A 48-year-old man, Segla Hunvu, has committed suicide in the Mowo, Badagry area of Lagos State. Hunvu, who stayed on Jogbenu Street, Torikovi Town, Mowo, was found dangling with a rope around his neck on Thursday.
A relation, who did not want his name in print, told Punch Metro that Hunvu had informed his eldest son, a few days to the incident, to take care of himself and his younger ones.
He said, �Hunvu came to the Ajegunle, Apapa area on Monday to see his younger brother, Michael Hunvu. We did not know he came to bid us farewell. He had earlier told his eldest son, who is a teenager, to take good care of himself and his younger ones. He did not come out clearly to say he wanted to kill himself. Nobody knew the reason he killed himself. It is suspected that he was frustrated.�
Michael reported the matter at the Morogbo Police Division.
A police source said that after Hunvu left the Ajegunle area, he entered his house when his children were not around and hanged himself in a room in the house.
He said, �The children tried reaching him on the telephone, but calls made to him did not connect. It was after some days that his body was found in the room.�
Policemen, who visited Hunvu�s apartment, found him hanging from the rope, took photographs and deposited the corpse in a morgue.
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the incident, adding that the family members had requested the corpse for burial.
The 10-year-old Adekoya Wariz, who was beaten to death by his father in Ijebu-Igbo area of Ogun State, once told a neighbour, Baba Olaolu, that he usually stole N50 from his step-mother�s handbag because he needed it to buy gari and groundnut, as he was always denied food.
According to Olaolu, Wariz�s step-mother would tell his father that the money Wariz stole was N200 or more, resulting in constant beating, without getting a chance to tell his side of the story.
Meanwhile, Wariz�s 37-year-old father, Rasaq Adekoya, has expressed regret, saying his intention was not to kill him. Adekoya, a Muslim cleric, told detectives at the homicide section of the Ogun State Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department, CIID, Eleweran, Abeokuta, that his son, Wariz, slumped while he was beating him, over an allegation that he stole a phone at a social function. He also accused his late son of always stealing his step-mother�s money.
Vanguard reports that Rasaq got married to a second wife, after separating from his first wife and mother of late Wariz. Neighbours alleged that late Wariz, a primary school pupil, had been subjected to battering, at the slightest provocation, from his father who always accused him of stealing his wife�s money.
One of his neighbours, Bosede Ayodele said Rasaq Adekoya was once reported to security agents and was cautioned.
�I stole to buy food�
Another neighbours, who gave his name as Baba Olaolu, said: �We have warned Alfa (suspect) several times to desist from beating his son, but he would not listen. He accused him of always stealing his wife�s money.
�At a point, I invited the boy to find out why he was always stealing. But he told me that he usually took the money to buy food any time he was hungry. He also revealed that most times, he went to school on empty stomach and by the time he would return home, there would be no food.
�He said he would be tempted to steal N50 from his step mother�s hand bag, which he used to buy gari and groundnut. He also claimed that at times, he would end up going to bed without food. He also claimed that his step-mother usually lied against him by claiming that the amount stolen was N200 or above and that his father would not give him any chance to explain his side of the story.
�When the battering became too much, we contacted his mother who lives in Lagos State, to come for her son. She kept promising to do so until this happened.�
�I didn�t mean to kill him�
However during interrogation, the suspect said he did not intentionally kill his son. Explaining what happened, Adekoya said:
�Wariz stole a phone at a party. When the news reached me, I was very bitter and at the same time ashamed that a child I gave birth to could disgrace me publicly by stealing other people�s things. That was not the first time he had stolen. He usually stole money belonging to his step-mother, despite the fact that we did not starve him of food.
"When I called him to ask where he kept the stolen phone, he could not give any reason for stealing or revealed where the phone was. �Out of annoyance, I descended on him without knowing it would lead to his death.�
