Some residents of Royal Estate, Isheri Olofin, in Egbe-Idimu Local Council Development Area (LCDA), have called on the Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and the Inspector of General of Police, to bring to justice the killers of Sunday Ajinda, a building contractor who was allegedly clubbed to death by some irate youths in the community.

 

Narrating how the deceased was murdered in cold blood, one of his apprentice and relative, Tosin Ajinda, said they were working at a site in the estate when his uncle asked him to call the okada rider that usually transported him.

 

He said: “On that fateful day, my uncle asked the bike man who usually takes him to other sites to come around. The bike man came and as he attempted to climb on it, two Hausa boys accosted him, saying he stole their okada. He tried to explain to them it could be a mistaken identity. He asked them if they didn’t know him and told them to follow him to the security post for verification.

“All efforts made by him to exonerate himself fell on deaf ears as they started clubbing him with wood. This was around 7:00p.m. The security men could not do anything as the okada riders were large in number. When we took him to Igando General Hospital, the doctors confirmed him dead on arrival.”

 

Describing the deceased as a good, honest and very hard-working man, the site owner where the late Ajinda was working on, Adeyemo Williams, said he had known Ajinda since 2015 and they had been working together.

 

“I will describe him as my right hand man; there is nothing I want to do that I don’t consult him. He is trustworthy to a fault. He was in Anambra State when his wife died last year during the lockdown. By his standard, he can afford 10 okadas. He recently bought one for one of his workers to enhance his movement across the sites they are working on.”

 

Commenting on the incident, the Community Development Association (CDA) chairman, Alhaji Abiodun Alabi, said mob attacks by the Hausa youths had become a recurring incident in the estate.

According to him, sometime last year, they attacked one of the estate security guards who demanded to know where they were coming from after the estate had been locked at night.

 

In his reaction, a leader of the Hausa community in the estate, Mallam Aliyu Ahmed Galadima, told The Guardian that he was aware of the incident, and some of the culprits had been apprehended and handed over to the police. He added that no formal complaint or report of a missing okada was made by the youths to the leadership.

 

Debunking the alleged hostile attitude and recurring mob attack on members of the estate by Hausa youths, Galadima said: “That is not true. Despite this matter at hand, there has not been any incident of hostility from our youths.”

Meanwhile, the CDA chairman led some members of the community to the palace of the traditional ruler in the area, Oniseri of Isheri, Oba Ayinde Balogun, demanding the relocation of the Hausa-Fulani community from their midst on account of their incessant attacks on residents.

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