SIMON EBEGBULEM,  Benin City
The sleepy community of Ogute in Emai clan, Afuze, in Owan East Local Government Council of Edo state, was thrown into confusion last December 16, 2011, when 22 year-old Oyibo Eruanga, a Junior Secondary School (JSS) student at Evbiamen Grammar School Ogute, was found dead along a farm junction at Ogute farm road, Afuze.

The sad incident was shocking, particularly with the fact that the lad was a calm humble virgin loved by majority of members of the community. There were several insinuations as regards the cause of death. Being a known virgin in that community, it was speculated that he must have been used for ritual purposes, after it was discovered that some parts of his body were missing when the body was found.

Deceased son, mother and father

The controversy surrounding the death of Oyibo still lingers as members of the family point accusing fingers at the Secretary of the Edo State Local Government Service Commission, Pastor Patrick Esamah. A family source narrated to Saturday Vanguard that, “Timothy Odion Eruaga, a first cousin to Oyibo Odion Eruaga, the deceased, came to Ogute to invite Oyibo to Afuze for the weekend, that they should look for money for the Christmas celebration. This was on the 16th of December 2011. Reluctantly, the father, Mr Kennedy Igbafe Eruaga, allowed his son Oyibo, to follow Timothy to Afuze. They played around Esamah’s house, who is currently the secretary of the Local Government Service Commission, Edo state. He is also the Pastor and Founder, Church of God Mission, Modern Parish, Afuze . So when he got there on Sunday, Oyibo went to the service. After closing, he went to Esamah’s place where he was given a plate of rice to eat.

“Then, in the evening of that same day, Timothy and Oyibo went back to beg for alms in Esamah’s house. As soon as they got to the gate at about 7pm, on the 18th of December, a Sunday, Esamah came out of his house with two of his boys and accosted Timothy and Oyibo . They started  to beat Oyibo because Timothy hid beside the fence while they caught Oyibo. Timothy heard when Esamah asked his boys to come and take the boy away and interrogate him. By 8pm, the same boys drove in a Mercedes Benz 190 belonging to Esamah to the residence of Timothy whose parents live close to INEC office in Afuze, “the source said..

Continuing, the family memebrs explained that the boys asked the mother about Timothy and she said the son had gone out. She said she heard somebody shouting “enter the car, enter the car”, that night and that person must have been Oyibo. Then, that same night at about10pm, they attempted to dump the body by the junction at Emein, opposite St James Grammar School, Afuze. They were spotted by the Vigilante people who flashed their torch lights but the vehicle zoomed off towards Emein direction. Then the following day, people saw the body of Timothy along the farm junction at Ogute farm road. The police now took the corpse and deposited it at Uwani Medical Center where the information got to the father, Kennedy to come and identify the body of his son.

The body was found to have several deep cuts arising from stabs from knives and bottles with a deep slice on the neck. So, Esama was invited by the Police for questioning while Timothy was taken into custody. It was Timothy  that narrated that it was in the house of Esama that Oyibo was killed. When Esama was contacted, he was said to have lied that he was in Lagos attending a workshop.  A member of the vigilante went to his house to effect his arrest by forcing him to go to the police station. On getting to the DPO, he was asked to proceed to the Area Command’s office in Auchi because they did not know what Esama’s boys would do to the crown witness. It was there that Esama admitted that he saw the boys but that he did not intend to kill the boy. He said he told his boys to interrogate him and that he did not know that the boy had died.

Saturday Vanguard learnt that that matter was later transferred from Area Command, Auchi, to the state Police Command for further investigation. But the incident took another twist when 77 year- old father of the deceased, Pa Kennedy, declared he had no intention of continuing with the case due to lack of money. This was to the chagrin of family members and even members of the entire community who are still pained with the death of Oyibo. A family source further narrated to Saturday Vanguard why Pa Kennedy decided to make a u-turn.

“What happened was that they secretly met the father of the deceased and he accepted the sum of N1. 2 million and they asked him to write a report that he does not want any case, that he is a poor man and therefore he may not be able to further pursue the case.”

