He promised to take us out – Wife

By Lawrence Enyoghasu

When Saheed and Funke Eluyera were taking their marital vows on December 15, 2015, little did they know that, that joyful day was going to be a sorrowful day a year after, as Saheed was murdered, on the first anniversary of the wedlock.

He was allegedly murdered by cultists who were fighting each other at Orogba area of Ilesa, Osun State.

Saheed, 37, a B.Sc holder, a newspaper agent in the state, had woken up on that day and posted on his face book page that he was going to celebrate with his family; his wife and their seven-month-old twins.

Saturday Sun gathered that Saheed , who courted his wife for five years before they got married, had waited long to marry because he wanted to make enough money to raise his family in a comfortable atmosphere.

According to his younger brother, Posi, who spoke to Saturday Sun, Saheed the day his brother got married was so special to him and his experience made him to become an advocate of early marriage.

“The day of the wedding was his best day, in his entire life, my brother was a jovial person, but that day was special. He danced and was happy.

“Since the day he got married, he would always advise me that marriage is good and that I should go and get a wife. He said that the joy of seeing his children cry for his attention or the peace of having a good wife and the joy of not having to be stressed to make food after the day’s work were the reasons he loved marriage. His wife has never complained,” Posi said.

His death has thrown his family into mourning. Cry was the chorus. Wailing was the style. Sympathizers were uncontrollable as they entered in groups. Their two -room apartment was filled to capacity.

Saheed’s wife, Funke who was also wailing as at the time of visit, struggled to run to nowhere. Although, a graduate of Accounting, Funke, who operates a sewmistress business, could not mutter any word. When she tried to, she could only recount her husband’s promises to her, before he was killed.

“Who will train my children? You promised that Taye (boy) will be a doctor and Kehinde (girl) will be a lawyer and we will grow old together,” she shouted.

Speaking further on the circumstances that led to his death, the deceased’s younger brother, Posi, said he did not know why his brother would be targeted because he was well known as a peacemaker. True to his nature, Posi said if Saheed knew that the fight involved cultists, he might not have intervened the way he did.

“On that day he was killed, it was his one year anniversary (sic), he had already told his wife to dress up the twins that they were going to celebrate after he was done with the day’s work.

He was a very lovely and jovial person. His smile was contagious. He did not like to cheat people. He was a philanthropist by default. He rendered help even when it was to his own disadvantage. He was an easy-going person. His routine was from work to mosque then home. He had no enemies in the state.

“He went to Wesley College to supply them and headed to a barbing saloon to clean up, on his way, he discovered that the motorcycle was having some fault and decided to repair it, since he was going out with his family later. It was at the junction where he was repairing his motorcycle that he saw some men, engaging in a brutal fight. Then he decided to intervene. But the fight became fierce. In the process, they hit him with an object right at the centre of his head, and he lay there dead.

“It was later on that we found out that the two men that were fighting were rival cult members. I think he didn’t know this, it was when he heard why they were fighting that he wanted to run like every other person, but he was hit by them. People who were there, didn’t help him because of the group that were fighting,” said Posi.

When Saturday Sun querried if Saheed had made some “dangerous” friends in the course of his job as a newspaper agent, Posi said that it was not possible. He revealed that they inherited the business from their father and have been running it for 13 years.

“The job that he is doing is the same thing that I am doing. It was the job our father did. When he was retiring he told us to take it over. He was well known. He had the mind to intervene because of his reputation as a peacemaker. If we are not enjoying it or see the job as a risky one, we wouldn’t have agreed to do it. He did the job for over 13years,” he said.

He also told Saturday Sun that since the news of the death of Saheed, was broken to the parents, Saheed’s father, Pa Eluyera, had not been himself. He was said to have fainted and was revived twice, to the extent that the family is afraid of the consequence to the man’s health.

“We buried him because of how our parent was taking it. Since his death, my father has fainted twice and now we can’t leave our father alone because he might faint and nobody will be there to help him. If we had left him in the mortuary, our parent will not stop the tears from flowing,” Posi observed.

Family wants justice

The Eluyera family is pleading with the state government and the Commissioner of Police, Fimihan Adeoye, to find their brother’s killer.

“When we got to the State Crime Investigation Department, SCID, on Tuesday, the police said that they have not arrested anybody, therefore, we should go ahead with his burial process. They promised that they will be searching for the culprits. The cult clashes here in Osogbo are too much. They have been killing people anyhow. We now live in fear.

“We plead with the state government to please find our brother’s killers and protect the rest of us that are alive. The children of my brother might suffer now, because there is no way anybody could be like their father,” Posi, added.

Apart from the cult clash that took Saheed’s life, there was another case a day before in Osogbo where about two cultists were also killed.

Meanwhile the Police Commissioner, Fimihan promised to battle the increasing cult clashes, in the state.

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