By Rotimi Ojomoyela

To some people this may seem stranger than fiction, but as the reality of the mysterious death of a 35-year old woman begins to dawn on her family, they have vowed to unmasked her killer and bring the culprit to justice. Simply identified as Busayo Ojo, the mother of one, died on April 17 after a prolonged illness.

Strange happenings and confessions
Chiefs and people of Ogbagi-Akoko in Ondo West Local Government Area are still at a loss as to how Busayo met her unfortunate end. But the deceased's father, Mr. Jimoh Clement Ayibiowu, fingered a popular herbalist and native doctor in Ilawe-Ekiti, Ekiti West Local Government Area, as being responsible for the death of Busayo.

Father of the deceased, Ayibiowu has allegedly confessed to asking her to follow him to a herbalist sometime in 2015 to find a solution to the strange illness which he was suffering from.

According to the council of Chiefs in Ogbagi-Akoko, where Pa Ayibiowu and Busayo were living, the former allegedly learned about the healing powers of Chief Alado on a radio broadcast, which prompted them to come to Ilawe-Ekiti around May last year to seek Alado’s help when a strange development occurred.

Speaking with Vanguard, one of the chiefs-in-council of Ogbagi-Akoko community, simply identified as Chief Oshodi, disclosed that “Ayibiowu and Busayo his daughter are both from our town, Ogbagi-Akoko. He impregnated Busayo’s mother at a young age but the union later crashed with both going their different ways, but because a child had solidified their relationship, Ayibiowu still related with his daughter and her mother in spite of the separation.

“When on April 17, 2016, Busayo suddenly died under strange circumstances, some of the family members and residents of Ayibiowu cried out, alleging that he must have been the cause of his daughter’s sudden death. He was also putting up very strange behaviour. It was gathered that shortly before she passed on, Busayo had confessed to her mother that a strange thing had happened to her and her father when they visited chief Alado in Ilawe-Ekiti,” he said.

Oshodi further explained that Busayo had said that her father had asked her to follow him to the herbalist’s place and described Chief Alado’s place in Ilawe-Ekiti, as one built on a small hill and painted red. She said they met an elderly man at the gate of the building who told them to go in, saying that Chief Alado was around and that his secretary would attend to them first.

In addition, he said: “Busayo said further that on getting to the bigger building of Chief Alado and entering the first room on the left, a lady asked them to pay a sum of N1,000 as consultation fee, which they did before they were allowed to see Alado. She added that there were expensive vehicles inside the premises of the herbalist which include a limousine, a Hummer Jeep among others.

“The young lady added that Chief Alado turned out to be the same old man they had met at the gate who had directed them to his secretary. She said when Ayibiowu explained to him the motive for their visit, he told him to pay a sum of N135,000 for a permanent cure to his ailment as many fetish materials would be procured for the treatment.

“Busayo said that they pleaded with Chief Alado to reduce the fee as they had only N15,000 on them and could only part with 10,000 because they would need the remaining N5,000 for transport back home.

“After much persuasion, Busayo said Alado accepted and gave some concoction to Ayibiowu and asked him to forcefully vomit something by opening his mouth three times. She said after this, her father vomited a strange object which Alado showed her saying that it was part of the evil deposits that caused Ayibiowu’s illness.”

According to Chief Oshodi, Busayo alleged that she noticed that since she had carried out Alado’s instruction with her father, her health condition had been deteriorating and she soon became critically ill and was emaciating. Her once robust and youthful body turned lean and scary.

Oshodi added that the young woman couldn’t make the confessions until her condition worsened to that critical stage because of the custom in the community which places an open disgrace to anyone who commits such abominable act. “Such culprit would be paraded round the town while many would sing shameful songs against him or her”, adding that Busayo’s condition worsened until her death on April 17.

“It was this confession that angered members of the community and made them to apprehend her father and forced him to confess also. After he was paraded round the town as it is our custom, Ayibiowu confessed and corroborated what his late daughter had said. That is why we are telling the whole world about this development now,” Chief Oshodi said.

Conspiracy
When Chief Alado was contacted on phone and asked for his reactions to the allegations, he said: “I don’t know those people. They were never my clients. In fact, if you come to check the records of my visitors which I take daily, you won’t find their names there because they were never here.”

Alado handed over the phone to a man he identified as his lawyer to respond on his behalf, but Vanguard later discovered that he was a popular broadcaster (names withheld), and a freelancer with a radio station in Ado-Ekiti.

Attempted cover up
In what appeared like a cover up, the freelance broadcaster told newsmen that the allegations by the Ogbagi-Akoko Council-of-Chiefs against Alado were untrue. When asked why he was defending Alado when he was not his lawyer, he said he was entitled to his own opinion about the herbalist. He maintained that all that has been alleged against the herbalist were false.

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