How are you related to the late Oluwafemi Adeyemo?
Oluwafemi was my brother-in-law. He was my wife’s immediate younger brother. Their parents gave birth to three of them — two women, and he was the last child. The first child is Mr Joelson’s wife.
Mr Joelson is my brother-in-law who lives in Lagos. He, alongside me, played an active role in finding Oluwafemi when we first received the news that he was declared missing before he was eventually found dead.
What kind of person was he?
Oluwafemi was a nice guy to all of us. He was calm, loving, and kind. He was also industrious and respectful. Oluwafemi was a complete gentleman. He was passionate about the peace and the success of everyone in the family.
Whenever he came from school during the holiday, all we discussed was football because he was an Arsenal fan. We were like friends and brothers since I came to their family to marry his sister.
He was not only my friend. He behaved well to Mr Joelson, too. I realised it was because of his love for his sisters that he loved his brothers-in-law. We respected him a lot because he was an easy-going and peace-loving young man.
His sisters took him very seriously. He was someone who did not like to disturb another person. He was just a great guy. He could inconvenience himself to please others.
What was his occupation?
He was studying Quantity Surveying at the University of Jos before his untimely death.
What do you know about his dreams?
He and his sisters had a tough upbringing. Things were not really rosy for them, and that was why anytime he came home, he would also go to work at a printing press in Mushin. He grew up there.
He liked going there. He even thought he might have his own printing press one day. That was another reason one would describe him as a very industrious person. He didn’t like to depend on anyone.
When did he gain admission to school?
He gained admission to study Quantity Surveying at UNIJOS in 2019. He was in 500-Level. That was his final year, for God’s sake. He was writing his final papers. He was only 29 when he died in Jos.
How did he die?
It all began on April 1, 2026. Mr Joelson’s wife called. I’m talking about Oluwafemi’s eldest sister. She told me how she had tried to reach him on the phone but couldn’t. She alerted me that there was a crisis in Jos because I stayed in Abuja.
I guess she heard about it. She told me that I should not let my wife know about it. She did not want anything to affect her health. My wife was heavily pregnant. In fact, when the whole thing happened, and she got to know, we almost lost our baby.
After I heard about the crisis in Jos, I tried calling Oluwafemi’s phone numbers, but they were not reachable. I even searched his other number from my wife’s phone without letting her know.
After a while, my wife, whom we were hiding the information from, was the person who saw on social media that there was violence in her brother’s school. She saw a publication on X where Oluwafemi was declared missing. It was at that moment that we told her.
What happened when she knew?
When she ran to me in the sitting room to tell me that her brother was missing, I first sat her down. I didn’t need to hide anything from her. I told her we knew about it not too long ago. Everyone in the family – Mr Joelson, his wife, my wife, and I — started making efforts to find him.
We got his classmate and friend’s phone number and called him. His friend’s name is Mohammed. It was his friend who further let us know a bit of what happened.
What did his friend tell you?
They were preparing for examinations. So, Mohammed said he went to read in the night, so when he slept and woke up the next morning, he had missed Oluwafemi’s calls on his phone.
He then sent him a message on WhatsApp that he was going to Terminus. Oluwafemi left a message for Mohammed that he wanted to pick something up at the terminus.
Where was the terminus?
I also schooled in UNIJOS, so I know the environment very well. Terminus could be described as the Oshodi of Lagos. It is a place where one can get almost all buses to anywhere inside and outside Jos.
It also has a big plaza for goods where you can get anything. Definitely, he was going to get some things for himself. So, Mohammed said when he saw his message, he called Oluwafemi, but he couldn’t be reached, and he was afraid because trouble had erupted at Terminus.
What did he do when his phone was not reachable?
When there were efforts to find him, a lady who was their classmate, I guess, also received a message from Oluwafemi that there was trouble at Terminus and that he was leaving the place for the school hostel.
They were chatting. He was chatting with the lady since his efforts to communicate with Mohammed were futile the previous night. Unfortunately, it was an arrival that never happened.
That was already on April 2. Everyone was waiting for him in the hostel and the school, but he never arrived. We were also monitoring everything with calls.
Did anyone see his corpse?
Not yet. When our hopes were hanging in the balance, Mr Joelson called me to say that he received a call from someone claiming to have Oluwafemi. At that time, he had been declared missing.
The person first reached out to Oluwafemi’s friends in school. When they didn’t know how to handle the case, they informed us, and we took it from there.
The man told us that he rescued Oluwafemi when he was about to be lynched. He said he drove to Abuja and that we should come and have him. I live in Abuja, so I told him to tell me where I could meet him that night.
We just wanted to have our brother back. He said I shouldn’t worry, that we should just meet the following morning. All of us took his word for it, prayed, and went to bed. But the next morning, the story changed.
How did the story change?
