Tragedy struck at 8, Amosu Street, Ijegun, Lagos, on
Sunday as a woman identified simply as Iya Anu,
allegedly beat her foster son, Seubow, to death for
allegedly stealing N50. It was learnt that Iya Anu, a mother of four, usually
inflicted injuries on Seubow, her husband’s nephew and
her children whenever they erred. Trouble started when 16-year-old Seubow misplaced a
N1, 000 note given to him for an errand on Saturday. The development, it was learnt, irked Iya Anu who starved the teenager throughout
Saturday. When Seubow could no longer bear the hunger, he sneaked out of the house
at night to buy Gala. When Iya Anu knew about it, our correspondent learnt that she became furious,
accused him of stealing her N50 and gave the teenager the beating of his life. A neighbour who identified herself simply as Balikis said the accused must have used a
hot object to batter the boy as his body was full of burns. She said, “Iya Anu began to beat him on Saturday night. The beating continued till about
9am on Sunday when her husband and the other children had left for church. “She battered him till he gave up the ghost about noon. When she realised that the boy
had lost consciousness, she cried for help but it was already late. At a point, she wanted
to run away but she was promptly rounded up.” Another resident, Modinatu, said Iya Anu, had in June battered the boy resulting in her
being invited to the Isheri-Oshun Police Division for questioning. She said, “Seubow joined them in December 2011 and this woman has made life so
unbearable for him just the way she does to her children too. In June, the boy was
battered to the extent that she was quizzed by the police. “Also, she has in the name of discipline used a knife to injure her first daughter, Anu, on
her shoulders over issues bordering on misdemeanour. “She is so violent that she even fights neighbours with objects at the slightest
provocation. She was sent packing from her former place of residence on Jimoh Aigbe
Street, which is just some few streets away from here when she injured her landlady
with a knife.” Corroborating Modinatu’s claims, Alexander Akinnurun, the Proprietor of Alex Group of
Schools, Ijegun, the school Seubow attended before his death, described her as a
troublemaker. He said, “She has been perpetrating those acts for quite some time now and reports of
her heinous deeds abound. In June, Seubow who happened to be one of my pupils
came to school with a disfigured face and wounds on his body. “I was so moved by this that I reported the incident to the police. I don’t know how far
the police went with the matter but I never expected that such an ugly incident would
still repeat itself.” When our correspondent visited the area on Monday, it was learnt that she had been
arrested by the police. It was also learnt Iya Anu was a serial divorcee and is at present with her third
husband. When contacted on the phone, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Ngozi
Braide, said she could not reach the Divisional Police Officer of Isheri Oshun. “I can’t independently confirm the incident for now as the phone number of the DPO of
the station is not available. I will get back to you as soon as I get through to him,” she
said.