Trader killed in front of husband and children

Monday, October 3
Laila Ijeoma at 10/03/2016 11:43:00 am
Trader killed in presence of
husband, children in Ibadan
A 51-year-old woman, Mrs Funke Ashaolu was
last Thursday killed by unknown gunmen in her
shop at Elewure area of Sango, Ibadan, Oyo
State in the presence of her husband and
children at about 9.45p.m.
The killing came several days after she
received a call from unknown persons who
instructed her to drop N20,000 in front of her
shop under a small keg that would be partly
filled with a liquid substance, with the threat
that she would be killed if she refused to act
accordingly.
The deceased, who traded in wine and liquor,
was said to have reported the threat to the
police at a
nearby police station where her statement was
taken.
NigerianTribune reports that they gathered from
a reliable source who craved anonymity that to
the woman’s consternation, a couple of days
after she reported the case at the police
station, she noticed a keg half-filled with petrol
by her shop, which raised her fears that her
callers meant business.
This was said to have taken her back to the
police station where she reported, for the
second time, what she saw at her shop,
prompting detectives to follow her to the scene
where they took the photograph of the keg.
The police officers on duty were said to have
drafted a patrol team to the woman’s shop to
be stationed there to prevent anything
untoward.
Metro further gathered that this was the
situation until last Thursday when the patrol
team had to leave the spot after 9.00 p.m. as a
result of a distress call it got to move to
another troubled spot.
While the patrol team was manning the second
spot, Metro learnt that the deceased called the
operatives to inform them that she got a call
from the unknown people who challenged her
for involving the police over the issue of
dropping N20,000.
The patrol team was said to have left where it
was immediately but before it could get back to
the woman’s shop, she had been shot.
Three men who rode on a motorcycle were said
to have stopped in front of her shop where she
sat with husband and children, when one of the
men got down from bike, went into her shop,
pulled a gun from his shirt and shot her.
Though she was rushed to Victory Hospital,
Sango-Eleyele Road, Ibadan for treatment,
Metro learnt that she died while receiving
medical attention.
The manner of killing raised the belief of some
friends and sympathisers that the woman was a
victim of assassination, going by the incidents
before her murder and the fact that nothing
was taken from her shop by the assailants.
When contacted, the state Police Public
relations Officer, Adekunle Ajisebutu confirmed
the killing, saying that the police suspected
armed robbery.
“Police received information at about 9:50p.m.
The hoodlums probably went there to rob but
could not complete their action and then
became agitated to escape. They did not take
anything away. The deceased’s body was
thereafter moved to the morgue at Alafia
Hospital, Mokola, Ibadan,” Ajisebutu stated.
He also disclosed that the state Commissioner
of Police, Sam Adegbuyi, visited the family on
Friday, September 30 to offer his condolences,
and had assured that the culprits would be
fished out.
The Commissioner of Police has also directed
that the case be transferred to the State
Criminal Investigation and Intelligence
Department (SCIID) for discreet investigation,”
the PPRO concluded.by chibabynaija1