For more than one week, the police, working on the theory that he was kidnapped, searched every possible place his abductors might have taken him. Strangely, however, no one had contacted the family to demand ransom for his release.
Unknown to many, including the police and family members, the remains of Prof. Albert Ilemobade, a former Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), lay decomposing inside the garage of his Ijapo Estate, Akure home.
78-year-old Prof. Ilemobade was killed by two of his domestic workers, namely his former driver Olayemi Bamitale and the security guard Daniel Ita. The two confessed to the police that they killed the former university don in cold-blood.
They admitted strangling the ex-FUTA VC to death with the aim of stealing his recently purchased Toyota RAV 4 SUV with registration number GGE-589-CF.
“I called out the old man from his window and he came out through the kitchen. I directed a torch light at the ceiling where I said the fire outbreak had occurred. Immediately he came out, Bamitale pounced on him and strangled him till he died. We later dropped his body at the store near the car park so that people would not see,” Ita said in his confessional statement.
Professor Ilemobade was the latest in the rampant cases of Nigerians killed or robbed by their domestic staff. A few weeks ago, a couple and other members of their household narrowly survived being wiped out after their cook laced their dinner with poison.
The cook, Victor Hounkpe, a Beninoise, later confessed that the plan was to inject poison into the food of his boss and his entire household and later steal his belongings.
According to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Kayode Aderanti, who paraded the suspects, “every member of the household ate the dinner as served. After the dinner, the husband, Mr Nwogu Chinaka, developed severe stomach ache and collapsed.
“The wife rushed the husband to the hospital. At the hospital gate, she fainted and both of them were admitted for medical attention. Two security guards who ate part of the dinner were also brought to the hospital unconscious, bringing the number of victims to four. “
Hounkpe, who was placed on a monthly salary of N50,000, confessed that his friend, the couple’s former cook, was his accomplice in the dastardly act.
Earlier in the year, a nanny abducted three of her boss’ children barely 24 hours after she was employed. The nanny, later identified as Funmilayo Adeyemi, later demanded a ransom of N15 million from the family to release the children.
After she was arrested, the police found that the so called nanny was working with a syndicate, which included her husband and others.
She also confessed to have been responsible for the kidnap of two kids in the Magodo area of Lagos State in December last year. She claimed that the Magodo victims’ parents paid N2 million.
The foregoing are a few of the numerous cases of domestic staff who in recent times have connived with other criminally-minded people to rob or defraud their bosses.
The dangerous trend, according to a senior police officer, who pleaded anonymity, is the result of cultural values. “I am not surprised that this is happening,” he said. “We have suddenly lost touch with our value system and those things that made our culture the envy of everybody.
“In those days, when a couple needed any form of help in their home, they turned to family members and take in one person. But today, we want to be whiter than the white man. And as long as we continue with that tradition, we would continue to have the same problem.”
For Mrs. Bimbo Williams-Okpabi, Secretary, Customs Officers Wives Association, Seme Chapter, the rising cases of devilish domestic servants plotting to harm their bosses has become alarming.
Williams-Okpabi, who said she once had a nasty experience with her maid, said: “The rate at which domestic servants are harming their pay masters is becoming alarming. I think it is more rampant in the urban areas, where you have the middle income and high income earners making use of these people.
“Personally, I had an experience with a maid pilfering money and other valuables, but I decided not to press any charges due to pleas from her family.”
She suggested that a body be put in place to oversee the procurement of domestic staff.
She said: “There should be a certified and professional board that should be in charge of procuring domestic helps in this country. This will go a long way in sanitising the domestic service industry.
“The practice of calling on a friend or a scout to help look for maids from nearby states or across the borders should be scrapped. Measures should be put in place to deter criminally-minded people from using the service industry as a cloak for their clandestine activities.
“Not only do they engage in robbery, some domestic servants sexually abuse the children they are paid to watch over. So the ripple effects continue. Cheap labour comes with a price; a price which could be death. The earlier we nip this in the bud, the better.”
In the opinion of a social worker, Mrs. Adetutu Bola-Adesanya, both domestic staff and their bosses cannot be absolved of blames. While she believes that prayers are needed before employing a domestic staff, she urged prospective employers to ensure that a valid contractual agreement is entered into when employing a domestic servant.
“Well, as much as domestic servants have their ills, their employers too are not totally free of responsibilities. The first thing to do before employing a domestic help is to pray, which a lot of people don’t do. Only God can lead one aright.
“Also, as it regards sourcing, where did you get them from? Who are their parents? Can you trace them? Is there a written document? These are some of the questions that you should ask yourself when employing a domestic staff.
“Whether they are literate or not, there must be an agreement on paper. This should cover all the terms and conditions pertaining to the job. There is also a need to give them limits; a domestic worker should not have access to everything and information about you and your home, for example, your bedroom, how rich you are and other sensitive things.
“Give them good benefits on the job. It is wicked for a domestic worker to work around the clock all year round. Monday to Saturday, 6am to 7pm is ideal. Working from 4 am to midnight is not acceptable, even if they are live-in staff. Allow them, at least to have one or two visitors in three months. It is for your own good. Know their health status from the beginning and follow up with it.”
For Mrs. Cynthia Saka, the use of domestic staff in homes has become a necessity. But the entrepreneur said caution should be applied when employing a house help.
“It is almost impossible to do away with domestic workers in totality. However, one must deal with them with caution.
