Mrs Olusola Jejelowo is the wife of the Ekiti director, Mr. David Jejelowo, who was shot dead by assailants in his living room in Ado Ekiti. In this interview with ABIODUN NEJO, she recalls the ordeals her husband went through in life as she calls for justice
What kind of person was your husband?
He was Prince David Jejelowo. He was from Eda Ile in the Ekiti East Local Government Area. We got married around 1994. We have three boys. He was a lover of peace. He was never a politician or a businessman. He was a good father.
He was very affectionate and I never saw him fight anyone. Even if anybody picked a quarrel with him, he would ignore the person and even sue for peace.
How did the incident happen?
The incident happened between 9pm and 10pm on Sunday, September 13, 2020, while we were watching the Newsline programme on the Nigerian Television Authority in the sitting room here. We had the window blinds closed. It was when the network news was about concluding that I noticed vibration on the window and not knowing that the person was tearing the net to enable him draw the blinds so that he could see us.
The moment I noticed that, I said, ‘Daddy, look at…’ and he was saying ‘Who is that? Who are you?’ So, the person replied with a gunshot and I ran. The person aimed at me. The bullets hit the wall at the entrance. Daddy was still wondering. The gunshots went on repeatedly and daddy was pinned to the corner. It was even this morning (Thursday) that we washed the blood stains. It was the Catholic Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, Felix Ajakaiye, who advised us when he came yesterday that we should clean the blood. We left the blood there for everybody to see. Our gate was locked that night and daddy even went to inspect it. The children usually locked the gate, and before retiring to the bedroom, daddy would go round the compound to make sure that everything was intact. That had been done before the incident. I didn’t see the assailant; the only thing I saw was a dark image.
After it happened, I started crying for help and shouting that robbers were in the house. Blood was oozing out of daddy. It was then that the children, who were woken by the gunshots, ran to their father with a view to rescuing him. They pulled him and rushed him to hospital. It was on the way that he passed away and the body was deposited in the mortuary.
Did you get help when you called for it?
When we called for help, nobody came out. My children had taken their father down to the hospital before I started seeing people coming around.
What of the police?
After depositing his corpse in the morgue, the people, who came to me and later drove to the hospital to join my children, went to the Odo Ado Police Division on their way back from the hospital. They said they wrote a statement. We did not see any policeman, even on Monday and Tuesday. It was yesterday (Wednesday) after the bishop’s visit that three policemen came. When the bishop came, we were able to recover some bullets. He said he would go by himself to the police station. So, when the policemen came, they greeted me and said they were sent to the house to be with me. When they were leaving in the evening, they greeted me that another set would come, but I have not seen any other set of policemen.
When the sympathisers went to the Odo Ado Police Division, they reported the incident, but no policeman followed them to this place that night. We didn’t see any patrol team; there was no security of any kind except people in our environment.
