Woman loses one eye as family fight over late father’s estate in Lagos

One Mrs. Ifeoluwa Oluwaloseyitan (nee Alalade), has lost her right eye after she was allegedly attacked with a plank by her step-brother, a lawyer, one Mr. Olusegun Alalade, over their property, an estate on Ladipo Oluwole Avenue, off Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, Lagos state.

According to PUNCH Metro, Olusegun and his brother, Babasanjo Alalade, were said to have led some hoodlums to their father’s estate on Sunday, wielding cutlasses, among other weapons.

It was learnt that Ifeoluwa, her husband, Pastor Abraham Oluwaloseyitan; and her two elder brothers, Tunde and Kolawole, had been to the estate to inspect the painters working on one of the apartments therein.

Meanwhile, Kolawole, who works in Abuja, had embarked on the renovation of the flat for him to be staying there whenever he is around.

Reports say they were about to leave the premises when the lawyer and his accomplices unleashed terror on them.

Apart from the woman, her husband (the Pastor) was slashed in the head with a machete while Kolawole and others were also injured. But Tunde escaped unhurt.

However, a surgical operation had been done on the victim to prevent her ‘ruptured’ eye from being infected. One of the doctors treating her at the Lagos State University Hospital where she was admitted confirmed before the operation that the eye had gone blind.

According to the doctor, “The trauma has ruptured the eye. The surgery we want to do is just to prevent infections. But medically, she can’t see with the eye.”
Recounting the incident, Ifeoluwa said Olusegun beat her severely and left her to die.

She said, “It all started on Saturday when his younger brother, Babasanjo, used a machete to inflict wounds on a step-brother, Shola, in the palm inside our father’s estate. Babasanjo was arrested by the police from Man Centre Police Station but was released that same day. The lawyer was boasting before the policemen that he would deal with all of us.

“On Sunday, we went to the property to see the painters working on it. I was reading a magazine beside the gate when I saw the painters rushing out. I was approaching them to know what was wrong when Olusegun smashed a big plank on my forehead. He was hitting me, shouting ‘I will kill all of you’. He stopped when I pretended I was dead,” Ifeoluwa added.

Her husband, Pastor Abraham, said he wanted to rescue his wife when Babasanjo attacked him with a cutlass.

He said, “I moved her away from them (Olusegun and Babasanjo). Suddenly, they started hitting my head. It was when two policemen came that they stopped beating me. Between Sunday evening and now, I have spent over N200, 000 on her treatment alone. She is blind on one eye and her nose is affected too,” the victim’s husband added.

One of Ifeoluwa’s step-brothers, Kolawole, accused the police of not handling the matter properly. He said he was going to petition the Inspector-General of Police on this matter.

“Why would they release persons who attempted to kill? We are not happy with the way the matter is being handled by the police. It was because Babasanjo was released on Saturday that he was able to attack us on Sunday,” Kolawole lamented.

Another brother, Tunde, said Olusegun had been ‘fraudulently’ administering their father’s property within and outside the state since he died in 2008, without giving them any share of the income.

However, the accused lawyer (Olusegun) denied attacking the victims. He said the apartment was under lock and key when Kolawole gained entry into it without his consent.

Olusegun said, “Tunde’s claims are not true. They were the ones that attacked me and I was injured in the head. I don’t know about the hoodlums and how Ifeoluwa got injured.

“They have been warned by the police to keep away from the estate. I just ejected a tenant from that place last month and locked the room. What was their mission on that premises on a Sunday? After all, they have sued me and my sibling,” the lawyer quizzed.

When contacted on phone, Babasanjo said the dispute over the property “is already in court.”

One of the painters, Ayoola Henry, described the attack as ‘bloody’ saying he witnessed the incident from where he hid.

He said, “We were done with our work when Mr. Babasanjo, the lawyer and some people came with weapons and started attacking everybody. I ran to a corner but my partner was slightly injured in the leg. The lawyer was saying ‘I will kill everybody’. I am not sure whether it was the lawyer or Babasanjo that injured the woman (Ifeoluwa) because I was in shock,” said the painter.

The Lagos State Police spokesperson, DSP Joe Offor, said he was yet to be briefed on the matter, noting that the officer-in-charge of the case is receiving treatment in a hospital.