The timely response from neighbours saved an 80-year-old kingmaker from being killed by a rope-wielding assailant in a seedy Lagos community at night penultimate Tuesday, reports KUNLE AKINRINADE.
It was nightfall in Ketu-Epe, Epe Local Government Area of Lagos on January 20. The life of a community leader cum kingmaker was to be taken by a female assailant in a dramatic way. The generator was on with its its violent hume intended to dwarf any alarm the elderly man might raise. Yet it was the timely response of neigbours who rushed into the octogenarian’s room that saved him from being killed with the aid of a rope wielded by a cigarette-smoking female assailant who fled Chief Lateef Bello’s room on hearing footsteps of alarmed neighbours.
Speaking inside his sparsely furnished apartment, the 80-year-old kingmaker , who only eescapeddeath by a whisker gave a graphic account of the incident, and his narrow escape from the jaws of death.
He said: ‘’I was in bed at about 9pm when a woman sneaked into my room and jumped on me. I raised the alarm. But no one heard my voice.
“Fortunately, the generator we were using to pump water suddenly stopped working as my assailant, a lady, reached out for a rope she brought to put on my neck and kill me.
“It was then that neighbours heard my voice as I struggled with her to prevent her from tightening the noose around my neck.
“She bolted as soon as she sensed that people were rushing into the house to see what was wrong with me.
“After I was rescued, I was taken to the General Hospital in Epe for treatment.
“I don’t know what informed the idea of trying to kill me. Maybe the protracted battle for the royal stool is the reason.
“But we already have an Oba-elect.”
Chief Bello says all he desires was justice.
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“What I want is justice. I want the authorities to fish out the people behind the murder attempt on my life.’’
Prince Rasheed Adesanya, who said he was in the neighbourhood when the incident occurred, said: ‘’The generator that was being used to power our pumping machine did not allow me to hear what Baba was saying very well while he was shouting.
“Hence, I went inside the house when the generator shut down only to find him on the floor with a rope around his neck.
“I could also perceive cigarette smoke in his room as he shouted that a young lady was trying to kill him.
“I actually saw the lady smoking in a corner at the upper floor of the storey building.
“I also saw the rope. It was a cable that was cut from a wire tied to place upstairs.
“I called her boyfriend who she had come to visit at our building, but the man denied inviting her to his apartment despite that some people claimed to have seen them together before the attempt on Pa Bello’s life.
“We took Baba (Bello) to the General Hospital at Epe. He is responding to treatment while the suspected assailant and her boyfriend are still being held in police custody as investigation continues.’’
Giving his account of the incident, another resident, Taiwo Samuel, explained that ‘’everyone was outside fetching water in the evening when the generators suddenly stopped working. Next, we heard Baba shouting and we all rushed in to see what was happening.
“We met him lying on the floor with a rope around his neck and bloodstains on his mouth.
“He managed to explain to us that a lady had attempted to kill him with the rope around his neck and only fled because the generator stopped working as he was struggling with her.
“We perceived the smell of cigarette in the room and blocked all the exit points in the compound.
“As we searched the building, we found a lady at the upper floor of the building smoking a cigarette. We also saw where she cut the cable with which she tried to kill Baba.
“We did not want to take the law into our own hands, so we invited the police who took her into custody alongside her boyfriend.’’
A cross section of the residents who expressed shock at the incident said the attempted killing of Chief Bello, one of the leading kingmakers in the town, might not be unconnected with the lingering tussle over the selection of a new monarch for the community.
Adesanya said: ”Prince Adekoya Babajide Adefowora has been selected as the next occupant of the throne.
“The misgivings being expressed by some persons should not have been taken to the height that certain kingmakers would become target of cruel hate.
“The matter is in court, and I believe the court in its wisdom will deliver a fair judgment.”
At press time, the spokesman of the Lagos State Police Command, Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), had not responded to the equiries our correspondent made to him on the phone.