Posted by By TONY OGAGA ERHARIEFE (timbaleuk@yahoo.co.uk) on
When Daniel Ekugbe Iriri left home on the morning of December 30, 2007, he was full of life and dreams for the New Year (2008).
* Enemies, not armed robbers, killed my son - Grandma cries
When Daniel Ekugbe Iriri left home on the morning of December 30, 2007, he was full of life and dreams for the New Year (2008). A male hair stylist, he had made his mum's hair and kissed her good-bye with a promise to be home on time.
However, by 4:30 pm, he was pursued by unknown assailants at 511 Road, Festac Town, Lagos, and shot to death in cold blood.
According to eyewitnesses, the ‘robbers' had struck at a local Bureau de Change. After dispossessing the mallams of over N6million, rather than depart, they patiently waited for another 15 minutes, when Ekugbe, reported for duty at the nearby salon where he worked, atop a bike.
Unconfirmed reports say that as soon as he saw the armed men, he instructed the Okada rider to flee, but as they fled, the bandits opened fire and hit the Okada rider on the shoulder.
The Okada crashed! Determined to live, Ekugbe fled for dear life, running for over 150 metres and hid among a group of frightened people, who were taking shelter nearby. Unknown to him, he was trailed!
One of the gunmen spotted where he hid and invited the others. They closed in on him, took him out of the crowd of about 15 scared men and women, put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger.
In the beginning…
Unlike most young men who abdicate responsibility in the event their girlfriends got pregnant, Ekugbe stood stoically behind his girlfriend, Funmi Banire, when she got pregnant, three-and-half-years ago.
It culminated in the birth of a son, Ese Damilola. However, rather than cement his relationship with his in-laws, they refused to accept him as family.
In an exclusive chat with Sunday Sun, Francesca Iriri, a tearful and bereaved mother of the slain youth, traced the death of her son to the romance between him and Funmi, and disclosed that contrary to the impression that her son was killed by armed robbers, he was assassinated.
Once upon a love…
'My late son had an affair with a girl called Funmi four years-ago and they had a son, three-and-half-years-old Ese Damiliola Iriri. When she became pregnant, I made all effort to see her parents but they threw me out of their flat at 207 Road. But I told my son to bear the maternity expenses and register her for antenatal at General Hospital, which he did as a man. He took care of her until the pregnancy came to full term.
Trouble
If Daniel's mum felt that her action would cement her relationship with her in-laws, she was wrong. The day her grand child was delivered, she smelt trouble: 'We were at general Hospital when they brought a prescription for my grandchild. What struck me was that on the prescription, the two names were Yoruba. I am Urhobo, hence the names were not familiar.
According to her, rather than for Funmi's parents to bring the child for naming at her place, as is Yoruba custom, they held the naming ceremony at the home of the Banires'. 'I was surprised when my son came to say that they were naming my grand child and that he was going. I was like, ‘are you going without me?' I know the tradition in Lagos; they take the child to the parents of the boy for naming before they do what ever they want to do. But he said that it was what the girl's parents wanted. I said ‘no, I can't go with you to celebrate with your wife and parents, I am the father.' So, one of my sons and my niece followed him. '
The goings-on took a new turn on 22 December, when Funmi reported Ekugbe to his mum, accusing him of abandoning her.
'Funmi came and reported that my son disgraced her. She said she was at his salon to make her hair when another customer came. Rather than attend to her, he had taken the customer, a lady, to another salon and abandoned her, telling her to hold on."
However, when her son came home, he told her a different story: 'My son said that when she came to make her hair, another customer who insisted that he must make her hair was around. But he told her that the mother of his son was around and wanted to make her hair. In order not to offend the customer, he offered to take her to another salon, which he did. While he was away, Funmi abandoned their son after she got a call.
'On his way back, he saw her in a car with another man. When she was through with the man, she came to him and said that she was no longer doing her hair. He insisted because he had lost a customer. He said that because she had a date with another man, she did not want to do her hair again. He said that Fumni abandoned their son in the salon and went to see another man. He's worry was that armed robbers frequented there and anything could happen."
It resulted in a scuffle. They dragged Ese. Some girls at the salon, Funmi and Titi, attacked him, and Funmi escaped with their son. He was injured with a piece of stick that had nails.
Ekughbes troubles had just begun.
Attacked
'Around 6 pm that evening, a boy called Bayo walked into the salon and threatened that since he had the guts to beat up the woman he had given a ring, he was going to pay dearly with his life. He came with over 20 boys and asked him to come outside but he refused."
However, the following day, Bayo finally caught up with him. Along with the mob, they gave him the beating of his life.
'He ran home in pain, clutching his ribs. I asked what was amiss. He said that Bayo and his gang had given him the beating of his life. I said, ‘No! I don't want trouble at this time of the year. I went to the Police Station to make a report. When they saw his condition, they gave us police report and we went to the Golden Cross for treatment. The girls at the salon-Funmi and Titi, were arrested."
However, while they were making statements, news reached their parents and Funmi's mother called and pleaded that I should forget the issue. They promised to pay for damages so I agreed."
Ekugbe's condition deteriorated and he soon began to vomit blood. He was given a police report and admitted at the Golden Cross Hospital, Festac Town.
Threatened
According to her, while she was making payment for her son's X-ray, a call came and one man, who identified himself as Mr. Banire said ‘madam, for the past three-and-half years, I have been very patient with you. You are now taking my patience for a ride. I said ‘what is it?' he said, ‘you arrested some people in connection with Funmi, in your own interest, go and release those girls.' So I said, ‘do you know that my son is in the hospital?' he said that was none of his business. I told him ‘no, not until my son is discharged. He said ‘okay, you are playing with fire. By the time I am through with you, you will not forget in a hurry what I will do to you. I thought it was a mere threat but events have proved me wrong."
When I got to the police station the next day, I realized that his own daughter, Funmi, had been arrested. I explained to the police that she was the mother of my grand child. I did not ask them to arrest her but Bayo. They said they arrested her to get hold of Bayo. Bayo was later arrested that evening and detained.
According to Mrs. Iriri, the families of those that were arrested came forward and started begging her while Banire and his wife remained aloof.
However, the love of a mother soon took a better part of her: ' I said that they should be released because as a mother, I wouldn't want my own kids to be in a cell while I enjoyed Christmas with my children. I said that they should be released on the condition that they sign an undertaking that nothing would happen to my son. They wrote an undertaking to that effect.
Premonition
It would seem that Ekugbere knew that killers were stalking his path. Thrice on the December 26, Mrs. Iriri said that her son ran to her, alarmed that he had been receiving strange anonymous calls.
Gunned down
'On December 30, we saw in the morning. He said he was going to church and from there; he would go to the salon. That morning, he fixed my hair before leaving home. His salon is located at 22 Road, G Close. That was the last time I saw my child alive," a tearful Iriri told Sunday Sun.
Around 4:30pm, we started hearing shots! I though it was banger. My neighbour's children ran in and said that they were armed robbers at the Beurea de Change. It lasted 15 minutes. After the shots died down, I called my son, his phone rang but he did not pick. I kept trying but he was not picking. I was beginning to get scared. Since his place of work was nearby, I couldn't bear it anymore, I decided to walk there."
According to her, she was half way there when one of her neighbours raced towards her shouting ‘Mama Ekughe,' it is your son that was shot!
'I gathered strength like Samson in the Bible and jumped up and fell on the floor. It took seven men to carry me back home."
A case for murder
According to her: 'My son was murdered. He was not a victim of armed robbery. A week prior to that time, people threatened to take his life. Bayo threatened twice and the police are witnesses. He made an undertaking that his life was not n jeopardy. Just because I arrested people that beat my son up, Mr. Banire threatened that for three-and-half- years, he had been tolerating my son and I. He boasted that I would not forget in a hurry, what he would do to me. Seven days later, I have the corpse of my son to contend with. I want justice. He has been going about boasting that he has people in government and nothing will happen."
'My appeal to government is that it should give me justice. My son is not a victim of armed robbery. He was willfully targeted and deliberately murdered. He was shot at very close range in the head.
Consequently, the family, through its lawyers, has petitioned the Lagos State Police Commissioner, calling on him to use his good offices to order a thorough investigation and see that the killers are brought to justice.