Consequently, Saturday Vanguard learnt, Pa Kennedy obtained a sworn affidavit at the High Court in Afuze, declaring that he is no longer interested in investigating the suspect, Esama or any person over his son’s death. Following his Affidavit, Esama was released on bail by the Area Commander’s office on the 23th of December which elicited wild jubilation at his church in Afuze.

But some concerned indigenes of the area who were not impressed with the way the man of God was set free, petitioned the State Police Command to further investigate the case. But to the chagrin of the family members, Pa Kennedy proceeded to the Police Command to inform them that he did not want to pursue the case any further, and that his deceased son had a mental problem and therefore, his death was natural. That was how the matter was closed at the State CID. It was at this point that the family believed that Pa Kennedy must have been induced financially. Therefore, they ran to the mortuary and left strict instruction that the corpse of Oyibo must not be released to anybody for burial without the instruction of the larger family.

They further ostracized Pa Kennedy from the community for his alleged conspiracy in the murder of his own son. But shockingly, on Thursday, February 2nd,   2012, in company of some policemen, Pa Kennedy arrived his compound at about 10am, after all the family members had gone to their farms and businesses, dug a grave behind his compound and buried the corpse quietly. The secret burial forced the about-60 year-old mother of the deceased to move out of her matrimonial home and back to her family people at lluleha village.

However, reacting swiftly, Pastor Esama absolved himself of any involvement in the death of Oyibo, asserting that his accusers are only bent on destroying his name and that of his church which he described as fast growing in Afuze. According to him,  “The people making all these allegations are just interested in destroying the work of God in Afuze because since I came to the town, we have won a lot of souls. You see, majority of these  people are into different cult groups.  From the account of Timothy who was with the deceased, at the Police station in Auchi, he said they came to the church for prayers, while in another twist, they claimed they left their village to Afuze to look for contract. Timothy from his own account at the Police station said he didn’t follow Oyibo to my Church because he worships with Jehovah Witness.

“The actual fact was that I tried to call the Police when I heard strange noise around my house because there have been several robbery incidents in my house. But there was network problem. That was when I knew they were the ones who probably came to my house.  Because of my inability to make calls, I had to raise an alarm that night.  From the statement the boy made at the police station, I was vindicated and asked to go while the police continue with their investigation.

“Even the homicide people came and when they saw the distance between my house and where they found the body of Oyibo, I was let go. Some of these people are just looking for ways to blackmail my person. The target is to destroy the church and the work I do. I am a Benin man and my reputation is larger than what they can destroy. They are just envious that a Benin man in Afuze is making an impact. We have come to free the people from the grip of cultism. We have a youth football competition by the church aimed at engaging these youths. We have won competitions in Ghana. I also have an NGO training youths. So how come will I be involved in such wicked act?”

On the allegation that he gave the deceased father N1.2 million to withdraw the case from the Police, he said the allegation was spurious and baseless.  “That again is complete lie. The father of the boy is still alive. Why should I do that when am not guilty of anything. All these things are framed up to tarnish my reputation. I don’t even know the boy. What I just told you were the account Timothy narrated to the police. I don’t have such money to give to anybody because am a civil servant and I don’t have a hand in the death of anybody. I want to say here that they know those who killed the boy. They just want to use my matter to cover up their heinous crime, and sensationalize it so that people will not come to the Church and destroy my reputation.”

However, Saturday Vanguard observed that Pa Kennedy  has since fled the community after the secret burial of his son. Saturday Vanguard visited his residence thrice and met the aged mother and his first wife, who informed our reporter through an interpreter that, “we have not seen him for over three days now. We don’t know his whereabouts.” It was learnt that the duo had informed the fleeing Pa Kennedy to return whatever blood money he collected in order not to face the wrath of the gods and that of the family members. However, members of the family appealed that the matter be investigated seriously because “Oyibo was just an innocent boy in this community and he cannot just die like that. The people who killed him felt he was from a poor home and nobody would ask questions. But we appeal to all relevant authorities to investigate the matter and deal appropriately with those involved.”