Posted by By Evelyn Usman on
'We actually fought a month ago and I used an iron rod to hit him. Today he is dead and am being held responsible for his death.....
'We actually fought a month ago and I used an iron rod to hit him. Today he is dead and am being held responsible for his death. If only the dead could speak , Mr Victor would have at least told the Police and the world what actually killed him".
Those were the lamentations of 23-year-old Henry Okechukwu Orji who was arrested in connection with the death of his neighbor, after he caught him (Victor) attempting to rape his younger sister in his room.
Oke, as he is fondly called, has been living at number 33 Oshin Folarin street, Bariga Lagos for close to five years. He later went to pick his 19 -year old sister from the village with a view to relieving his folks of some financial burden. If only he knew that the singular gesture would later result to his being held responsible for the death of his neighbour, he would have probably had a re-think.
Staring at nothing in particular, he narrated how it all happened to city scope: ' About two weeks ago when I returned from the market, I met my sister looking unhappy. I tried to make her tell me what the matter was. At last, when she offered to talk she said one of our neighbors had been making love advances at her. I was shocked because the person is one of the people I respect in the compound. And to think that he would be making such advances when he has a wife and three children living in the same compound with my sister was even more annoying. After she revealed this to me , I told her not to agree to any of his terms. She reported him about two consecutive times and in one of the occasions, she showed me some condoms Mr Victor gave her.
‘‘So, last week when I came home, I met him in my room with my sister. She also showed me the condom he brought. There was a heated argument between us which later resulted into a fight. He sustained injury on his head during the fight . He was the one that first brought out a knife with which to stab me. When I saw him with a knife, I ran to carry an iron rod. We both sustained injuries during the fight. This incident I am talking about happened a month ago. After that, we went our different ways and I cautioned my sister against allowing him into the house again and directed her to always close the door when she was alone in the house.
‘‘So, I was shocked when some policemen came to my house last week and told me my attention was needed at the station. On further questioning, I was told I was responsible for the death of my neighbour I fought with a month ago. Ah!, he exclaimed, only God can vindicate me. If only Mr Victor will wake up and tell the whole world what killed him it would have been better.''