From time immemorial, blood relationship has always been a major consideration in many human actions. However, often times, anger has led to a man killing his brother, sister or even parents during avoidable arguments. Also, the media is awash with reports of parents killing their children over insignificant issues. PAUL OKAH reports.
Background
A search for quotes on anger on the internet throws up many eye-opening issues on the consequences of extreme emotional outburst. A common African proverb has it that anger against a relation only gets to the flesh, but cannot get to the bone marrow.
However, this proverb has oftentimes been rendered insignificant as the media is often awash with reports of murder cases involving blood relations. For irrelevant incidents such as petty theft and misunderstanding, cases abound of a man either killing his father, mother, sister or brother.
Sometimes, reverse is often the case as fathers or mothers have reportedly killed their sons or daughters over cases that could have been resolved with dialogue, but for a moment of anger. Furthermore, despite the admonitions of psychologists on anger management and the incarceration of culprits, the killing of relations seems to be a daily occurrence, regardless of tribe or state.
Sons killing mothers
Despite the agonies women go through to give birth to children and to nurture them into adulthood, it is disheartening to hear of men killing their mothers over insignificant issues or misunderstandings.
For instance, on July 25, 2018, residents of Okpunoeze Akabo Edoji Uruagu in Nnewi local government area of Anambra state were thrown into mourning over the murder of a 70-year-old mother of seven, Mrs. Bene Ikegwuonwu, by her 40-year-old son, Chinedu Ikegwuonwu.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the incident occurred after an altercation between them over a piece of land belonging to the suspect’s younger brother. A family member, who pleaded anonymity, said the suspect returned to Nnewi from a failed business in Aba, Abia state, and had a running battle with his mother over his attempt to grab his younger brother’s land.
“The woman gave Chinedu some money to raise the foundation of his building because he was unable to do anything about it after a year and half. She even went to the extent of taking money from her late daughter’s bank account for the suspect to complete his building, after which he then turned around to take over a portion of land belonging to his younger brother,” the source said.
However, when contacted, the state police public relations officer, SP Haruna Mohammed, confirmed the incident, adding that the police had launched an investigation into the case.
Similarly, on February 11, 2017, the Osun state police command arrested a man who allegedly killed his 85-year-old mother. The state’s police spokesperson, Folashade Odoro, said in a statement in Osogbo that the suspect allegedly killed his mother, Mrs. Taibat Ayiola, at Akinleye village near Osun on February 10, 2017.
“The reason for the killing is yet to be ascertained because the suspect has not given any reasonable cause for his action. The corpse of the victim had been deposited at the OAU Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife for autopsy while the case is under investigation,” he said.
Also, pandemonium was rife on February 4, 2020, on Akeem Gbadamosi Street, in the Ejigbo area of Lagos state, when a 23-year-old man, Michael Okhide, absconded after allegedly killing his parents, Clement Okhide, 60, and Toyin
Okhide, 50 and also attacked his sister, Mercy.
While recounting the incident to reporters, Mercy, a corps member, said her brother attacked her when she returned home from work, but she managed to escape with injuries.
She said, “When I got home around 5.30pm, I met the entrance door open and saw blood on the net. The door to the kitchen was also open, but when I entered into the kitchen, I saw that there was bloodstain everywhere and I became scared. As I was leaving the kitchen, I heard my mum screaming my name that I should run, and immediately, I saw Michael came where I was and I saw bloodstains on him.
“He told me to come inside and I refused, so, both of us started struggling and he stabbed me in my stomach and my hands, but I was lucky that the cut was not deep. He wanted to prevent me from escaping, but I was lucky to escape and he ran back inside and later I heard that he ran away and locked the gate with a padlock.”
Confirming the incident, Lagos state police public relations officer (PPRO), Bala Elkana, said a manhunt had been launched for the arrest of Michael, while Mercy, who was stabbed by the suspect, had visited Ejigbo Health Centre, where she received treatment and that the corpses of her parents have been evacuated to the Isolo General Hospital.
Brother kills sibling
Apart from a man killing his mother or children killing their parents, the media is also awash with news of brothers killing their siblings for insignificant issues or avoidable arguments.
For instance, recently on March 7, 2020, a 13-year-old boy, Ebi Andrew, stabbed his 20-year-old elder brother, Tarikebina Andrew, to death at Jehovah Witness road, off Goodnews Street in Azikoro community, Yenagoa LGA of Bayelsa state, over a minor disagreement, which started when the deceased asked his younger brother to go home.