“As regards domestic servants stealing from their masters, I believe it is a two-way thing. I will like to mention that there is no justification for stealing on the part of the servant.
“Permit me to also say that certain actions of employers must be checked as well. For instance, do you make them feel less important? Do you deal carelessly with money in their presence? Do you pay attention to their needs: health, spiritually and economically among others?
“It is a general belief that when a person feels comfortable, most often, negativity and evil intention would be ruled out.
“But like I said, there is no justification on the part of workers to steal from their masters. I have had cause to deal with a number of domestic workers and in my experience, I have seen that even when some are very comfortable or treated rightly, they still have evil intention.
“Perhaps one will begin to wonder, more often than not, it is usually an external influence. I personally have not had any negative experience with domestic workers, and this is because as soon as I sense any unacceptable attitude, I do away with such person or persons.
“Now, as regards what could be done to stem the tide, I must say that there are no laid down guidelines as it varies in relation to the category of domestic staff to be employed. However, I will advise that when employing any domestic worker, the employer should go the extra mile in finding out about the past conduct or places where they had worked before. It is very important.”
Mr. Chris Eraga had a very unpleasant experience with his house help. Part of the maid’s duty was to take the family’s kids to school. But that simple assignment provided a good opportunity for the maid to vent his anger on the kids. It was like visiting the sins of the parents on the children.
He said: “I had a maid sometime ago. Whenever she took the children to school, she would beat them. Most times, she would give my son knocks that could crack the young boy’s skull. If your relationship with your domestic servant is not cordial, you can expect a treatment like that.
“I think another reason why the spate of violence is increasing is greed. Many of these people don’t believe in themselves and they have fear of the future, so it pushes them to steal.
“The culture of people looking into their family members to help them as domestic servants is not also helping, because that aspect has been abused. It is even the women that will advise you not to take in their sisters because they are afraid of husband snatchers.
“Maids are not people you employ through technology. You get to know the people you are dealing with and treat them like your own person. Don’t treat them as slaves; treat them as your own person and you could get the loyalty you need.”
For Ebiere Assoh Ajibola-Bodude, a businesswoman, hiring a house help is in several ways comparable to committing a sacrilege. A mother of two, her friends, she confessed, most times joke about her being a mother, cook and laundry woman.
Her decision not to hire a house help, she told The Nation, was informed by experiences of friends, family members and neighbours who at one time or the other had unpleasant experiences at the hands of their house helps.
She said: “I don’t think I can ever hire a house help; not even if I am a billionaire. I understand that mothers don’t really have enough time to look after their homes these days, unlike those days when our mothers were fulltime housewives.
“However, I know of some women whose decision to employ house helps was simply because their friends or neighbours have house helps. In that case, it has become a ‘show-off’ thing.”
Ajibola-Bodude narrated the experience of a friend who employed the services of a female house help, saying: “One of my friends recently employed a house help. The girl came from Kaduna through another friend. And because of her stature, she looked 16, whereas she was actually 24 years old.
“What we first noticed was that she was trying to seduce the husband. And because the woman was most times away from home, the girl would dress seductively. If the man called her, she would stay in her room, expecting him to come looking for her in the room.
“But thank God, the man is responsible. It got to a head one day when the man became angry and sent her packing.”
A source, who would not reveal his identity, blamed the rising incidents of house helps-turned armed robbers on the loss of moral values and greed among the people.
“Firstly, our moral standards in the nation have been grossly eroded and our values as a people, a community and family have broken down. All our values and standards have been monetized.
“The urge to be rich by any means now prevails; even our justice system has failed. The police have failed, hence criminals are having a field day. But we should also admit that most employers are hard task masters and they pay peanuts.
“I have a cleaner whom I pay N5000 to clean my two-bedroom flat. She’s supposed to clean my place four times a month, but she does not do it well, so I had to let her go.
“To deter employees from theft and other vices against their employers, employers should ask potential employees to get police clearance in order to ensure that he or she has no criminal record.
“A security measure that should be adopted is for employers to make their employees submit photos and cross-check their references.”
Professor Mabogunje Aluko of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) blamed the ugly trend on moral decadence in the society, unemployment and the nation’s political economy.
According to him, “what we are witnessing is the result of the drop in our value system. We no longer value those things that make a society safe. For most people now, greed is the watch word.
“Some of the employers of these servants engage in excessive display of wealth. They send their servants to change dollars for them. Some would give their children huge sums of money in the presence of the servant while on the other hand, they pay the servants peanuts. If you go into their garage, you would think you are in an auto mart. These are part of the problems.”
Speaking further, Prof. Aluko said the dwindling economy has resulted in many families losing their purchasing powe; a situation which he said has resulted in many university graduates scrambling for menial jobs.
“It is obvious that the salary of an average salary earner in the country is not enough to cater for the family. And for the servants, the money they are paid is not enough for their needs.
“The Nigerian political economy is not helping matters. As we speak, the naira now exchange for N230 to a dollar. The people are desperate to earn a living by all means. These are the problems confronting us now.”
10 ways to guard against them
• Ensure a valid written contractual agreement
• Do the necessary background checks for families and former employees
• Don’t allow them unfettered to your private rooms
• Don’t engage in careless display of wealth in their presence
• Don’t treat them like slaves
• Try as much as possible to give them a sense of dignity
• Pay attention to their economic, material and emotional needs
• It is wicked for a domestic staff to work around the clock
• Carry out proper data collection and character examination
• Get their photographs and do regular security checks
