22-year-old okada man commits suicide
A22-year-old commercial motorcycle operator, Ayuba Sarafa, yesterday hanged himself in an uncompleted building beside his uncle’s house at Amuloko area of Olorunsogo in the Ona Ara Local Government Area of Ibadan in Oyo State.
Ayuba was said to be the only son of his late father. His mother, Nike, who travelled to Ibadan from Owu in Ogun State, where she remarried, wept uncontrollably, claiming that her son was killed by some “evil forces”.
His uncle, Kazeem Tijani, said since Ayuba went to work on Thursday morning, he didn’t see him till he went to sleep at night.
According to him, the whereabouts of Ayuba was not known until yesterday when he called to ascertain his state. A woman was said to have traced the tone of Ayuba’s mobile phone to the uncompleted building where he was found hanging. The phone was in his pocket.
Two black plastic bags were seen on the ground with his pair of sandals also flung there.
Asked what he felt could have caused Ayuba’s death, his uncle, a native of Apomu in the Isokan Local Government Area of Osun State, whose business is sale of scraps, said: “Ayuba got the motorcycle on hire purchase and he was paying the installments adequately. He was my brother’s son. He was not indebted to anyone and he was not starving at all. He was not married. He had been living with me for the past two to three years. He was working with me before he got the okada. He was initially a tailor and was doing fine. We have searched his room but we could not find any note that he could have left, though we could not search his body. I have called our relations in Apomu, they are on their way”.
Speaking with the Chairman of the Okada Riders Association at Amuloko where Ayuba was a member, Mr. Oluwatosin James described Ayuba as a very cool and easy-going man.
“The news of Ayuba’s death came to us as a rude shock. It was this morning that we heard of the news at the park. He was very reticent and would not fight anybody. Once he did his okada business in the morning, he would go and park and go to his uncle’s shop to assist him. There was no issue of threat to him from the person who gave him the okada. In fact, the person was like a brother to him. So, we are confounded over this incident”, he said.
At the time of filing this report, the body of Ayuba was still dangling as traditional worshippers were making arrangements to bring it down for a sacrifice to be performed to according to them, prevent pestilence in the community.
A police officer from Akanran Division was making a documentation on the incident before burial. Landlords in the area were stunned and many of them were short of words.