Estimated reading time: 12 minute(s)
Adetutu Sobowale
The issue of insecurity in Nigeria has become a recurring phenomenon that threatens the well-being of well-meaning citizens.
Worrisome is the killing of unsuspecting citizens who go about in search of their daily breeds but rather become victims of criminal elements across the country.
A 46-year-old okada rider, Oluwaranti Bankole, was on Friday, 24th December killed by suspected armed robbers, who also stole his motorcycle along the Aladesanmi axis of Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital.
Bankole, a father of 8 children and two wives, was said to have been attacked around 5:30 a.m. when he was taking a passenger from Madojutimi junction at Abiola-Way to Aladesanmi in Odeda Local Government.
According to the first son of the deceased, Oluwaseun Bankole, his father was attacked by a passenger when he took him to Aladesanmi, where the passenger claimed to be meeting his friend who was going out with him.
He explained that his father who narrated the ordeal before his death noted that a plank was knocked on his head twice before the robber carted away his motorcycle.
He added further that his father died a day after the incident despite all efforts to rescue him from the head injury he sustained from the attack.
He said, “We were having our morning power when someone called on us that our father is calling on us. I was reluctant to go but we thought he had gotten a car and wanted to surprise us with it.
“We were surprised to see my blood gushing out of his head when we got to where he was. He was severely wounded. There and then he was given the first treatment.
“So, he explained that took a female passenger from Moore junction to Madojutimi junction at Abiola-Way at about 5:30 am where he picked up another passenger going to Odo-Eran also in Abiola-Wa but on getting to the place, the passenger made a call and from the conversation, he gathered that the person the passenger was to meet there had gone to Aladesanmi.
“Afterwards he told him to take him further to Aladesanmi to meet his friend and he complied. He said on getting to the place, the passenger alighted and told him to give him a minute to call out his supposed friend.
“But unfortunately, a plank was knocked on his head twice making blood gush out of his head and the robbers took away his motorcycle.
“He said he crawled from the point to a doctor friend at Baasala at Abiola-Way where he was given first aid.”
Oluwaseun noted that his father was transferred to another hospital for further treatment where they were told to get a CT scan because his father showed some mental sisdorderness in the hospital, adding that his father gave up the ghost before the result of the CT scan came out.
“When the result came out it was discovered that his forehead was fractured and his brain had been affected.” He said
While his emotions betrayed him, Oluwaseun expressed fear of what will become of his family and education as his father is the breadwinner of the family.
Oluwaseun, who just concluded his National Diploma, (ND) with the ambition of going further for his Higher National Diploma, (HND) said his education has been truncated as the family’s source of income is gone.
He further explained that he was forced to start working at a young age to feed his mother and siblings, adding that he lost his tomb while working at a bakery though he still managed to work with it.
He, however, pleaded with the government to get justice for his late father and bring the robbers to book to save other families from such an incident.
On her part, the second wife of the deceased, Christianah Bankoke, noted that her husband told her a night before the incident that he would be traveling the next day to
She said, “He showed me a file that consisted of a letter of appointment. It was a political appointment and I congratulated him because I believed things will be better for us financially with the new appointment after he lost his bakery and other sources of income.
“So, he told me he will be going to Ijebu for the appointment and he left my house on the eve of the incident.
“It was around 8 am when I got the information about the incident. I couldn’t believe the news because he was supposed to go to Ijebu on that day. And that was how I didn’t take my husband to the cold games of death.
“I pray the government to come to our aid and vindicate his death and after us from this insecurity.”
Estimated reading time: 1 minute(s)
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