By Esther Onyegbula

Barely two months after her husband Rafiu Suleiman, was allegedly murdered by an Islamic cleric called Alfa Fathia in Magbon community along Lagos /Badagry express-way, the reality of losing her husband is gradually dawning on Titilope Suileman and her little children. In a chat with Crime Guard recently, the 38-year-old mother of six recounted the events that led to the discovery of her late husband’s body after five days of waiting for him to return back to his family from work.

DEPATURE FROM HOME

According to Iya Yusulf as she is fondly called, “My husband was a crane operator who worked in Lagos. Because of the traffic, he usually went to work very early in the morning and came back late. The last time I saw him was on a Friday morning before he left home for work.

Later in the afternoon, I called him to know how his work was going and he said all was well. Little did I know that it would be the last time I would hear his voice again. As usual, I waited for him to come back till about 11 pm when I slept off in the sitting room. I called his number, it wasn’t going through.

FRANTIC SEARCH BEGINS

At about 4 am on Saturday morning when I woke up, I noticed that my husband was still not back from work. I went inside the room to check him, and he was nowhere to be found.

I kept trying to reach him on his phone but it was switched off. At this time, I had become very worried but I never for once thought any evil had befallen him. Later in the morning, I saw one of his apprentices called Turheeb. I thought my husband sent him to me because he didn’t give us money for feeding and housekeeping before leaving the house on Friday morning.

CALLS MADE TO FRIENDS

Unknown to me, they had not seen him since he hurriedly left his workplace on Friday evening. Turheeb told me they were trying to reach my husband but his phone was switched off. He was shocked when I told him I had not seen him Friday morning.

MYSTERIOUS BANK ACCOUNT

While we were contemplating on the next line of action, Turheeb asked if I noticed that my husband was becoming lean. I told him that it could be because of the strenuous nature of his job. He went further and showed me details of a UBA account owned by an Alfa in his phone. He said his boss (my husband) always sent him to deposit money into that account.

After he described the Alfa, I realised my husband introduced him and two other men to me during my baby’s naming ceremony about a year and ten months ago. I then remembered that all the financial problems we started having started after the birth of my last child Malik. I can count the few number of times he had given us money for upkeep and feeding for the family.

All he kept saying was that there was no work, that business had been down. The most painful aspect was that he kept borrowing from people, telling them different stories. Some, he told that he needed money to take care of his child in the hospital which was not true. He collected N130, 000 from my mother which he promised to pay.

IN-LAWS INTERVENTION

Later, my brother in-laws whom I notified of his disappearance arrived. We also went to the Police station to report the incident. From Turheeb’s description, we decided to trace Alfa Fatai Aderomu’s house in Magbon through the help of some commercial cyclists at Magbon bus stop. We were able to get his phone number.

We called him and he came to Magbon bus stop to meet us. We asked him if he saw my husband. He said that the last time he heard from him was five days ago when they spoke on phone. But Turheeb said that was a lie because while they were at work, the Alfa Fatai called my husband twice by 5pm and 7pm.

This was part of the things that made me suspect that Alfa knew something about my husband’s where about. We asked some of the commercial motorcyclists in the community. They said they saw him that Friday morning while he was going to work and also while he was returning. They said he was searching for someone to give him N5000, that he was going to see an Alfa in Magbon.

MISSING HUBBY APPEARS IN DREAM

On Sunday night/ Monday morning, I saw my husband in the dream. He asked me to forgive him and I told him that I had already forgiven him. From then onward, each time I tried to sleep, it would be as if someone was speaking into my ears. On Sunday morning, the Alfa came to our house at Mowo and asked if I had seen my husband and I said no.

He said maybe he travelled for an outside job, that I should not worry, that he would return. Later, my husband’s relatives decided that we should go to Alfa’s house but because we didn’t know the exact address, we had to lure him to the bus stop through a phone call. When he came, we took him to the police station where they took his statement before he was arrested.

AT THE POLICE STATION

The next day, I went to the station to see the Alfa and I pleaded with him that if he knew the whereabouts of my husband, he should let me know. He denied knowledge of the whereabouts of my husband and kept on saying that he was innocent of the accusation against him. I almost bought his story of innocence but something kept telling me that he was not sincere. I went home, cried not knowing what to do next or how to go about locating my missing husband.

THREATS FROM IN-LAWS

At this stage, my in-laws were already threatening me to produce their son even when it was obvious I knew nothing about his whereabouts and was still as confused as they were. On Monday, the police said I should go and get photograph of my husband as they would transfer the case to State Criminal Investigations Department, Panti, for further investigation.

On our way back home, I decided to go back to Alfa’s Fathia’s house because I had this strong feeling in my spirit. I went there with my brother in-law and my husband’s apprentice. On our way, close to his house, I began to feel very feverish. I could not walk. I began to pray till I was able to get hold of myself. When we got to his compound, I pretended as if I came to see the Alfa over a problem.

Interestingly, the unsuspecting wife of the Alfa told me that the husband has been arrested because one useless woman had accused him over a crime he knew nothing about. She did not know that I was the woman whose husband was missing.

While she was explaining to me why her husband was arrested, she kept cursing and swearing that it will not be well with the woman who got the husband arrested. She assured me that the husband will soon be released because he knew nothing about the crime.

STRANGE REVELATIONS, DISCOVERY

After that, she excused herself saying she wanted to buy something from the market. When she left, I began to question her daughter, Amina and she revealed a lot concerning the father’s shady deals before the mother returned. With all she said, I became convinced that Alfa knew something about my husband’s whereabouts.

While all these were going on, my in-laws and the apprentice with me were busy searching the bushes around the area. Later, they discovered something that looked like headless body of a man abandoned in a pond some meters away from Alfa’s compound.

When they checked further, they realised it was the remains of my husband. They cleverly hid it from me and advised that I go back home. It was on Tuesday that family members broke the news to me.

Further investigations showed that the Alfa deleted my husband’s number from his phone and the call logs in his phones to avoid any trace while investigation was on-going. He put my husband under a spell and kept on manipulating him. That was why he became his slave, working and giving him all he earned.

As if that was not enough, he made me to keep on collecting loans from people and channeling them to him. The Alfa later admitted collecting monies from him. I am happy that at long last, we have been able to find out the truth. While police is still going ahead with their investigations, I am appealing to the government to help me with the children’s education because they are still very young with the eldest, 17 and the youngest a year and ten months old.”

The man was said to have died after the Alfa gave him a concoction to drink. It was meant to help empower him in many ways but he collapsed and died and the Alfa, with the help of another Alfa deposited his body in the pond. They had cut off his head and smeared his body before they dumped him.