things would turn this way.

“What happened was that my rent was due for payment, and my landlord wanted to eject me, so I was avoiding the house and sleeping about until I would be able to raise the money. And Yahoo business is not one that comes always. It’s like breeze that comes and goes. I had slept in Sapele’s house twice before. It was the third time that the unfortunate incident happened.”

How we met

“I met Tunde at Panseke in Abeokuta when I went to buy smoke (Colorado) about four months ago. After that, he was always asking me for money until I told him to stop it since he also knew how to hustle (doing Yahoo business).

“On August 17, I told him I would be coming to sleeping in his house. When I got there, I didn’t meet him, but he had told me where I would pick the key from. I did, went in and slept immediately because I was so tired. I was rudely woken up around 4 a.m. when someone kicked the door open, and I wondered who could do that, only to hear Tunde saying that I refused to open the door of his room for him. We had an argument on that and it stopped.

“He went out and came in again. I was still lying down where I was when he first arrived. I was dozing off again when he came to wake me up and asked me for smoke (Colorado) and I said that I didn’t have. We started an argument again and he got so angry and asked me to get out of his apartment. I went out. I told him to let me pack my bags but he said he would not allow me to come inside to take anything. I was not ready to take that, and in my attempt to go inside to pick my things, he went to get a bottle and as I made to come out, he smashed the bottle on my head.

“Blood started flowing from my head. In anger, I went to get a bottle and retaliated. He held his head, bent down and started shouting ‘yeh’. Unfortunately, he slipped and hit his head against the sharp end of a piece of broken bottle which pierced him and got stuck in his head. I helped him pull the broken piece out forcefully and pleaded with people around to help us.

“Police were invited but by the time they came, he had fled the scene and went to hide somewhere. He was eventually found very weak because he had bled so much and taken to Federal Medical Centre, Idi Aba. I was taken from Oluwo Police Post to Adigbe Police Station, from where I was transferred to Eleweran. His mother came to check me and saw that I was the one. On August 28, his mum came to me at Eleweran and told me he had died. It was sad news for me because I never expected things to turn this way.”

When asked for his advice to youths, Odeh, whose voice quivered in a display of emotions, said: “I will plead with young people like me to try to be patient. Patience can never be too much. If you are troublesome, it will land you in trouble or calamity and put your parents in everlasting sorrow. “While pleading with the government for clemency, Odeh said: “What happened to my friend was not deliberate. It was not intentional. The government should have mercy on me. If I am let off the hook, I will be doing legitimate work to take care of his mother every month, I promise.”

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