Bolaji Okunola
Miss Folashade Temenu will not forget February 16, 2019, in a hurry. That was the day she had a close shave with death in the hands of yet-to-be-identified men in Lagos.
She said her attackers seemed to be after her life for unknown reasons. Three months down the line, she is yet to overcome the trauma.
She, however, has not failed to ask why her assailants were yet to be apprehended by the police. She also wondered why nobody was courageous enough to confront her attackers while the brutality lasted.
The 25-year-old Ondo State indigene said she had no premonition of trouble as she set out for her office on Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, Lagos, that morning. She claimed that she was trailed from her residence on Chinua Achebe Crescent, OPIC Estate, which is a walking distance from Ketu. The young lady, who lived with her brother, Kayode Temenu, said her brother’s wife had also been subjected to a similar fate in the past.
Her words: “I woke up on February 16 with no premonition of evil. That was the day the presidential election was initially slated to hold, before it was postponed. I did not want to go out on that particular day but because I had a lot to do in the office, I decided to give it a try. I had to walk down to the bus stop, since it was still too early for me to get a motorcycle. I never knew that hoodlums were trailing me. At the bus stop, I heard a voice from behind telling me to surrender all my belongings.
She said: “What baffled me the most was that they demanded the phone numbers of my siblings, Kayode Temenu, his wife’s and that of their first child, Olufunke Temenu. I refused to give them the phone numbers. These guys were with various weapons, such as bottles, cutlass and others. I was shivering and pleading. Suddenly, they started beating me. I was kicked and punched. Then one of them holding a broken bottle stabbed me in my palm. I was writhing in pain, rolling on the floor when they left me there.
“While this was happening, no one came to my rescue. I was lucky to sight a passer-by whom I quickly ran to despite my pains. She was the one that gave me her phone to call my brother.
“By the time he got there, I was almost unconscious as a result of the excessive bleeding. I was taken to a nearby clinic. I thank God that I am now fine.”
She said her brother reported the issue at the Alapere Police Station, Ketu, but all efforts to track the hoodlums have yielded no result. She noted that she ended up spending over N50,000 on medical bills: “After the incident, my brother and other members of my family visited the police station. The policemen came to interview me and I gave them all necessary details, but up till now we are yet to hear any good news from them.
“I am particularly pained that I went through such pain and spent so much money on treatment. But I thank God that I have recovered, even if the trauma is still there. I am back to work and have started living my normal life. I just pray and hope that the hoodlums are caught so that they can face the repercussion of their actions,” she said.