.THE decision of a cow rearer, Pastor Pekun Olusola, to employ a Fulani herdsman, Ahmadu Aliyu, who would help in caring for the animals almost proved fatal for him on Tuesday March 13, 2012 when the man macheted him and afterwards ignited a fire which he thought would burn his boss to death along the way to his farm in Awe town, Oyo State. Reason: He was alleged to have thought of taking over his master’s animals!
Narrating his experience to Sunday Tribune on his hospital bed at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, where he was transferred to after initial admission at State Hospital, Oyo, Pastor Olusola, who revealed that he had been in farming business for about 14 years said he employed Aliyu about four years ago to take care of his cows and sheep. According to the 60-year-old man who is also a part-time pastor with the Living Faith Church, Awe, “initially, when Aliyu started working with me, I was paying him salary but it got to a stage that we had an arrangement that I would be giving him one cow every six months.
“I didn’t always go to the farm to check him since he is on my land but last year, I got an information that he had sold four out of my 28 cows. I didn’t want to make any fuss about it so I called him to my house and spoke to him, advising him to stop it. This was someone who would come to me for money and I didn’t have, I would tell him to take one of my sheep and sell. There was even a time he told me he wanted to marry a second wife and he did not have money. I asked him to take one cow and sell.
“On Tuesday March 13, I was in the poultry when he called to inform me that one of my cows had delivered, that I should come and check her. I didn’t let him know when I would come so as to catch him unawares. I went to the farm that very day and as was my usual practice, I started counting my cows. One of his brothers staying with him brought his own cows but I asked that they be separated.
“I counted 21 instead of 28, so I realized that seven were missing. I did not say anything, I just said I was going, having the thought of inviting him to my house later. He started explaining that there was one cow which had mated and was pregnant and another one which was sick in the bush. I told him not to worry, that I wanted to go home. He persuaded me to check on the sick one and I agreed. I asked him to ride my motorcycle but he didn’t agree, so I rode the bike and he sat behind me.
“We left the bush and hit the main road. Suddenly, I felt the slash of a cutlass as Aliyu hit my head. I fell down from the bike and he used my jacket, which I usually wore to protect myself from wind, to wrap my head, just as he continued to machete me on the head. He also landed the machete on my right wrist which I was trying to use to protect my head. The wrist was dangling and it was only held to the rest of the arm by a thin layer of flesh. He would call ‘Daddy’ and I would reply: ‘Aliyu, why are you doing this to me?’ The more I talked, the more he would inflict further machete cuts on me. When I realized his intention, I kept quiet. Before I knew what was happening, he removed the fuel hose connected to the tank of my bike and set it ablaze, and he put me beside it. I became unconscious but God brought me back to life about an hour after.
People were passing by and I was calling them but instead of coming to my rescue, they were running away. About an hour after, I saw a man with a dane gun, I asked him to help me but he said ‘but Baba, you are dead. I am seeing your brain.’ I replied that I would not die. I asked him to check my pocket for my phone. Aliyu had earlier removed one of my phones and a sum of N13,000.
“The man could not get through to the number I asked him to call but he called SARS operatives. In 30 minutes, they were there. They also never believed I could survive it but they took me to State Hospital, Oyo where I was taken to the theater and they sutured my head and my wrist. They also took care of the burns. They later told me that the condition of the wrist would demand better health care facilities, that was how I was referred to UCH on Wednesday March 14.”
The farmer said he believed Aliyu’s action was premeditated one and was planned alongside his brother, his wife and two young Fulani boys who were on the farm that day. “When I was leaving that day, Aliyu’s wife looked at me strangely. It was later I linked that look with her husband’s action,” he said.
Stating that if he were to say anything on Aliu’s action, he would ask that he should be let off. “He wanted me dead, but God said I will live. However, for others to learn that crime does not pay, let justice be done according to the law”, Pastor Olusola said.
Sunday Tribune gathered that the suspect, Aliu, had been arrested by the police and was in detention at Durbar Division confirming the arrest, the Police Public Relations Officer in Oyo State, Ms Olabisi Okuwobi, said the police were on the hunt for the suspect’s brother whom he claimed connived with him to attack the pastor. Okuwobi added that the case would be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Iyaganku for further investigations.
Source: Sunday Tribune
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