The Oyo State Police Command is currently
battling to unravel the motive behind the murder
of a 21-year-old pregnant woman, Mrs Busola
Afolabi-Haruna, 11 days after her wedding
ceremony. Late Busola had her Nikkah ceremony on Saturday,
February 15, a day after Valentine's Day, in Ibadan,
but had her life and that of her unborn baby cut short
with hot lead pumped into her skull from the gun of
unknown hoodlums on Wednesday, February 26. The bullet reportedly penetrated the skull and left a
gaping hole at the nape of her neck, with her brain
tissues spattering all over the car seat she
occupied. New investigation reveal that her husband is kinda
responsible for her death. Saturday Tribune learnt that Busola's husband, Mr
Yemi Haruna, told policemen at Oluyole Division,
Ibadan, that at about 10.30p.m, he drove his car
towards their home at Elebu area of Ibadan, with his
wife occupying the front passenger seat. As he
stepped out to open his residence's gate in order to drive in, according to him, three armed men
appeared from the dark and struggled to get his car
key from him. Haruna told the police that he quickly made for the
car and instructed his wife to lock her side of the
door, but before he could reach the car, one of the
armed robbers aimed at his wife and shot her. However, the parents and siblings of the deceased
are crying foul, saying that Busola was murdered for
reasons best known to the perpetrator(s). According to Mrs Tosin Afolabi, elder sister of the
deceased, "my sister met her husband, Yemi
Haruna, in 2013 and their relationship did not last
more than three months when she got pregnant. She
celebrated her 21st birthday in his house on July 4,
2013, after which she informed my mother that she was pregnant. Her husband, Yemi, was invited by
my mother and she asked him of the kind of job he
was doing. He replied that he was into petroleum
business. "He also told her that he had never been married but
we later learnt that he had a wife who bore him a
child but had packed out of his house. Mummy
called him again to ask if it was true and he replied
in the affirmative, saying that the relationship was
not approved by her family because the lady was a Christian. "The wedding ceremony between Yemi and my
sister took place on Saturday, February 15, but on
Monday, February 24, we got information that he
was not into petroleum business as he claimed. I
asked my sister and she became worried as she
said it was a confirmation of what her sister-in-law told her on her wedding day. "At 10.46p.m. on Wednesday, February 26, her
husband flashed my number. I thought my sister
was in labour and he didn't have enough airtime to
call me, so I called him back. He said when he got
to the gate of his residence, he saw three young
men emerge with gun. Yemi added that he instructed my sister to wind up the glass on her side
and lock the door of the car. He said they shot my
sister. "I asked him where my sister was but he cut off the
line. I called him back repeatedly but he didn't pick
my call until the third time. I repeated my question
and he replied that he didn't know the hospital
because it was neighbours who took her to the
hospital. He told me he was at police station to obtain report and he cut the line. "I called him again and he said he was told that my
sister was taken to Lad Hospital. Since the hospital
is about five buildings away from my residence, I
went there. The security officer there told me that
she was dead and her body had been taken away. I
screamed and pointed at the husband's car parked within the premises, but they said he went away
with the police. "I left for my father's place and we all returned to the
hospital but were not allowed in. We started calling
Yemi again but he did not pick our calls. My mother
called Yemi's mother to help us call him so that we
would know Busola's condition. Yemi later picked
my father's call at about 2:00a.m. and said he was at the police station and would get back to us when
he was through. When we didn't hear from him, we started calling
him, but again, he didn't pick the calls. We gave his
number to my elder brother and he called Yemi at
about 3:00a.m. Since Yemi was not familiar with his
number, he picked the call for two seconds and all
my brother said he heard was a ringing laughter at the background before he cut the line. "At about 6.30a.m., on Thursday, he picked our call
and when we asked why he did not answer our
previous calls, he said he forgot his phones in a car.
We told him to show up at the hospital because the
hospital staff said they would not release the corpse
without the presence of the person who brought it. He told us he was still at the police station. "Till my sister was taken from Lad Hospital to Teju
Hospital, Ring Road, to remove the foetus inside
her, Yemi did not show up. My mother and I decided
to meet him at the police station and we were
shocked when we saw how they brought a table
before him to eat. In annoyance, I berated him for having the appetite to eat while my sister was yet to
be buried. "When we closely observed the corpse of my sister,
we noticed that the bullets tore through the back of
her head, believing that she was shot in the mouth.
We saw the empty cartridge shell in Yemi's car and
part of Busola's brain tissues on the seat where she
sat. "We also noticed her dress was torn but the police
claimed they were the ones who tore the dress when
they wanted to examine her. Yemi did not follow us
to Teju Hospital where his wife was operated to
remove the foetus before burial." The father of the deceased, Alhaji Tajudeen Afolabi,
also appealed to Oyo State Police Command to help
him unravel the mystery behind his daughter's
death. He added that he believed his daughter was
murdered. "Where I am confused is this: Busola and her
husband came together in the car driven by him. He
went to open the gate to go in when the armed
robbers emerged as he claimed. He that drove the
car and was at the gate was not shot; it was my
daughter who sat in the car that was shot at close range. The car was not taken away; no item was
picked from the car. That is why I am insisting that
my daughter was not killed by armed robbers; she
was murdered."
Naij
October 15, 2012, 10:50:03 AM