A 53-year-old Olalekan Okeowo has been stabbed to death in an uncompleted building at Salvation Estate in the Owode community, Ajah area of Lagos State.

The deceased left behind seven children, including a seven-month-old set of twins.

PUNCH Metro gathered that the incident occurred around 1am on Sunday when the victim was asleep.

It was learnt that Okeowo, who engaged in menial jobs, returned home on Saturday night, had his meal and went to bed.

Tragedy, however, struck when a yet-to-be-identified assailant made his way into the building at midnight and stabbed him to death.

The deceased’s wife, Titilayo, who is nursing seven-month-old twins, said she heard her husband begging for his life when she woke up.

She said “We moved into the uncompleted building about 15 years ago and we covered one of the rooms where we sleep in the night but my husband does not sleep in the same room with us. He used to sleep in the other room which is more like a sitting room where he placed a bed with a mosquito net. He was outside on Saturday evening and he came in around 11pm.”

“When I stepped out of the room to check on him, I saw him eating. He later went to bed after his meal. We were asleep when I heard his voice saying, ‘Please don’t kill me.’ That was how I quickly rushed out of the room.”

“My first son who got to the room before me said he saw the shadow of someone exiting the entrance of the building. But when I saw my husband, he was already in a pool of blood. I quickly reached out to two young men who live close to our building to assist me. They also called someone who helped us with his car.”

Titilayo said her late husband was rejected in the first hospital they took him to before he was later taken to the Lagos Island General Hospital.

“When we got there, workers on duty said there was no bed space. At that point, my husband was telling us not to allow him to die. It was later that they provided a bed and started to treat him. It was around 3am that he died,” she said.

Forty-one-year-old Titilayo said her husband was preparing to secure another apartment before the incident happened.

According to her, the owner of the building had called to inform them that he was ready to sell the property.

She said, “On Thursday, April 27, the agent in charge of the building sent someone to inform him about the owner’s decision. He said my husband was given two weeks to leave. On the third day, the owner of the house called my husband and told him his intention and asked him to secure another apartment.”

“But he told the man that he needed some money before vacating the place. The man asked him to send his account number so that he can send the money to him. He was expecting the money when the incident happened. Now that my husband is dead, I don’t know how I am going to take care of our seven children.”

The corpse of the deceased had since been deposited in the mortuary while the premises of the building were besieged by sympathisers on Monday.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the incident.

“He was killed in front of his house. An investigation is ongoing at the SCID,” he said.

@ Punch Newspaper