A 28-year-old welder, Opeyemi Adeola Ganiyu, who allegedly sent his mother-in-law, Madam Abosede Oyewole to early grave by fatally stabbing her, has spoken on why he did it.
Ganiyu, residing in Atan Ota, in Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State, was arrested on Monday, after the death of the mother-in-law.
Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, had disclosed that one Odunayo Mathew told the police that Ganiyu killed his mother-in-law for telling him to stop beating her daughter and inflicting injuries on her.
The complainant also informed the police that the suspect was in the habit of beating his wife over minor arguments.
The PPRO said that the late woman had gone to the suspect’s house to warn him against beating and inflicting injuries on her daughter, only to receive the beatings of her life. Not done, Adeola allegedly ripped the ribs and stomach of his mother-in-law with a knife.
Though rushed to the hospital for treatment, Madam Oyewole eventually succumbed to death as a result of the injuries she sustained.
Ganiyu was said to have fled immediately he heard of the death of the victim, but was found at Ikorodu, Lagos State, having been handed over to the police by his father.
The police spokesman said that preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect was a member of a cult group in the area, and was also involved in the burning of Atan Ota police division during the EndSARS protest in 2020, in addition to killing of the Divisional Crime Officer on October 21, 2020.
But in an interview with Saturday Tribune, Ganiyu denied being a cultist, but attributed his action to being temperamental.
He told the writer: “I’m a welder. I have a wife, Tope Odunayo, and she bore me a son who is eight months old now, though we are yet to formalise our relationship traditionally or legally.
“On Sunday, April 25, I was at home when my wife asked me when I would be going out. I replied that I was not going anywhere.
“Not long after, a man came on a motorcycle and gave my wife money, which I discovered was N1,500 when I checked her bag. I asked about the connection she had with the man and she told me that he was her boyfriend and she only needed money from him.
“I was angry with her and reminded her that an intended relationship with another man should not be allowed to affect our son. The following day, she told me that her mother was ill and she wanted to go and check on her, promising to return on Tuesday. I allowed her to go with the child I had before we started our relationship.
“When she did not return on Tuesday as promised, I went to her mother’s house on Wednesday, only to see her with the man who came to give her money three days before. On seeing the man, I attacked him and gave him two punches. As the third one wanted to land on him, he dodged it and ran away. Unfortunately, it hit my mother-in-law in the mouth, injuring her. She started saying that if she had known me, she would not have allowed her daughter to have a relationship with me. She complained of not feeding her daughter very well and leaving her in hunger. She said that was why she was planning of getting her another man.
“I didn’t know why she thought of me that way because we were not living together. In anger, I took my first child from her house and left. On Thursday, my mother-in-law came with my wife and three of her elder sisters, saying that they wanted to pack her belongings from my house. I was about opening the door when they barged in and held me, hitting me with a chair and lamenting on how I injured their mother by hitting her.
“Neighbours around did not approach us to settle the issue; they were just looking at us. I appealed to them to tell my wife’s sisters to leave me, but no one paid any attention on us.
“That was when I thought of bringing out the knife I had in my pocket to scare them, so that they would leave me alone.
I mistakenly used the knife to stab her in the ribs, by her stomach. Immediately, she let go of my shirt, held her stomach and started screaming in pain ‘my stomach! my stomach!!”
“My wife’s sisters also stepped back in fear. That was how I was able to run away. I went to hide in an incomplete building within the town until I heard on Sunday that she had died. I became afraid , and that was what made me flee to my father’s place in Ikorodu, Lagos State.
“It was my father who took me to the police station to report me, saying that I had committed a terrible crime.”
When asked whether it was true that he was a cult member and hemp smoker, Adeola denied being a cultist, but admitted that he was a hemp smoker. However, he said that he dropped the habit about two years ago when his wife was complaining about it.
He also confessed to being a temperamental man. “I’ve had a hot temper since I was young. Because of that, people told me to be pouring water into a kettle to drink. I was doing so to stop the bad trait, and I also used to avoid getting into altercations with people. I didn’t know I would fall into this kind of trouble.
“My mother had been sick with ulcerated leg for about one and a half years. I’m her only child; she and my father got separated when I was young, and she never remarried. She is at Adeniyi area in Lagos, and I feel so sad that I’ve caused her more pain.
“I know that the law says that whoever kills shall be killed, so I don’t know how to plead for the wrong I’ve done,” Ganiyu said.