Posted by By CHRIS ANUCHA on
A stab by a soldier has cut short the tall dream of a promising former panel beater in Lagos, who, through dint of hard work, graduated from the university as political scientist.
A stab by a soldier has cut short the tall dream of a promising former panel beater in Lagos, who, through dint of hard work, graduated from the university as political scientist.
The victim, Sola Olusola, was said to have graduated from Lagos State University two years ago.
Daily Sun also learnt that the victim would have got married to his fiancée, Olanike Ola-Olubo, a native of Ogun State next month.
Olusola, a transporter, was stabbed at Ahmadiyya bus stop, along Abule Egba road, on Thursday, March 15, 2007, by a soldier, Private Osho Solomon.
Problem started when the soldier, who was in mufti boarded the bus and refused to pay a fare of N40, insisting to pay N30. As the argument was going on, the soldier allegedly slapped the conductor.
The victim, who witnessed what transpired between the conductor and the soldier, was said to have condemned the action of the soldier and also insisted that he paid the N40 instead of N30. That was the time the soldier drew out a dagger from his waist and stabbed the victim on the back.
Recalling how she saw her fiancé to the bus stop that fateful day and went back home only to be told few minutes later that he was dead, the grieving Olanike, who wept profusely as she narrated her ordeal, said the victim told her he was going to Agbara to secure the release of one of the transporters held by the police.
'I saw him off to the bus stop and went back home to clean the house. I was cleaning the house when somebody came in to tell me that they had stabbed my husband at the bus stop. When I rushed to the bus stop, I couldn't find him. The next thing I heard was that he was dead," she said amid sobs.
She continued: 'I want the soldier to die. The man that stabbed my husband, I want him dead."
Reacting to his murder, The Conscience Mainstream, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) to which the deceased belonged, described the murder as callous.
Briefing newsmen in Lagos, Comrade Adeniyi Sulaiman, who was with Mallam Ismail Anwo, recalled how innocent people had been killed in the past by either policemen or soldiers.
He cited an instance of one Rotimi, who was murdered by a soldier and Legba, who was murdered by a mobile policeman attached to Alakuko police station.
Suleiman said: 'The pertinent questions now are, for how long shall we have to wait while this brutality persists? Are we in lawless nation where undesirable elements wield unabated influence to unleash terror on innocent people? Are these uniform men above the law"?
The organization, therefore, appealed to the authorities to bring Osho to book, adding: 'Unlawful killing of this nature, either by the military men or policemen, should stop."
The Conscience Mainstream also urged the government to address the issue of free transportation, especially in Lagos, by the military and police personnel.
'We also want the IG to address the indiscriminate and illegal ‘hijack' of commercial buses for police raiding; extortion by the policemen still persists throughout the length and breadth of the country, especially in Lagos."
The victim's nephew, Mr. Segun Oni, who described the incident as unfortunate, appealed to the government, the press and human rights groups to assist the family of the victim to get justice.
The suspect, who is attached to the 192 Battalion, Owode, said he got angry when the conductor told him to board a molue bus if he could not afford to pay N40. He said the deceased and others seized his belt, adding that it was when he was struggling to recover the belt from them that the dagger wounded the victim.
He later contradicted himself when he said he stabbed Olusola in self-defence.
Policemen at the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, Lagos are still investigating the case.