Tragedy: Okada rider, wife, stepson found dead in room

A commercial motorcyclist, his wife and stepson were yesterday, found dead in their one room apartment located at Obafemi Eruja Street, Aga/Gbasemo area of Ikorodu in Lagos State.
Residents claimed they woke up only to be greeted by the sad news but the Nigeria Police from Ikorodu Division are currently investigating the death.

The couple was last seen at about 8pm before they went to bed with their three children but only their first two children ages 13 and 11 are alive while the last born and their parents were found dead.
Although nobody could explain the circumstances leading to the death but residents claimed that the couple had been engaged in internal crisis over the paternity of their last born aged seven.

Eye witnesses’ account claimed the Okada rider popularly called ‘’Baba Efe” and his wife were last seen at about 9pm on Thursday before they all went to bed but a loud music coupled with argument were later heard from their room but nobody cared to intervene.

Thirteen year-old Efe and his 11-year-old brother Michael were said to have woken from their sleep only to find the mother and child lying lifeless on the floor while their father’s body was dangling on the ceiling fan but both took courage and dashed outside to take their bath and dressed up for the day but due to lack of peaceful co-existence in the house, they chose to go to a neighbouring street to draw the attention of a family friend to the incident.

It was gathered that immediately, the family friend left what she was doing and followed the children to their room only to notice two bodies on the floor and the third body dangling as the neck was tied to the ceiling fan.

She was said to have raised the alarm which attracted co-occupants and neighbours though the children could not give the account of what transpired overnight which led to the death of other members of the family.

The couple had been involved in series of argument over the paternity of their third child as the man had threatened to kill both mother and child, a threat which was suspected to have been carried out yesterday.

Residents claimed a family friend had been visiting the couple to claim the paternity of their last child and this had brought shame on the family until the unfortunate happened.

Apart from this, all the children were said to be out of school as their parents could no longer sustain the family since the seizure of the motor bike by law enforcement agents.

The wife was said to be running the affairs of the family with the proceeds from her groundnut business.

However, the elder sister to ‘’Baba Efe” simply called Madam Agnes told our correspondent that the family could not explain the circumstances leading to the couple’s death.

When our correspondent visited the scene, the two bodies on the floor had been removed by the Police while traditionalists in the area claimed the dangling body would not be removed until certain rituals were conducted but as at 1pm, the deceased’s family was yet to meet the traditionalists’ demand.

 Vanguard