Senseless Murder

Yusuf Alkali, commissioner of police, Lagos State

Ngozi Ademoye is in police net over the curious circumstances that led to her husband’s death
By Oji Odu
What would have made a woman watch her husband of over 15 years marriage bleed to death from the injuries she inflicted on him without raising any alarm for help? The Police is trying to unravel the mystery behind this puzzle as troubling details have continued to emerge on the incident.
Forty five-year-old kazeem Ademoye, Chairman of Karrex Computers and Secretary, Computer Sellers Association, Ikeja Lagos, was in the early hours of Friday September 16, 2011, allegedly murdered by his wife, Ngozi at their N0 11 Nwahiri Onuoha close residence, off Aigbokhan Street,, Magodo, Lagos.
The circumstances surrounding Ademoye’s death, have raised daunting posers which need urgent answers as both the couple’s neighbours and family members have expressed keen interest to pursue the case to its logical conclusion.
After initial claim that her husband had slumped and died, Ngozi had changed her story that he had died during one of his occutic sessions in their house with his group of the occultic world. To buttress her story, she claimed that she had chanced upon her late husband that night, clad in his red regalia with a live tortoise and other charms and weird objects tied to his chest and round his body chanting and making demonic incantations while holding an animal horn.
When she saw this, she went into her room and took the Holy water given to her by her Pastor-cum Prophet which she sprinkled on Ademoye to dispel the occultic powers. This action led to her husband being carried up and violently hit on the floor, supposedly by the power of God and he died.
This contradicts another version that says that she had hit the deceased husband with the ups after he slipped in a bid to stop her from sprinkling holy water in their house meant to cast away evil spirits. She had watched him bleed to death as he lay unconscious on the floor without seeking for help until over eight hours later.
However, on further questioning by the police, Ngozi caved in and confessed that she killed her husband, saying it was unintentional.
“I do not know what happened that day that made me stand up to him. Normally when he is angry, I usually appologised and end the matter. But that fateful day, he was beating me up and injured me. When I saw blood, I got angry and decided to wound him too.
“As we fought, he slipped and fell. When he fell, I hit him twice with a UPS on the head and neck. When he started bleeding, I was the one cleaning him up until he became unconscious,” she said, and later died in the room.
All her pleas for forgiveness have fallen in deaf ears especially to Ademoye’s younger brother, Jameel who has questioned Ngozi’s claims on how his elder brother met his untimely death in her hands.
He asked: “If she said it was a mistake, why did she not raise an alarm so that he would be taken to the hospital? Why did she lock him up in the room till the next day? Why did she also go to Kazeem’s office and clear the money they made for the day? Why did she also tell them (the workers) to resign that Kazeem had relocated to Ghana?
“Why did she have to go to Ikorodu to get an ambulance and why did she try to arrange for a private burial ground?...If she can answer these questions judiciously, then we can take it from there. But what I want is justice,” he stressed.
The Source learnt that on the night of the incident, the 15-year-old son, Tunde was in the house, and it was he that helped his mother take the dead father’s corpse from where it lay on the ground floor to his bedroom upstairs where it stayed for over eight hours before they raised an alarm. Many are interested in knowing the reason behind this including why they (Tunde and his mum) had changed the alleged red regaia which the first visitor claimed saw the dead man on the floor in. Also, they demand to know why the guard was given a day off before the incident happened.
At their Magodo residence, the unusual quietness and seeming desertion of the building speak volumes that all is not well as neighbours some of whom are into computer business at Ikeja are seen moving about in long mournful faces expressful of the tragedy that had befallen one of theirs.
Speaking on condition of anonymity to The Source, one of the neighbours of the deceased said: “This is indeed a pathetic story that has thrown us all in this community into mourning. This is a murder case, and from all we have heard, it was premediated. The wife wanted him dead which was the reason why she watched him and made sure he had died before raising an alarm almost 10 hours after.
“I do not know them to be having very serious challenges in their marriage to warrant Ademoye’s death. Some women can be wicked. I am married. I love my wife and trust her, but honestly, by this incident, I am afraid.
At the Computer Village, Ikeja, although business is moving on as usual, one could still observe that something was wrong especially at the section where the deceased’s shop which has remained closed to customers since the incident is located.
In a chat with Sampson Brapham his neighbour at the Computer Village, he said, “I am his neighour and have a shop beside his here. It is very painful that such a nice and friendly man died just like that, but such is life.
“Ademoye was the Chairman of this shopping Plaza where his shop is located and I cannot remember him having any deep quarrels with anybody around here. Although he was pompous, he was good at helping people with money.”
While Bandom was still speaking another man who did not give his name angrily cut in: “You see how wicked women could be. Nothing will come out of this barbaric act by a woman, but when one man killed his banker wife recently, the world stood still and cried blue murder. I believe they did not get to the real roots of that case.
“I hope that those female groups will arise against this act by one of their and see that justice is done. Here, we are following things and we will get justice. Some of us that are not married are now afraid to do so because of this incident. And it is high time the society looked into women violence against men.
Imagine a woman killing her husband, waited for 10 hours to make sure he was stone dead, and then personally taking him to the mortuary. No, she should have eaten his flesh because she can do it. This is a taboo,” he lamented.
Meanwhile, all those fingered in the Ademoye murder case including the Pastor-cum Prophet and one Prophetess who prohesied to Ngozi that her husband was occultic and gave her the holy water to exorcise the evil spirits are making useful statements with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Nigeria Police at Panti,Lagos.
Confirming the incident, however, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Samuel Jinadu told The Source: “We have arrested the woman in question and the case has been transferred to the CID, Panti for further investigations.”