A 29-year-old electrical engineer, Biodun Fadipe was killed by hoodlums on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 while eating his lunch during a supremacy battle at Saduku road, Ilasamaja in Lagos.
Fadipe, who was a father of three children, was hacked to death in front of his workshop on Tanimowo Street, off Sadiku, by the hoodlums.
The men who were armed with guns, cutlass and other deadly weapons as reported held residents and visitors in the area hostage for two hours as they started fighting each other.
It was also gathered that shop owners and other traders in the area abandoned their goods while the fight lasted.
Punch reports:
Our correspondent gathered that the deceased, who was a father of three children, was attacked by the hoodlums in front of his workshop on Tanimowo Street, off Sadiku, where they hacked him to death.
During a visit to the area on Thursday morning, one of Fadipe’s elder brothers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the hoodlums killed his brother while he was taking his lunch.
He said, “Biodun was murdered in front of our father’s house. He worked as an electrical engineer there. He used to repair big-size generators. Yesterday (Wednesday) during the clash, the hoodlums took over the whole of Sadiku Road, from where they came into Tanimowo Street.
“They saw him while he was taking his lunch. They attacked him and as he made to escape into our father’s house, they followed him and hacked him till he died. There was no one around to challenge them as most people had fled to take cover in neighbouring areas. All of us came back to meet him in a pool of blood. He was a casualty of a supremacy war between two gangs of hoodlums.”
It was gathered that policemen from the Ilasamaja Police Division came on Thursday morning to take the corpse away from the scene of the attack.
Also, our correspondent observed a large crowd of residents discussing the incident. It was gathered from them that some of the hoodlums wore masks.
When our correspondent got to Fadipe’s rented apartment on Oremeji Street, the deceased’s wife and three children were said to have been taken to a safer area. However, a tenant who declined to give her name, said she received the news of Fadipe’s death with shock.
She said, “He and his wife were a loving family. The wife is still nursing his third child who is just six months old. As much as I know, he did not belong to any gang or cult. He was just a victim of circumstances.
“Yesterday when the clash started, I was around the area too because I sell drugs in a shop on Tanimowo Street. Everyone fled when the hoodlums started breaking bottles and stabbing one another. I think it might have been while he was escaping that they saw and attacked him. It is really sad.”
The Lagos State Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Lelma Kolle, while confirming the murder, said two hoodlums who carried out the act had been arrested and detained by the Ilasamaja Police Division. He added that normalcy had been restored in the area.
“There was a clash between two groups of hoodlums in the area. When the fighting started, the victim was pursued by three of the hoodlums. And while escaping to the other side of the road, they used matchets on his head. The suspects are now at the Ilasamaja Division and peace has been restored in the area.”
