I want all my son’s complete missing body parts – Mother of Lagos youth hacked to death

Mrs. Funke Abilesanmi’s eyes were blazing red. She had cried all day but one could only imagine the sadness and anger that filled her mind as she sat with her right hand supporting her jaw in front of 27, Mabawonku Street in Oworonsoki area of Lagos on Wednesday.

Just two days before, news had filtered to her that her son, 37-year-old Yemi Tayese, had been hacked to pieces by unknown assailants and dumped on the Oworonsoki highway.

A photograph of the victim’s body, which our correspondent obtained, was too gory for publication. But it was obvious some parts of the body were missing. The problem is, the mother of the victim is aware of this fact and this has become her current emotional torment.

Tayese’s body was removed by the State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit on Saturday afternoon after some vehicles had run over the remains a few times.

No member of the family had the courage to walk up to the woman, to inform her about the death of her son, let alone the state of the body, the victim’s aunty, Mrs. Sulaimon Iyabode, told Saturday PUNCH.

Narrating how she heard about her son’s death, Abilesanmi said one of her relations, who had heard about Tayese’s death came to tell her that she needed to go to Oworonsoki, where her son lived because he was ill.

She said, “I told her that if indeed he was ill, the best thing was for him to go to his father’s house. I dismissed it as just a minor thing.

“But I noticed that she was crying as she left. I immediately knew something bad had happened to my son. I called another relation and pretended as if I had been told what happened. The person immediately started crying about Yemi being killed. That’s when I knew.

“Someone I did not know called me later and said Yemi was hacked into pieces and dumped on the road. I felt as if I had been stricken by a trailer by that news. I never imagined what grouse anybody would have with my son to make them treat him that way.”

The last time Abilesanmi saw her son was three weeks ago, it was learnt; a mother and son encounter that left no inkling that they were both parting forever.

Family members were around, pleading with the grieving mother to stop crying as she spoke but with each anguish-laden word, she burst into sobs.

She said, “I don’t have any case with whoever the police have arrested in connection with my son’s death. I just need his body back. Everybody connected with his death will die the way he has been murdered. I need my son’s body back complete. I heard they have removed his head and some parts of the body. I must get all his body parts back.

“I visited his apartment here (27, Mabawonku Street) three weeks ago. I was living here before but when I moved to Ikorodu, he remained. I was just surprised because he was still living in this area and I did not like that. I had told him before to move out of this rough area.

“I was surprised when I came here and he still had not moved out. He prostrated and told me that I should not worry that he had already packed his belongings and would move out soon. Our plan was that he would join his brother in Abuja. I left that day not knowing I was seeing my son for the last time. If only he had moved out of Oworonsoki as I had advised him, he would have been alive today.”

Saturday PUNCH spoke with some residents who claimed that they heard gunshots on Mabawonku Street the night Tayese was murdered.

One of Tayese’s friends who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he probably was the last person to see him alive.

He said he was with the deceased with other friends till about 12.30am on Friday night before they all retired to their respective houses.

“It is our habit to sit in front of this house and chat into the night before we all go to sleep. That day was not different. There was no sign that anything bad was going to happen.

“We all stood up and retired to our homes at the same time. What I do not understand is whether my friend’s killers went inside to kill him or called him outside.”

Tayese’s co-tenant, who said he was also chatting with the group outside the house before going to sleep, said he heard nothing, not even the gunshot that other residents of the street claimed they heard.

Our correspondent spoke with another resident who said she went out around 2 am later that night to urinate. Again, she spoke under anonymity for security reasons.

The resident, who lives opposite the house where Tayese resided, said, “I saw a man pushing a cart few metres away, the kind that water vendors use to transport jerry cans. I remember seeing clothes inside the cart because there was electricity supply on our street. I saw a shorter man nearby but the one pushing the cart shouted at me to go inside. In fear, I ran back inside.

“It was when news came in that a body in pieces had been found and identified as Utopia (Tayese’s popular alias) that I realised that what I really saw was a body, not just clothes. I later recollected that the cloth I saw in the cart was what I had seen Yemi wear earlier in the day.”

Residents say Tayese’s death is one in a series of violent murders in Oworonsoki in the last few weeks.

“In the last one month, three Oworonsoki youths have been killed in very violent manners,” a woman lamented.

An Oworonsoki youth leader, Mr. Babajide Kabiawu, told Saturday PUNCH that hoodlums now rob residents and motorists in Oworonsoki in broad daylight.

He said, “The last few months have been worse. We live in constant fear because some hoodlums, who wear black masks, run around the community to rob and attack people anytime they like.

“These hoodlums know that the police division here cannot handle them. This is why we need a police patrol vehicle or armoured personnel carrier permanently stationed here. We are sure that would reduce the criminal activities here.”

Kabiawu said the terror regularly unleashed by criminals in the area has become overwhelming for residents.

Our correspondent visited the palace of the traditional ruler of Oworonsoki, Oba Oloruntoyin Saliu, to get his comment about residents’ concern on security in the area but he was said to be out of the country.

Prince Muyideen Saliu, who spoke on his behalf, said the reports gathered by the palace suggested that Tayese might have been a victim of reprisal by friends of a youth that was stabbed to death few weeks earlier.

He said, “A couple of weeks ago, a youth was stabbed to death by a young man said to be a friend to Yemi (Tayese). It is believed that his killers are friends of that stabbed victim. The palace is working with the police to ensure this does not degenerate into more reprisals and counter-attacks.

“The Oba has done a lot to ensure that Oworonsoki does not return to its former state of anarchy. There was a time when Oworonsoki was a base for criminals but that has been changed by our traditional ruler. Residents also have the responsibility of reporting suspicious activities on their streets to the security agents.”

Spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, Ngozi Braide, said a tight security arrangement is in place in Oworonsoki but added that the residents should be forthcoming with more credible and viable leads about hoodlums living in their midst.

She said, “People cannot expect the police to do everything about security because the supposed criminals are living among them. They need to provide us with good information we can act on.

“If they had reported the activities of criminals in the area to the police at Oworonsoki, I am sure the divisional police officer would have handled the matter urgently because the police is a responsible force that does not joke with information.”