A middle-aged woman in Ekiti, Mrs. Victoria Aina Adanikin,
has allegedly murdered her own daughter, Miss. Oluwafunmilayo Rosaline Abosede
Adanikin, a 300 level student of the Federal College of Education,
Ikere-Ekiti.
Adanikin, who until the alleged murder of her daughter lived
in Adanikin compound, beside Baba Ewenla house in Idamodu area of Emure-Ekiti,
Emure Local Government Area of Ekiti State, was said to have put an end to the
life of her 22-year-old daughter on the night of December 7 at their apartment.
Residents and neighbors in the area said trouble started a
few days earlier when
Abosede began to confess to committing some evil deeds
through diabolical means. She was said to have allegedly confessed to causing
havoc in her family by killing relatives and spoiling the fortunes of others
with some fetish powers she got from her mum.
An old woman, who is a neighbor to the family but who
craved anonymity, told the reporter: “Abosede had confessed to killing a
relative of her mum as well as causing the misfortune that befell her father,
Pa Titus Folorunso Adanikin, among other things before we heard that she had
died that night. The incident caused a stir in the community, as the girl
actually made the confessions in the full glare of the public.
“She was taken to some churches for prayers and spiritual
deliverance where she spent days confessing and disrupting the peace of
everyone there. She was even said to have confessed to be in a spiritual cult
in which she already had two babies. She said she would return to her home in
the occult world whenever she lost her virginity here on earth. She also
revealed that she had lost her virginity recently.”
Another resident, informed that the last church that Abosede
was taken to rejected her and asked her mum to take her home.
The old woman continued: “Abosede’s confessions were
reported to our traditional ruler, Oba Emmanuel Adebayo (a former Commissioner
of Police) who immediately ordered that the girl and her mum should report at
the palace so the matter could be looked into according to the traditions of
the land. The Oba sent his messenger with the royal staff, but Mrs. Adanikin
lied to the bearers of the king’s message that the girl didn’t confess to
committing anything. They said she only had some mental problems. But as soon
as the king’s messenger left, she tied the hands and legs of the girl so as to
tame her. Her neighbors said when it was late in the night, she began to beat
the girl in the room where she had her locked up and eventually pushed her
against some planks earlier kept there by her late father to make doors for his
uncompleted building.
It was then that the girl lost consciousness. Adanikin then
arranged for people who procured a coffin. She told the hired men to force her
dying daughter inside the coffin for burial even when it appeared that the girl
had not entirely given up the ghost. It was early the next day that Adanikin
had her daughter buried. She buried the girl beside the uncompleted building of
her late father, Pa Folorunso Titus Adanikin. The uncompleted building is in
Mosafejo area of Emure-Ekiti. If you go there now, you will discover that there
are two fresh graves there. One is for Pa Adanikin while the other is Abosede’s
grave.”
One of the children of Mrs. Adanikin, Abiodun, who also
spoke with the reporter, neither exonerated his mother nor accused her of
committing the act.
He told the reporter over the phone: “I would have preferred
to see you before we talk about this but I’m not available now. It is true that
members of our community, especially the neighbors in Idamodu area of
Emure-Ekiti where my mum lives with other members of our family, are alleging
that she killed our last born, late Miss. Abosede Adanikin, who until her
death, was a year three student of the Ikere College of Education. However,
since it didn’t happen in my presence, I cannot say that our mum killed the
girl. But I cannot also say that she didn’t do it. Where one is pushed to
suspect a foul play is that my mum and her sister, both of whom were said to be
with the Abosede during her travails, during the alleged confessions and her
reported mental derailment, suddenly disappeared the morning after they allegedly
buried the girl.
“Given such circumstances, I think my mum owes us all some
explanation, more so since the people alleged that she turned down the Oba’s
invitation to the palace during the alleged confessions of my sister.
“Right now, we don’t know where she is; we would have heard
from her what really happened that night, leading to the sudden death and hasty
burial of the girl.”
Meanwhile, a woman in the area, who described herself as a
relative of Mrs. Adanikin, said Abosede’s mum was incapable of killing her
daughter. Arguing that it was not just possible for a mother to snuff life out
of her own daughter, especially when the daughter was said to be mentally
disturbed and needing help, the woman said: “Aina (Mrs. Adanikin) is not
capable of hurting a fly, let alone killing her own daughter. Please don’t
believe what those people are saying. How is it possible for a mother who has
suffered so much to bring up a child as fully-grown as Abosede to find it easy
to kill her? It is not true. It is not also true that she killed her daughter
to prevent the girl from exposing their witchcraft as is being insinuated in
some quarters. And as to why the woman just disappeared the next morning after
the hasty burial of the deceased, she may just be afraid or too shocked and
ashamed to face the people after the embarrassment that the mental imbalance
displayed by the deceased has caused her. Anyone could do that. You needed to
be in this town when the deceased went gaga, saying all sorts of despicable
things against herself , her mum and the relatives. It had been a huge
embarrassment to us all and a big disgrace also.”
While several calls were made to Oba Adebayo, a former
commissioner of police, to get his reactions on the matter, were not picked, a
source close to him confirmed that he indeed, sent for Mrs. Adanikin and her
late daughter but was turned down. The source also said that the police would
soon be brought in to investigate Abosede’s death.
