Posted by By JULIANA FRANCIS on
A family in Lagos is not taking it lightly with a man who allegedly ferried their daughter alive to Egypt but sent back pictures of the girl dead, few months later.
•Taken abroad by lover, reported dead in Egypt • Family suspects foul play
A family in Lagos is not taking it lightly with a man who allegedly ferried their daughter alive to Egypt but sent back pictures of the girl dead, few months later.
The family of late Ajara Jimoh, 29, thought mother luck was finally beginning to smile on them when Bello started dating her and later took her to Egypt. Today, the song of joy and celebration that greeted the news of Ajara's decision, has turned to sorrow, as the family has been plunged into mourning for the young lady who was said to have died in a vehicle accident. She died, leaving behind one child, who is currently living with her ex-husband's family.
Ajara's family, especially her mother Alhaja Kehinde Jimoh, is not amused by the story that her daughter was dead. She can't simply understand why Bello buried her daughter without first notifying them.
To her, something is fishy somewhere. For instance, she would argue, there is discrepancy in the date that Bello told them Ajara died and what is recorded on the death certificate. Consequently, she wants the relevant authorities to investigate the case. She also wants Bello to return Ajara to where he got her from (Nigeria), dead or alive.
Mum wails
She cried out: 'Our aim as a family is to inform the Nigerian and Egyptian governments that if we don't have power, people or money to bring Bello down to Nigeria to answer questions over the controversial death of our daughter, there is just one thing we strongly demand from him - our gem, Jimoh Olaide Ajara, dead or alive. We want to have her here in Nigeria as soon as possible!"
Since the death of her husband, Alhaja Kehinde had devoted her life to Fatimoh and Ajara, her two children. According to her, even though she has nobody to fight for her, she is looking up to God. For now, she has enlisted the legal advise of the Office of the Public Defender (OPD), which, worried by her allegations, referred her to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP), fearing it could very well be a human trafficking connection case.
Genesis
The journey to the grave for Ajara started in November 2006, when she followed her sister Fatimoh, then an apprentice hairdresser, to a naming ceremony.
Fatimoh recollected thus: 'In November 2006, when my mistress had a baby, my mother, Ajara and I attended the naming ceremony. There, Ajara met Bello. He later talked her into traveling to London. On 17th, March 2007, we got a call from her, saying she was in Egypt and not London as earlier discussed. She said she'd have to refund Bello her travel expenses."
It was also discovered that Bello started a torrid affair with Ajara, even while he was insisting that she cough out the money he spent on her trip.
Fatimoh added that in August they started receiving heart-braking messages from Ajara, saying Bello was maltreating her and had in fact reduced her to a punching bag. Bello was said to have accused her of having other affairs. Ajara was further said to have called and told her mother on August 23, that Bello hit her again because she refused to continue with the job of bathing dogs, which he found for her.
'My daughter said she was afraid of dogs," the Alhaja said.
Bad news
Again on September 4, the old woman reportedly received a text message from Bello, asking her to pray for Ajara's survival because she had been involved in an automobile accident with her madam. The next text message Ajara's family received, according to them, was to announce that she was dead and buried.
The heart-broken widow lamented: 'I repeatedly tried to call Bello but he refused to pick his calls."
One day, the family said, a 'stranger" called, inviting them to a particular address at Ilupeju, Lagos, to collect Ajara's belongings. When they got there, an old man, who they said refused to give his name, handed them two photographs of an accident vehicle on a truck; blood stained vest; a diskette of the body and funeral activities. The old man, according to Ajara's relations, said his son who is a footballer in Egypt, gave him the parcel for them.
Foul play
The death certificate that accompanied the items was sent to Lagos State University, Faculty of Arts, Department of Foreign Languages for interpretation because it was written in Arabic. The transcript further convinced the Jimohs that Bello was certainly hiding something from them.
According to the old woman, the transcript contradicted the three text messages Bello sent to her. For instance, she said her daughter was Ajara Jimoh (29) and not Ajara Muhammad (20) as the certificate bore. She added that there were too many discrepancies in the tale.
Human trafficking angle
Head of NAPTIP, Lagos Zone, Mr. Godwin Morka told Sunday Sun that operatives had immediately started investigations as soon as they received the case. Bello's friend, Saburi Olorunshe, who was allegedly involved in the travelling arrangement for Ajara, has been arrested by NAPTIP. But the man had since denied knowing anything about the supposed death of Ajara. He, however, recollected that Bello once told him that Ajara was working as a nanny, and often came home late.
Morka agrees that something was definitely wrong somewhere about the reported death of Ajara. He thinks the only person that could clear the mystery was Bello. But curiously, the man is alleged to be playing hide and seek with NAPTIP operatives.
Said Morka: 'We tried to call him to come forward and explain things but he refused to pick his calls. Somebody else would pick the call. We dropped series of messages including text messages, but he has not responded. We discovered there were ten days discrepancy in the date of the text he sent notifying the family of Ajara's death and the date stated in the death certificate. We want to hand the case over to Interpol. They should be able to arrest him."