By Bashir Adefaka

August 23, 2012, was like every other day for the Age’s family, with the first signal  of a better thing ahead commencing  with  Mr Suleiman Age’s announcement that he received an alert on his salary payment the precious day. In  demonstration of  his bubbling character, the staff of DLI section of University of Lagos,  reportedly   gave one of  his wives the sum of N5000 to prepare a sumptuous meal . But unknown to every member of the family, the unexpected loomed ahead.

The  sign of tragedy reared its ugly head after the family waited endlessly for their bread winner to come home and eat the evening meal without success.  Having waited till 9pm without any sight of Mr Suleiman, one of his wives, Salifat and one of their children reportedly  conducted a search round the vicinity where, to their greatest shock,  their 49-year-old bread winner’s lifeless body was discovered on Ajenifuja street in Bariga area of Lagos. Shock and disbelief would best describe the expression on their faces ,as the long silence was broken with wailings.

Residents of the area told Crime Alert that the deceased had gone to see a prophet on the street where he spent two hours. The Police said they are yet to unravel what transpired inside between him and the prophet. However, when the father of seven came out of the prophet’s apartment, he reportedly started bleeding  and slumped as he attempted to ride his motorcycle home. His body, as gathered, was left on the ground with some of the residents taking to their heels for fear of possible arrest.

*Late Suleiman and widow, Silifat

Explaining  the mission of Suleiman Age at the prophet’s house, his widow Silkifat said, “At about 6pm that fateful day, he rode straight to my shop from work to collect the keys to the house. But, I told him the children were at home. And on second thought, he said he was going to Woli Jagun’s place and that was the last I saw him.

“ One of his friends, uncle Bola , who  rented one of the shops owned by my late husband  had complained of bad sales , attributing it to the heap of rituals that was usually seen in front of the shops. It was this same uncle Bola that advised my husband to go to the prophet popularly called Woli Jagun, in order for him to carry out some spiritual cleansing in the shops.  And it was  Uncle Bola that  introduced my husband to the prophet. So, when he came back from work that evening,  he informed me he was going to see the prophet and we never saw him again.

My husband was hale and hearty that fateful day. Infact, he was not ill.  And there was  no premonition at all about the unfortunate incident.  As he was leaving home that morning,  he promised he would sort out other financial  responsibilities when he returned but he never did.”

How we discovered his body

After waiting endlessly for him to return home as promised, I decided to go to Uncle Bola’s house with one of our children  that night. From there, he gave me the prophet’s address . And  just two building to his house, my daughter said, ‘ mummy look at this, it is a human being covered with nylon and torn cartoon.

I muttered omase o(what a pity) with my attention on the prophet’s house. Almost immediately, my daughter shouted, “ah!mummy, it is daddy,” I rushed there , raised the nylon and discovered that it was my husband! My world went blank at that moment because I could not figure out how a man who left me barely four hours ago could be dead”, she stated. At this point, she burst into another round of tears with sympathizers consoling her.

She managed, amidst tears, to inform that she reported the case at the Bariga police division next day,consequent upon which the prophet was arrested.

Meanwhile, the Police said they had commenced investigation into the death of the late Suleiman. Currently, the prophet is being detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID),Yaba.

Police report delays burial

The family who blamed the police for the cause of the delay in the burial of late Suleiman, alleged that some of the operatives at the Homicide section demanded for the  sum of N50,000 which they claimed would be used to carryout the autopsy report on the deceased. This claim was however described as untrue by one of the operatives who pleaded anonymity, stating that such demand was tantamount to bribery which the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mohammed Abubakar frowns at.

Meanwhile, a woman who alleged that the deceased could have died as a result of injury he sustained from the prophet, has volunteered herself to the police. The witness who did not want her name mentioned in prints, claimed she heard a scuffle between the deceased and the suspect in the latter’s apartment, shortly before the former came out.