An Osun State Permanent Secretary, Mrs Olufunke Oluwakemi Kolawole, who was murdered on the Okene-Abuja Road in Kogi State, on her way to Abuja last Thursday, was not actually killed by kidnappers.
Fresh facts have revealed that Kolawole might have been killed by suspected armed robbers.
Investigations by Sunday Sun indicated that the assailants, numbering about 10 attacked the permanent secretary, who was with a woman simply identified as Olori and her driver, Babaniyi Adesanmi, in a commando style. Once they forced the vehicle to stop, the hoodlums quickly pulled her out and immediately dealt fatal machete cuts on her with full intent to kill.
While Mrs Kolawole was being manhandled by her attackers, three of the hoodlums were busy ransacking her handbags in search of money and other valuables.
One of her personal assistants (name withheld) who visited LAUTECH Hospital Osogbo, where her driver, Adesanmi is recuperating, following the major injuries inflicted on him during the attack, gave a blow-by-blow account of what happened, as it was related to him by the late permanent secretary’s driver.
On the fateful day, the driver, the source said, had set out from Osogbo in the early hours to Abuja with his boss who was going to felicitate with a colleague (name withheld) who had just been promoted to a prominent position.
“When they got to the point where she was attacked, they suddenly heard a sound but thought it was the tyre of their vehicle that burst. It was when a vehicle blocked their own that they realized what they heard earlier was a gunshot. Time was about 10.00 am.
“Suddenly, heavily armed men, including a woman came out of a vehicle. It was the woman that first blocked the deceased’s car. Briskly the hoodlums bundled the deceased out of the car and whisked her into a nearby bush where they dealt several machete cuts on her,” the source said.
According to him, as soon as the driver saw blood gushing out of his boss’ body, he fainted. Yet, he too, was brutally attacked and hit severally with some dangerous weapons. Also attacked by the hoodlums was the woman in the car with them when the incident happened.
“The hoodlums made away with an undisclosed amount of money, mobile handsets and other valuable items,” he said.
Sunday Sun further learnt that some Osun State Government officials who were ahead of them during the trip, after getting a hint of the attack, made a U-turn and took the victims, including the deceased, to a hospital in Okene where Mrs Kolawole later gave up the ghost.
The driver and the other female victim (Olori) were later brought to LAUTECH Hospital Osogbo for treatment.
While the woman was discharged immediately, the driver is still recuperating.
The grief-stricken husband, Tunde Kolawole, told Sunday Sun at the family house that the corpse of his late wife was brought to Osogbo last Friday night in a government ambulance and now in the mortuary at LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, awaiting burial arrangements, which would soon be announced.
He commended the state government for its prompt response in rescuing the other two victims who were with his wife when she was attacked and for ensuring that the corpse arrived Osogbo without delay.
Kolawole, who is based in Lagos where he practices Law, shared painful memories of his last moments with his wife with Sunday Sun: “About three weeks ago, she sent a text message to me. I was in Lagos then. When I read the message, it said: ‘In case anything happens, please take care of the children. Make sure they are comfortable.’
“When I read the message, I thought it was her normal way of asking me to care for the children. I never suspected anything bad, neither did I imagine that anything was going to happen to her.”
Prodded if the deceased had any premonition of her death, he said: “I don’t think so. I don’t want to believe that she had a premonition of her death before sending that message to me. I only felt that it was her normal way of asking me to take care of the children.”
Expressing his opinion on how his wife lost her life, Mr. Kolawole said: “I can’t say whether they were kidnappers because the manner in which they attacked her showed that they were not kidnappers, but robbers because some of them searched her bags and made away with money, her handsets and other valuable items.”
On what he will miss the most about his wife, Kolawole said: “She was my backbone in all ramifications. She was a very close friend. She was not just a wife but like a mother to me. She was my counselor. She was intelligent, very hardworking and industrious. She added value to people that worked with her. She was very generous. She related with people freely. Without the huge help she gave me, it would have been difficult for me to achieve all that I have achieved. I will continue to miss her.” (Sunday Sun)
something is fishy and the driver knows something. I agree with Blackie.
The driver must be checked out more closely. Out of the three occupants of the vehicle on the fateful day it just happened that it was the deceased alone that was taken out and into the bush and to be dealt with with a killer blow of machete. How did the claimed robbers know who is who amongst the two women in the car. The driver is a man obviously so they could easily suspect that he is just a driver, so they didn’t have any use for him. But two nicely dressed women at the back of the vehicle, and the killers just happened to get lucky in picking out the Perm Sec, the actual driver’s boss. The one he the driver knows her official status, and possibly her financial status too. Foolish people, how much money could the woman possibly be having in her handbag to warrant this heinous crime. The driver ought to be questioned and questioned well.