One of the domestic workers of Aribemchukwu, the slain daughter of Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, has owned up to being involved in the murder of her boss.
The deceased, popularly called Chuchu, was reportedly killed on Tuesday in her Parkview Estate residence in the Ikoyi area of Lagos State.
Her lifeless body was reportedly discovered on Wednesday morning outside the gate of her residence.
Her three domestic employees, who included the house help, a security guard, and a driver, were, however, arrested in connection to the murder.
The deceased was murdered inside her room, and her body was thereafter dragged from the spot outside the gate where it was dumped.
The suspects attempted to clean up the blood stains but missed some spots because the act was perpetrated at night.
The suspects were also said to have immediately packed all the valuables of the deceased after killing their boss.
The three domestic workers were said to have been employed at the same time a week before the incident.
Also in Ekiti State, the Commissioner of Police, Adeniran Akinwale, said on Thursday that the police had arrested six prime suspects in connection with the kidnap and killing of the former Deputy Vice Chancellor of Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Prof Olorunfemi Olaofe.
Olaofe was taken away by armed men from his residence at the Federal Housing Estate, Ado Ekiti, alongside his security guard, on July 9, 2027.
He was discovered dead and buried in a shallow grave in the bush along Airport Road at Afao Ekiti on Wednesday, July 31.
The Commissioner of Police, in a statement on Thursday, signed by the Police Public Relations Officer, Sunday Abutu, said the body of the retired university teacher had been exhumed from the shallow grave and deposited in the morgue.
He stated that a discrete investigation and a painstaking operation for rescue of the victims and arrest of the perpetrators led to the arrest of one Omowaye Ayodele at Bencom Guest House, Akure, Ondo State.
“From those who took over their matrimonial beds, those who eat food meant for their babies, house helps who steal their money, those who turned the children against their parents to house helps who seek outside collaborators to rob or kill their employers, the risks outweigh the benefits of employing house helps.”
Upon interrogation, the suspect confessed to the commission of the crime and mentioned one Kenneth, Amodu Gbenga, Nnamani Chukwuka and Ojо a.k.a Ojo ljan as his accomplices. He confessed further that Abdul Opotu, who was the security guard of the victim (Prof. Olaofe), was the one who invited them to kidnap the professor.
He further stated that Ayodele (suspect) said the security guard was not kidnapped alongside the professor as earlier reported, but only played along and made the operation easier for them.
No doubt, house helps are increasingly becoming a nightmare in Nigeria, and hiring one these days has become a huge risk as many people have been brutally murdered in their own apartments by these strange aides.
Many working class women have gory stories to tell about their experiences with house helps. From those who took over their matrimonial beds, those who eat food meant for their babies, house helps who steal their money, those who turned the children against their parents to house helps who seek outside collaborators to rob or kill their employers, the risks outweigh the benefits of employing house helps.
However, the intrigue is that despite such gory stories and sad experiences that are commonplace today, people still hire house helps. The trend is even changing now from hiring Nigerians and Ghanaians to Togolese and Cameroonians.
Interestingly, the new trend is opening job opportunities for middle-men who stand between the families in Togo and Cameroon, who are releasing their children or relatives for the house help job and their clients in Nigeria, especially working class families.
The trend is replacing the ‘Aboki’ gatemen with well-kitted and equipped security guards from organised security firms, and the Akwa Ibom or Calabar house helps with the Togolese and Cameroonians who are more obedient, hardworking and cheaper to remunerate.
Nigerian house helps are more expensive, troublesome, daring and even scarce now, especially with the combined efforts of the Cross River and Akwa Ibom State governments over the years to discourage their citizens from becoming house helps.
The house helps from Cross River and Akwa Ibom States used to be the most behaved, more reliable and friendly, but house help is no longer fashionable for them now, and there seems to be legislation against it in the two states.
But while many are now going for Togolese and Cameroonian house helps, a lot are also complaining of the bad experiences from them.
Unfortunately, many working class families can hardly cope with the stress of working or doing business in Lagos without house help and when the stress becomes so much, those who swear not to have house help are seen hiring one.
Following lots of police investigations, most house helps who kill or defraud their employers do so for personal gains.
Also, some house helps who suffer several sexual abuses and assaults from their employers are easily convinced to kill or defraud their employers in retaliation.
There are cases where some women employers or wives force the male house helps to sleep with them and those who are remorseful of the acts look for something bad to do to end the abuse, including killing their madam.
Police reports said that some house helps from very poor homes cannot stand the extravagant display of wealth by their employers who often do not take care of them. In such cases, they work to get their own share of the cake, which is usually through crime.
Though there are some good house helps, the bad ones seem to outnumber them. This means that more families who employ house helps are vulnerable, while the cases of killer house helps will definitely be on the rise.