The next morning, he called with another number, and Mr Joelson was the one dealing with him. He demanded N70,000. He said he was doing us a favour. He claimed it was the money he used to settle the people who wanted to lynch Oluwafemi.
We knew something was up, so we asked for proof of life of our brother. He didn’t say anything. Then, it sounded like a case of kidnapping because he demanded a ransom.
But we wanted our brother back, so I informed the police in Abuja since the man said he was in Abuja. The police advised us to look for an account number that was registered with a National Identification Number and send the money to him.
But we transferred N50,000 in the presence of the police who had promised to help track him. We used his wife’s account to transfer the money. We have the evidence of receipts.
So, I wrote a statement at the police station. As promised, the police tracked him to Abeokuta, Ogun State. That was the last we heard of him.
Did you go further with the police to help you nab him?
We tried to follow up, but it seemed the police had reached a dead end. At first, there were promises that the man would be tracked down. But as we speak, nothing has been heard.
We had to engage with the school authorities. What happened was that prior to April 1, there was violence in Jos, which led to the death of many people.
Consequently, there was a curfew in town. But the governor relaxed the curfew starting from April 1, and Oluwafemi wanted to use that opportunity to get some things early in the morning at Terminus.
Unfortunately, another crisis erupted when he was at Terminus market. Because of my experience in Jos, anytime curfew is lifted, people quickly use the window to get to markets, especially at Terminus, to get everything they need.
This was what happened to Oluwafemi. He was in the market when there was a reprisal.
How did the family handle his death?
Their mother was heartbroken, and so were the sisters. I can say that Oluwafemi was the favourite of his mum and the whole family. They cried every day since the death of Oluwafemi.
Their mother raised the three of them alone as a single parent. Oluwafemi was a promising child, and that is the reason why his death was painful to the entire family.
The two sisters are also graduates and married with kids. As I said earlier, my wife almost lost her pregnancy when we eventually learnt that her brother had passed away. She was in shock on two occasions, and we had to rush her to a hospital.
The three of them bonded very well. My wife spoke to him on Tuesday before the incident on Wednesday that claimed his life. The same thing happened with his elder sister.
She said she told him to leave Jos and come back home, but he promised her that he was almost through and that everything would be fine.
How was his death confirmed to you?
We reached out to the Dean of Students, his Head of Department, and the Students’ Union Government executives, who went to the university teaching hospital and saw his lifeless body.
How his body got there even turned out to be confusing and contradictory. Some sources said it was the Red Cross that carried him there, some said it was the police.
Mr Joelson’s younger brother, who is an army officer in Abuja, volunteered to go to Jos on behalf of the family. He confirmed that he was dead. He was macheted to death. Machete cuts were all over his body. It was tragic.
Had he been buried?
He was buried in a popular cemetery in Jos. The reason why we didn’t bring his body home was to avoid letting his mum and sisters see his corpse. Up till now, they have not recovered from the tragedy.
We sent Mr Joelson’s brother to represent the family at his burial. Even though all his personal belongings are still in Jos, we want to sell everything or give them out. Mr Joelson and I didn’t want to do anything that would aggravate the women’s traumatic experiences.
Moreso, the family was so stressed during the process of finding him. The family is inconsolable; the mother especially. There is no day that my wife, who is heavily pregnant, does not cry.
If you call the elder sister now, there is a high chance that she will be crying. We try to avoid what will bring back sad memories.
Were there external support systems from anywhere?
It is sad that representatives of the government did not even offer condolences. We are talking about a 29-year-old 500-level student, and nothing came from the government in sympathy for the family.
Initially, the school left us with expenses. The Dean of Students mentioned that they were going to take part. But we were told to take care of the casket, ambulance, and burial ground.
We made payments for all these, only for the school to say they had made arrangements. Later, they said they would send the balance of the money we had transferred, and that Mr Joelson’s brother should come.
Later, the dean of Oluwafemi’s faculty called Mr Joelson’s wife and said that the government wanted to send some money. The woman started crying because it was like opening old wounds.
Did they send it?
The government promised to give foodstuffs, which they did. Mr Johnson’s brother collected the foodstuffs, which were 25kg of rice, 25kg of beans, noodles, and all these things. We collected them and asked him to sell them and monetise them to provide financial support for Oluwafemi’s daughter because he left a child behind.
Also, a representative of the government reached out to Mr Johnson’s wife, and they said the government was going to send N1m. Her account number and relevant documents were collected. But to this moment, as we speak, it has not been paid.
In addition, the school also reached out through the office of the Dean of Student Affairs, saying that there is an insurance policy that students were mandated to register for. So, the family filled the form, and they said the cheque could be raised for an amount that we don’t know yet.
So, the form has been filled out, and the account number has been submitted there. But at the moment of this interview, the family had not received anything, even though they had asked for the death certificate, which we provided.
