Last Thursday, 40-year-old Ayokunle Oluwagbemiga Ojo, an auditor with the Bank of Industry (BOI), Marina, Lagos, dressed himself in blue suit and shirt to match. He was ready for his usual daily trip to his office.
After the day’s work, he had on his schedule, an official trip to Badagry and a training in Ghana at the week end.
At 5.50 am, he stepped out of his Galilee Avenue, Eliot, Iju Ishaga home, leaving his wife, Omolara to prepare their three sons for school. He had promised to call and furnish his wife with information regarding the Badagry trip. Sadly, all that never happened.
“That was the last I heard of him. I was still taking care of the children when I heard gunshots, at exactly 6.02 am. I didn’t imagine my husband would be affected because he left just ten minutes earlier. Later, I heard knocks on our door,” Omolara recounted yesterday, sobbing.
The visitors came with terrifying news that sent her off-balance: Her husband had been shot by some unknown assailants – about 30 meters from their home!
Eyewitnesses, it was learnt, later recounted what led to Ayokunle’s shooting to his elder sister, Deaconess Nike Olajusi.
According to them, when he stepped out of his house, some unidentified men in black coat accosted him. The men reportedly demanded his laptop and he replied that he left it in his office the previous night. Then, they asked for his bag, and the Ikere-Ekiti-born Ayokunle wondered why they needed his bag.
“Then, the men, I was told, threatened to kill him. They encircled him. They were said to have shouted a name – ‘Mopol’ – and a man came out of hiding and shot into the air to scare away passersby. Then, Ayokunle was shot in the head and the men escaped with his bag and mobile phone set,” Deaconess Olajusi said.
His widow said her husband handled a debt recovery for his bank that week, leading to the arrest and detention of certain persons. The late Ayokunle was said to have expressed worries about the case.
