2. WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG TO ISSUE A STATEMENT?
I. We kept quiet out of respect for the memory of the deceased.
II. We kept quiet out of shock.
III. We kept quiet out of consideration for the feelings of our daughter whose grief was compounded by the fact that she was taken into custody by the Police.
IV. We kept quiet out of the belief that the marriage produced two children (out of three confinements) who are still infants, and who deserve a better memory of a father they will grow up without knowing.
V. We also kept quiet out of the belief that we should not issue any statements in order not to prejudice Police investigations into the matter in any way.
3. WHO IS MRS. BUSAYO OLAFARE (NEE TAIWO)?
Busayo is the first child of the family, she is thirty-one years old, has three siblings - an immediate younger brother and a pair of twins one male and the other female. She is a double graduate of Accountancy of the Yaba College of Technology and the University of Lagos. She holds a Higher National Diploma and Bachelors Degree respectively of the two top higher institutions in Lagos. She works in one of the top financial institutions in Lagos. Raised in a solid Christian home, her passion for God is not in question, and as said earlier, she has two children, who are infants, a male and female, with her late husband.
4. WAS SEUN’S FAMILY IMMEDIATELY INFORMED OF HIS SUICIDE?
On getting to the late Seun and Busayo’s residence, we asked if his family had been informed, and the neighbours confirmed that Seun’s family had been informed of his death. Specifically, we were told that his father had been informed but that he said he did not believe them, and that they couldn’t be talking about his son. Right there in our presence, his father was called again severally without any positive response from him. Whilst we appreciate that shock could have made him act strangely - he was obviously in a state of denial - it is certainly not true that he was not informed of Seun’s death! He was informed immediately it happened!
5. WAS SEUN’S CORPSE REALLY TAKEN TO THE MORGUE WITHOUT HIS FAMILY’S “CONSENT”?
The neighbours who helped to rush him to the hospital were the ones who took his body from the hospital where he died to the mortuary at Gbagada General Hospital, which was the sensible thing to do. It is a fact that he did not die in the house; that was why he was rushed to the hospital in the first place. The neighbours were with the corpse in the mortuary premises all this while; the body was in the vehicle that took it there and had not yet been deposited in the morgue.
Back in the house, Busayo and members of our family waited for Seun’s family who did not show up, to the extent that the neighbours who were with his body started fretting and calling for members of the family to come to the mortuary to take possession of his body. Their landlord came back from the mortuary, and being an old man needed to rest and take his drugs, he did all this in the house, and still held on to the death certificate without which the body cannot be accepted in the mortuary. We waited and waited but no one from his family showed up. As time wore on, ambient temperature was rising and everyone started worrying that the body by now ought to have been deposited in the morgue, still not one of his family members had shown up.
Finally, we all moved to the mortuary where we were told that there was no longer space for the body. Their neighbours naturally were no longer prepared to go further and insisted that the body be transferred to another vehicle. One of Seun’s friends offered his car and we all made our way to the Mainland Hospital Yaba. Even here we waited for members of his family to show up. The body was not brought down from the car though we were not comfortable with the rising temperature. Finally, we heard that members of his family were on the way, and when they arrived, they saw the body which was still in the car that took it to the mortuary. After the protocols for admitting the body was completed, one of Seun’s siblings, Babalola, signed the papers to admit his corpse to the morgue. Seun’s father and a host of his family members and friends were present in or around the morgue!
6. DID BUSAYO TRY TO RUN AWAY?
Nothing could be more ridiculous than suggesting that she tried to run away! After leaving the mortuary, knowing that suicide is reportable, she was accompanied by her uncle, siblings and other members of her family to voluntarily report the incident at the Oworonsoki Police Station. We made it clear to the Police that we were taking her to our family house, the address and phone numbers were supplied.
It was AFTER reporting at the Police Station that we went back to the house to pick her clothes and some of the things needed by her infant children. This is because she and her children had nothing else except what they were wearing. Being bereaved in such a sudden and tragic manner, it was inconceivable to leave her alone in their rented apartment, with two infants, (one barely a year old and the other just over two years old). Considering the emotional trauma she was going through, it was more convenient to take her away to her family house. Objective members of the public should ask themselves whether it would make sense to leave her alone in her state of mind.
As we write, Busayo is in her third week in Police custody instead of mourning her husband; her two infant children who have lost their father are now being denied of motherly comfort and love.
Where would Busayo have run to? She has a career job and two infant children. Her maternal and paternal family houses are both located in Somolu, and it was one of these addresses that was given to the Police at Oworonsoki. Suggesting that she would run away is suggesting that her whole family, her uncles and aunts and their families who live in that house would run away.
CONCLUSION
1. The family stands by Busayo’s story and we have no reasons whatsoever to doubt her.
2. Busayo did not attempt to escape and will not under any circumstances do so as there is no reason to do so.
3. We are waiting for the Police to conclude their investigations as quickly as possible.
4. We will take any and all steps necessary to protect her rights and interests, and those of her infant children.
5. We thank everyone who has stood by us and Busayo all this while and we know that by the Grace of God, this storm will blow over. This is a dark period in our daughter’s life; we know it will be morning yet.
6. We pray for the repose of Seun’s soul and plead with almighty God to forgive him his sins and grant him eternal grace.
7. It is well with his soul, it is well with us all!
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