…allege they’re manipulating him diabolically
The family members of a 71-year-old man, Alhaji Shamsideen Labinjo, have raised the alarm over alleged “diabolical manipulation” of their septuagenarian father by his mistress, one Mrs. Funke Ogunyemi.
The children and other relations of Labinjo have accused Ogunyemi, a mother of three, now said to have been cohabiting with the septuagenarian in the past few years at his 18, Bashua Street, Shomolu, Lagos, of “unlawful detention and kidnap” of their ailing father.
They alleged that Ogunyemi had been resisting and frustrating all efforts by the family to take Labinjo, said to be mentally ill, for medical treatment.
It was gathered that the septuagenarian, who was not legally married to Ogunyemi, had at about midnight some time ago, suddenly grabbed a machete with which he chased away his second wife, simply identified as Iya Idera, along with her son, Idera. Efforts by relations to plead with Labinjo to allow her and her son to return home, were said to have proved abortive.
And the next day, Ogunyemi and her three children moved in with the septuagenarian, dashing Iya Idera’s hope of returning to her matrimonial home. Ogunyemi, said to be a daughter of a native doctor and an attendant at a food canteen around the site one of Labinjo’s uncompleted houses, was said to have immediately taken over the control of affairs in the septuagenarian’s household.
The immediate younger brother of the septuagenarian, Kamal Labinjo, told our correspondent outside the old man’s residence, where his relations had gathered to challenge Ogunyemi, who had locked out the family members, “Funke Ogunyemi came in with three children, abandoned her husband, Mr. Ogunyemi, who worked as a gate keeper with the railways till he passed on. Funke Ogunyemi has been living with Alhaji for some years, and has been driving away all our family members from Alhaji’s house.”
Similarly, the children of the septuagenarian also alleged that Ogunyemi had always denied them access to their father.
They further alleged that Ogunyemi’s son, Tunde, had taken over the control of their father’s property and other belongings located in different places in the state and beyond, adding that whenever they requested for anything from their father, he would refer them to his mistress’ son.
“Any time we come to our father for assistance, he will tell us to go and meet Tunde, who happens to be the first son of his mistress, Funke Ogunyemi, to give us what we ask him, because he is the one in charge of his property, as we speak. And Tunde will always tell us that that there is no money; that we should come back later, but he will end up not giving us anything,” Labinjo’s last child, Okiki, told our correspondent.
The alleged denial of access to the septuagenarian by Ogunyemi, it was learnt, became so persistent and visible, resulting in the resolve by some Muslim clerics in the area to intervene to save the situation.
But their intervention has also not changed anything as Ogunyemi allegedly remained deviant in her resolve to keep the family members away from Labinjo.
The septuagenarian’s younger brother added, “Last year, the Executives of Shomolu Central Mosque received a call from the first son of Alhaji Shamsideen Labinjo in the person of Mr. Lukmon Labinjo, notifying them that Alhaji Shamsideen was not feeling well and his mistress, Funke Ogunyemi, has refused to take him to the hospital.
“This made some of the executives to go and check on him that very night and they found out that he was suffering from memory loss. Funke Ogunyemi was nowhere to be found. Only the person she mandated to look after him was there.
“The executives tried their best to calm him down and to make him eat some food because his carer made it known to them that Alhaji Shamsideen had refused to eat for some days, but had been shouting that he wanted to go to his home, though he was in his house. He also wanted to jump down from the second floor of his two-storey building, crying that he wanted to go home.
“The executives made arrangement to take Alhaji to the hospital the next day, since they have calmed him down and he had a chat with them till late that night. But by the next day, they discovered Funke’s contact had informed her of their plan to take him to the hospital; so she came back that day and refused anyone entry into the house and she neither took Alhaji to the hospital, despite all the pleas.
“After some days, Alhaji collapsed in the toilet; the news got to some family members through the workers who are loyal to Alhaji, because they were around when it happened.”
Our correspondent gathered that Labinjo’s first son, Lukmon, who got the report on the state of his father’s health, visited, but allegedly met Ogunyemi and “all her cohorts surrounding Alhaji in his room and chanting incantations,” instead of taking him to the hospital.
Angered by what he had seen, Lukman challenged Ogunyemi, but the development resulted in a confrontation.
Labinjo’s first son then lodged a complaint with the police at Zone II D3, Lagos, where he had earlier reported Ogunyemi.
The police came and arrested everybody, but after reaching some agreements, it was resolved that Labinjo be taken to the hospital for treatment.
Any time we come to our father for assistance, he will tell us to go and meet Tunde, who happens to be the first son of his mistress, Funke Ogunyemi, to give us what we ask him, because he is the one in charge of his property, as we speak
Rather than taking Labinjo to the hospital, Ogunyemi allegedly invited another team of policemen from zone 3 to arrest Lukman. Labinjo’s first son was arrested while Ogunyemi allegedly took the septuagenarian to an undisclosed location, claiming that he was receiving treatment.
Our correspondent learnt that after several attempts to locate where Ogunyemi had allegedly taken him to, the septuagenarian’s younger brother petitioned the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Abiiya, over the matter.
Ogunyemi, however, allegedly refused to honour invitation by the police and did not bring back ailing Labinjo from where she had taken him to.
The septuagenarian’s younger brother further said, “The Executives of Shomolu Central Mosque later discovered that Alhaji was taken to a church in Abeokuta, but they were not given access to him. I was informed by Alhaji’s tenant at Ita- Balogun that Funke Ogunyemi and others came to collect rent that was due there; I informed the police and they were all arrested.
“After several discussions with the Assistant Commissioner of Police in his office in the presence of Funke Ogunyemi, Alhaji’ s children-Lukmon, Idera, Islamia, Okiki, two lawyers, Barrister Joseph and Barrister Dauda, a Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU) was written there and it was signed by all of them that Alhaji Shamsideen Labinjo be handled over to me, while other family members present would be involved in his treatment and it was also agreed that he should be taken to a government hospital, Yaba Psychiatric Hospital.
“The Yaba Psychiatric Hospital asked for a letter from the police, which was written to the hospital on Thursday, 19th October, 2017, for Alhaji to be admitted. On that same day, 19th October 2017, Funke Ogunyemi invited another team of policemen to arrest me and my wife.”
While the police had given directive that Labinjo should be taken to the hospital, on getting to his house Ogunyemi refused them access into the residence.
Labinjo’s first son, Lukman, added, “We and the police from Alagbon, after frantic efforts to get into the house proved abortive, we left without getting Alhaji out for his appointment with Yaba Psychiatric Hospital and up till now, nothing has been done to get Alhaji to the hospital, despite his deteriorating state of health.
“Funke Ogunyemi seized all of Alhaji’s property, cars and documents. She collects proceeds/rents from all of Alhaji’s property valued at over N70million between August and October 2017, without giving a kobo to us, his children.”
Meanwhile, a drama ensued when our correspondent visited the septuagenarian’s residence on Wednesday. Policemen from Alade Division, led by the Divisional Police Officer, Chief Superintendent Alao Olusegun, were refused access into the premises as the gates were locked from inside.
After several knocks on the gate, the DPO, who came with a detachment of policemen, tried to force his way in, but he had to restrain himself because he was not with a search warrant.
The DPO and his men later left the area after about one hour of futile efforts to gain entry into the
building.