Narrating the incident, a family member, Denis Andrew, said both the suspect and the deceased were at a friend’s place located a few meters away from their home, when the deceased asked his younger brother to go home, because it was late. It was an order the younger brother refused to obey.
He said his refusal to obey led to a disagreement, adding that the suspect was embittered by the brother’s persistent order and he entered the kitchen of the friend’s house and took a knife which he later used in stabbing Tarikebina to death. Dennis said the deceased was rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, where he was confirmed dead as a result of internal bleeding.
Their father took the deceased home and buried him Saturday night to avoid police troubles, but some concerned neighbours still contacted the Azikoro community police station that immediately deployed officers to the scene and arrested the father and the suspected killer boy, while the boy’s corpse was exhumed and taken to the hospital for autopsy.
Similarly, on March 11, 2020, a 40-year old man, Olanrewaju Adeyinka, was arrested by men of the Ogun state police command for allegedly stabbing his younger brother, Gabriel, to death for bringing two live parrots home.
Olanrewaju was paraded on Thursday, March 12, 2020, alongside 48 other suspected criminals by the state Commissioner of Police, Kenneth Ebrimson, at the state command headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta.
While speaking with journalists, Olanrewaju said he mistakenly stabbed his brother to death as the deceased brought two strange parrots into their home in the Ilaro area of the state and refused to take them birds out of the house.
“I insisted that he should not put the birds in our house and that was how a fight started between us. He came to my room and started fighting me. It was during the fight that he broke my louvers. It was the broken louvers that I intended to take outside to show our neighbours when he attacked me again that I ended up using to stab him to death.
“I regret what I did and I can’t justify my action. It is the devil’s work; the government should assist me anyhow they want to. We are three siblings and lost our parents long ago and I have mistakenly killed one. The government should come to my aid so that I can take care of the other one,” he said.
Men killing fathers
Apart from men killing their mothers or brothers during a fit of anger or under avoidable circumstances, the media is also awash with news of men killing their fathers over petty or insignificant issues.
For instance, on December 20, 2019, a 37-year-old man in Ebonyi state, Chibueze Iduma, allegedly killed his father, Emmanuel Oba Iduma, with a walking stick after an argument over a piece of cooked yam as the accused was said to have cooked the piece of yam and left for his friend’s house only to discover that his father had eaten it when he returned.
It was gathered that the suspect committed the offence in the Amaefia Ngbo community in Ohaukwu LGA of the state on December 20, 2019, but was arraigned on a one-count of murder on January 9, 2020, at an Ebonyi state Magistrate’s Court sitting in Abakaliki.
“While they quarrelled over the cooked yam, the father hit the son with his walking stick and in retaliation, the son hit him back and the father fell down and died,” the police said. The police prosecutor, Inspector Chinedu Mbam, told the court that the offence was punishable under Section 319 (1) of the Criminal Code, Cap. 33 Vol. 1, Laws of Ebonyi state of Nigeria, 2009.
The defence counsel urged the court to admit his client to bail, but the application was rejected.
However, the Chief Magistrate, Blessing Chukwu, said the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the matter and directed that the accused be remanded in the Nigerian Correctional Centre, Abakaliki, while his case file should be transferred to the Director of Public Prosecutions in the state for advice.
Also, on November 21, 2019, a 32-year-old man, Ibrahim Isiaka, who lives in Alagbaka area of Ashi in Ibadan, Oyo state, narrated how he killed his 72-year-old father, Mr. Busari Isiaka.
Ibrahim, while speaking to reporters, said he did not have intention to kill his father, though he pushed the deceased from a storey building during a heated argument, and he fell on the staircases and died in the process.
He said, “On that day, I went upstairs to meet him. He had dressed up and he was about to leave for an outing. I pushed him. Since I was born, I have not been fighting him. The only thing we used to fight on was the way he used to drink to stupor. But on that day, I just went upstairs and I pushed him. He fell on the staircases and rolled down. My mother is dead. She died many years ago.”
Speaking at the Command’s headquarters in Eleyele, Ibadan, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Shina Olukolu, explained that Isiaka purportedly killed his father on November 11, 2019, at about noon and the incident was reported at Ashi divisional police headquarters at about 6:00pm the same day.
He allegedly engaged his father, a retired military man, in a fisticuff, and in the process strangled him. He was said to have called his two brothers, Toaheed and Murital, and narrated the ordeal to them.
“His two brothers immediately raced to their father’s house and prepared his corpse for burial without reporting to the police to conceal the heinous crime perpetrated by their brother, Ibrahim. Their father was hurriedly buried the same date.
“Ibrahim Isiaka was thereafter arrested along with his two brothers. He confessed to the commission of the crime while his two brothers also confessed to have buried their father the same day to prevent the police from arresting Ibrahim Isiaka as advised by some people,” he said.
Parents killing their children
While children have been killing their parents, the latter appear to be retaliating in kind by also killing their children. For instance, on November 22, 2019, a mother, Mrs. Rukayat Abdulrahmon, allegedly confessed to killing her three-year-old boy at the Olorunosebi community at Kola Balogun area of Osogbo, in Osun state on November 17, as a punitive measure to her husband, Raheem, who had sought divorce of their marriage. It was gathered that the deceased, Ganiyu, was the only child she had for her husband, the third in her marital history and the couple had not been having a healthy relationship.
Consequently, the husband was said to have approached a Sharia Court in the state which gave the embattled couple three months to go their separate ways if they could not resolve their differences. But five days to the expiration of the 90 days given by the court, middle-aged Rukayat was said to have killed her son by throwing him inside a well in order to punish her husband.
However, while a lady in the house attempted to fetch water for laundry, the body was discovered in the well dug to serve occupants of the house and neighbours had to retrieve the lifeless body.
Meanwhile, when the police arrested the parents as the prime suspects and later other tenants in the building, Rukayat was said to have confessed to the police that she wanted to punish her husband and ensure that he does not gain anything out of the union.
The PPRO of Osun police command, Mustapha Katayeyanjue, confirmed the incident to reporters, saying the woman was cooperating with the police.
Also, on October 28, 2019, a man identified as Ayobami Isiaka was arrested by operatives of the Lagos police command for allegedly killing his daughter, Nana, at Ijaye, in the Isheri area of the state by slamming her on the floor and shattering her head.
In a statement issued by the state PPRO, Bala Elkana, said the incident happened when a disagreement occurred between Ayobami and his wife. The suspect, according Elkana, forcefully took Nana from the mother and slammed her on the ground.
Elkana said Nana, whose head was shattered, died on the spot, adding that Ayobami’s brother reported the incident to the police, while the suspect, who was almost lynched by a mob after the incident, was arrested.
What the law says
Even before the advent of colonialism and attendant development, murder of any kind had serious consequences, let alone the murder of a blood relation, which is still considered a taboo in many African communities.
Also, Section 33 sub-section 1-2 (a-c) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is clear on the right to life of Nigerians, regardless of blood relationship.
It states, “(1) Every person has a right to life and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria. (2) A person shall not be regarded as having been deprived of his life in contravention of this section, if he dies as a result of the use, to such extent and in such circumstances as are permitted by law, of such force as is reasonably necessary; “(a) for the defence of any person from unlawful violence or for the defence of property: (b) in order to effect a lawful arrest or to prevent the escape of a person lawfully detained; or (c) for the purpose of suppressing a riot, insurrection or mutiny.”
Expert’s admonition
In a chat with Blueprint Weekend, a clinical psychologist working with Minds Haven in Abuja, Mr. Ayo Ajeigbe, said anger may be as a result of personality disorder and for Nigerians to always speak out or seek psychological help whenever possible, instead of expressing violent anger that could lead to their committing murder.
He said, “Generally, anger is a feeling or emotion (like fear, happiness or sadness) that is universally experienced by people of all ages, races and cultural background. It indicates a person’s response to provocations, harm, danger, frustration, threat or perception or unwanted or unexpected behaviour of an individual or group.
“Anger becomes a problem when it is felt too strongly (intensely), too frequently (all the time), or is expressed disproportionately or inappropriately.
It also indicates possible underlying mental health problems and reflects the possible personality disorder the individual may be living with.”
Continuing, he said, “Some people express their anger in a non-violent way, but in others, cognitive control mechanisms required to guide one’s behaviours are either nonexistent or ignored, and this comes with disastrous consequences such as killing another human, which may, include family members. It can also come from low frustration tolerance.
“The appropriate thing to do is to speak to a licensed clinical psychologist on how to better understand self and learn healthy ways to express our emotions. Anger is not healthy to be repressed. It is not something to be ignored. It is controllable and expressed in a healthy way.”
