•Accused clears Facebook account pictures
Heated tempers rose yesterday at the premises of the Iyaganku Chief
Magistrate’s Court, Ibadan, Oyo State capital, when a sympathiser of the
family of Yewande Oyediran, nee Fatoki, who allegedly murdered her
husband, Lowo Oyediran. There were verbal attacks at Lowo’s elder
brother, Adelani Oyediran, who furiously attempted to engage him in
physical combat.
But for frantic intervention from some family members of the deceased
who pacified their brother, and reprimanded the provocator, hell would
have been let loose. Some other irate supporters also made move to
attack the man, whose identity was not known.
The sympathisers had besieged the court premises to witness the
arraignment of the accused staff of the Directorate of Public
Prosecution (DPP) in the Oyo State Ministry of Justice. She was
allegedly to have stabbed her husband to death following a domestic
issue of extra-marital relationship with another woman.
Charged before Chief Magistrate Kehinde Durosaro-Tijani of Court 1 on
a onecount charge of murder, Yewande was ordered to be remanded in
Agodi Prison till February 16. The man sympathising with the Fatoki
family who was averse to Lowo’s family members’ taking the photographs,
openly abused Lowo’s elder brother, calling him an idiot. In annoyance,
some unprintable curses were rained on the man while some people shield
and later escorted him towards the other side of the court premises.
Photo journalists, who also had strategically positioned themselves
to take Yewande’s photos as soon as he was led out to mount the Black
Maria, were reprimanded by some of her friends who accused them of
meddlesomeness. Temper rose in the presence of the armed Prison Warders
waiting to convey the accused person away.But, everyone was outsmarted
when some personal belongings of the accused were put in the Black Maria
and the vehicle zoomed off.
Many were disappointed when they later discovered that Yewande had
been ferried out through the back door into a smaller car that drove her
away. Saturday Telegraph gathered that she was driven out in a
blue-coloured Primera car said to be owned by a lawyer.
The angered Lowo family members’ left in annoyance, when they
realised they could not get her photographed. The accused person who
looked so forlorn in the dock could not be represented by counsel from
the justice ministry because the case was itself against the State.
She was, instead, represented members of the Nigerian Bar Association
(NBA), Ibadan branch, led by its immediate past Chairman, Abimbola
Oluwaseun. Yewande who was married to the deceased three years ago was
not blessed with any child.
His late husband was however discovered to have married another lady
in France where he was residing and had got a baby boy through her. The
discovery was said to have angered the accused person leading to fight
in the night of the fateful day.
Lowo was said to have been stabbed on the shoulder and back with a
pair of scissors about 3a.m and treated at a close by hospital. On
return to the house, it was gathered that the landlord of the rented
house pleaded for calm and everybody later went to sleep.
By 6.10am, Lowo’s loud scream was heard as he ran to the landlord’s
apartment crying for help. He had been stabbed on the neck with a knife.
He was rushed to the same nearby hospital but the doctor had to refer
him to Adeoyo State Hospital.
He died later at the hospital having lost much blood. Speaking with
Saturday Telegraph after the court sitting, some lawyers expressed
dismay at the development. Bakare said: “I have always known Miss Fatoki
as a gentle and amiable person, dedicated to her job.”
Similarly, Senator Olaniyan said: “It is quite unfortunate that we
have found ourselves in this ugly atmosphere. “This young lady who is
alleged of murder is somebody that has a kind of high regard for due
process of the law, and her stand in this regard is very impeccable.
“What could have led her into this, I don’t know. “As an Attorney,
there is little I can say about it now so that whatever I say may not
amount to subjudice because the matter is pending in a court of law.
“But, in respect of her character, she is somebody that has good
character before this incident arose.
“I don’t know what could have led her into this. Maybe it could be
spiritual or borne out of emotional trauma. “It is only God that knows
about it. But strictly speaking, I was taken aback when I heard this
because she is the last person I could have thought could have taken law
into her own hand .
However, many believe this is going to be a test case for the
judiciary and the NBA. So, the members of the public are watching to see
where the pendulum of justice will swing to. For now, nobody can say
anything because nobody can have access to the character of the evidence
for and against this matter.
“Let us keep our fingers crossed and see where the pendulum will
swing at the end of the day. “More so, she is still presumed innocent of
the allegation until proven guilty , and there is no law that precludes
High Court from granting her bail. “The law is crystal clear in Section
118 (1, 2, 3) of the Criminal Procedure Law of who can admit an
applicant to bail in murder-related case.
“For now, the case is a three-way traffic type as one Justice of the
Supreme Court said: Justice to the accused; justice to the party of the
accused, and justice to the society at large,” Olaniyan submitted.
Saturday Telegraph checks through their social media network to gather
reactions revealed that none of the embattled partners was still active
on the cyberspace.
But worthy of mention is the fact that Yewande’s Facebook page had
been recently tampered with. Over 12 photographs she had in her Facebook
album had all been deleted for undisclosed reasons. Though her profile
picture remains intact, the sight of the copious text occupying her
‘cover picture’ space, “When we first met, I had no idea you would be
this important to me”, suggests emotion towards none other than her late
husband.
The deceased’s few Facebook photographs are still in his album, but
interestingly, not a single photograph had both of them together. Head
of Ajanaku Family, Mr. Adelani Oyediran, told journalists in Gbongan, in
Ayedaade Local Government Area of Osun State yesterday that Lowo’s
wife, Yewande, 36, allegedly stabbed her husband with scissors in the
back and shoulder at 12 midnight earlier on Tuesday before she
purportedly stabbed him with a knife in the neck about 3:00a.m. the
morning after which eventually led to his death.
“We believe that the police will do a thorough job and the case will
get to court. “We believe in the judiciary. But, we have fear that some
people may want to manipulate some things because the accused is a
lawyer and she works with the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) in
Oyo State Ministry of Justice.
“All the family wants is justice in this case. We don’t want any game
at all. We don’t want justice to be perverted,” he said Lowo and
Yewande, he stated, got married on February 9, 2013 at the Cathedral of
St Peters’ Aremo, Ibadan. He said Lowo travelled to France in 2006 and
did not come back to Nigeria until 2013 when he got married.
He further explained that Lowo contacted him in 2012 that he wanted a
responsible Nigerian lady to marry and Yewande was introduced to the
family by her younger sister, who got married to a native of Gbongan
based in the United State. His family, he said, arranged for how Lowo
and Yewande met in Dubai before they decided to get married.
Reacting to the incident, clinical psychologist, Dr. Richard Adebayo,
said it was possible that Yewande is an introvert, one that doesn’t
talk much or complain. He stresses that when quiet people finally speak
they usually do so abnormally. But, according to him, it would be a
different scenario when you are dealing with one that doesn’t tolerate
nonsense or one that often speaks out when he or she doesn’t like a
gesture.
“When you are relating with someone who expresses her or his mind,
who does not have any stomach to bottle up things, you would always
watch your limit or thread carefully.” For a sociologist, Dr. Oludayo
Tade, there is peculiarity in any situation. He admitted that it would
be inappropriate to make judgment since he wasn’t close to the couple.
“But no matter how gentle we are as humans we can be reactionary
sometimes. “It could be a kind of psychological defect at that time. We
are in Africa; we can’t rule out that too. “There may be a remote
control of the sense; I believe so much in that because of my personal
experience, though I know many people don’t believe.
“It might also be that the husband had done something to her that actually infiltrated the woman.”
