The discovery of the body of a young bricklayer who allegedly committed suicide by hanging with his hands tied at Alagbado, a community on the outskirts of Lagos, has sparked controversy, KUNLE AKINRINADE reports.
Occupants of No 17 Abeokuta Street, Alagbado, a Lagos suburb, ,Southwest Nigeria, were roused from their sleep at dawn on Sunday July 5 by the news of Oladele Godfrey’s death. The dangling body of the deceased bricklayer and father of three was found in his room with his hands tied.
Not surprisingly, the circumstances Oladele’s death has provoked many questions. What could have led him to kill himself by hanging? Why would a man commit suicide by hanging and still managed to tie his own hands? Why was his tongue not sticking out as it is usual with people who commit suicide by hanging? Why was his body bloated in less than 24 hours after his death? These, among others, were the posers from residents who rushed to the scene of the incident to catch a glimpse of Oladele’s body.
Some who were familiar with deceased before his death described him as a misguided young man who missed his steps for years but made amends and turned a new leaf before his tragic death. His 85-year-old grandmother, Madam Adebisi Soetan, could not overcome the pall of grief unleashed on her by Oladele’s death.
“This building is a family house. He shares the room his body was found in with a younger sibling and no one was around to notice that he was up to something sinister when he returned home (on Saturday).
“In fact, he helped a woman to fix a broken stool before leaving for his room later in the day.
“We started perceiving a foul odour in the area on Saturday. We checked around the house to see what was smelling but found nothing. We could not check his room because the windows and doors were locked,” the aged woman said.
The octogenarian explained further that although Oladele made futile attempts to take his own life in the past, she was shocked that his hands were tied when his dangling body was found in the early hours of the day.
Some neighbours alleged that the deceased youth was into drugs, consuming all kinds of substances including cannabis and Colorado mixture, and had previously tried to kill himself by ingesting poisonous substances like sniper, cement and disinfectant but was rescued by bystanders.
He was said to have recently shared a testimony in church about how his life was saved by people around him after he ingested a poisonous substance and was almost dead.
Madam Soetan said: “This time around, he did not give any inkling about his plan to commit suicide.
“However, he had spoken to me about a job he was offered to do or a certain wealthy man who later refused to give him the job and instead hauled insults at him.
“I told him to disregard what the man said and focus on his life and work, and that God would make a way or him before long, but he kept recalling what the man said to him.’’
She also described the deceased as a loner who went about his life quietly after he parted ways with his wife who resides in the Adiyan area of Ogun State.
He has three children in all.
“Dele did not mix with people. There is no one we can identify as his friend.
“He used to take drugs and hard substances and misbehaved in the recent past.
“He was a young man who was angry that he did not know his father because his mother was abandoned by the man who got her pregnant.”
However, the grandma could not stop wondering how the deceased could have tied his own hands and still be able to hang himself.
“I don’t know how he was able to bind his own hands and still tightened the noose on his neck,” she said.
Offering more hints on Oladele’s life, one of his brothers, Opeyemi Oluyemi, explained that he (Oladele) recently quit his membership of the local wings of both the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) and Eiye Confraternity, a notorious cult group.
Opeyemi said: “He was a member of both OPC and Eiye cult group. But he resigned from the groups recently, saying that he wanted to turn a new leaf and concentrate on making his life better.
“We didn’t get along easily because of his weird lifestyle. He was taking drugs and the substances he indulged in usually made him to misbehave to people in the neighbourhood.
“Also, he was fond of taking my money and clothing items without my consent, and these usually create frictions between us to the extent that we created scenes in the neighbourhood until I partially stayed away from the room we were sharing.
“I know that he was an unhappy man and was bitter to death.
“However, what I cannot understand is how he was able to tie his hands and still hang himself with a rope attached to the ceiling hook.
“If you look at his room, the door was locked from inside and the windows were shut.
“Although he foamed in the mouth with his tongue thrust outside, it will be difficult to believe the possibility that the suicide was staged as a decoy by unknown assailants after he was killed, because both the door and windows to his room were locked from inside.
“The stench from his bloated body made us force our way into his room where his body was discovered and I raised the alarm that attracted other occupants of our family house.”
Corroborating the deceased’s membership of OPC and Eiye confraternity, a source said: “Oladele was a very stubborn person. We did not know that he was up to something dangerous when he told us of his intention to resign from OPC and Eiye confraternity where we both belong.
“He was here and did all that was expected of him and we exited him from our midst with merriment, and no one could have killed him on account of his past membership of the two groups because we don’t have any history of cult-related clashes in this community.”
Puzzled sympathisers at the scene however insisted that some things were not adding up about the circumstances surrounding Oladele’s death.
“First, it is not possible that the body of a man with a lanky frame could become so bloated less than 48 hours after his passing.
“Also, you can see that there is a wound on a side of his body while there is something that looks like a splash of liquid substance on his body,” a sympathiser said
A community leader and son of the immediate past monarch of Alagbado, Prince Jamiu Taiwo, described Oladele’s death as nothing but suicide.
Prince Taiwo said: “My attention was drawn to the disturbing news of his suicide by the monarch of this ancient town, Oba Adeshoga Williams Adeyoola (Tomia 1), and I quickly went there to see things for myself.
“Oladele was a nuisance in the community because he was always fighting with people after taking drugs. I once sent him out of this town because he was a thug and was disturbing the peace of the neighbourhoods.
“He, however, returned to this community and started working as a bricklayer, and we thought that his life had changed until the news of his suicide hit town.
“It is possible that the timing of his bizarre death was not noticed. He must have died three days before his bloated body was found.
“It is also possible that Oladele tied his hands and still tightened the noose because of his history as an OPC member where he must got the skills to tie suspected criminals.
“Trust me, members of OPC are adept at tying up criminals even with their mouths and I guess that he must have acquired the mastery of how to tie things while he was a member of the group, and that must have been how he was able to bind his hands and hang himself with a rope.
“We learnt that he had been trying to kill himself before he finally succeeded this time around.
“According to his history, he was more emotionally hurt that he was raised by his grandparent without knowing who his father was.
”Meanwhile, we ensured that necessary legal steps were taken before by informing the police authorities about the incident.
“His body was removed from the scene and it was also with police permission that his body was taken to a public mortuary.”
Speaking with our correspondent in his palace, the monarch of Alagbado, Oba Adeshoga Williams Adeyoola, expressed sadness over the incident.
The monarch said he had several times intervened in issues concerning drug abuse, social misconduct and other vices among the youth in the community.
He said: “I have made it a routine to ensure that youths in this town shun drug abuse and harmful substances that could lead them to self-harm, crimes and social disorder conduct.
“It is sad that the deceased took his own life, and from his history, he had indulged in drugs. However, we are going to ensure proper spiritual cleansing of the community to forestall recurrence.
”Traditional rulers have limited power to enforce punitive sanctions against drug offenders in the society. Hence, government and law enforcement agencies must support community-based initiative to rein in misguided youths and combat drug abuse and crimes among young persons.’’
Source: Opera News
