MYSTERY DEATH: Husband, junior wife, 3 kids found dead but death riddle won’t be solved

Close to two weeks after a man, Aliu Adeoye, his junior wife and her three children died in their home in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, the probable cause of their death remains a mystery and the riddle may not be solved.
Until the unfortunate incident hap­pened, the late Adeoye, a surveyor, lived with his two wives and their six children in a bungalow at 3, Ireti Akinbode, Temi­dire community, Sabo area of Abeokuta North Local Government Area.
On the fateful night, Adeoye, his ju­nior wife and the three children of the union slept in the same room while the senior wife slept in another room with her own children. But the following morning, Adeoye, his junior wife and the three children were found dead.
The only tenant who lived in the house with the family, Egbebi Abiose, who was also affected by whatever caused the death of the other five peo­ple survived, but had to be hospitalized at an undisclosed private hospital in the town.

Miraculously, the senior wife and her children were unscathed. But her survival has since become an albatross as she has been stridently accused of being responsible for the death of her husband, co-wife and her three children.
Incidentally, when news of the mys­tery death spread within the neighbour­hood, irate youths attempted to lynch her on the strength of allegations that she had masterminded the deaths of the deceased husband, co-wife and her three children.
Stoutly, the senior wife continued to plead innocence before the mob that gathered. A sympathetic neigh­bour quoted her as saying: “God is my witness; I know nothing about how my husband, “Iya Aliya” and her three children died. I am a mother, what do I stand to gain by killing them?”
Another neighbour told Sunday Sun that the senior wife even swore with Ogun, the god of iron that she was wrongly accused of the death of her husband.
She was saved from jungle justice and instant death by the prompt in­tervention of the police, who took her into protective custody. Sunday Sun gathered that the police, after conduct­ing preliminary investigation, allowed the corpses deposited at the mortuary to be released for burial.
Speaking on this, Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi said the police had wanted to conduct autopsies on the deceased (Adeoye Five) but were hampered by the ongoing doctors’ strike. He also said: “Our investigations have been hampered by the insistence of the Adeoye family that they were not interested in establishing a case with the senior wife or any other person for that matter. The family was later asked to make a formal request after which we had to release the corpses to them for burial since they said they were not interested in any case.”
But the police decided that the senior wife would remain in protective custo­dy until the threats to her life no longer existed.
With the cause of death not forensi­cally determined, people have been left to freely speculate on what caused the death of the late Adeoye, his junior wife and three children.
While one version of the tale was the suspicion that the Adeoye Five died from inhalation of carbon monox­ide gas from their generator, another version being peddled claimed that the family was killed through spiritual attack. Some people even alleged that the senior wife sprayed “something” in the room where the late Adeoye Five slept that night.
One incensed neighbour even offered a reason to back up the accusation against the senior wife: “Don’t mind her; she is the one responsible for the death of her husband, the co-wife and children, so that she can inherit the family property. She was always fond of fighting and cursing the late woman.”
Despite her strong denial of the accusation, many in the neighbourhood have not been swayed by the attempts to exonerate her from responsibility for the death of the Adeoye Five. Sunday Sun inquiries established that the two wives of Adeoye had a history of frequent quar­rels. Their bad relationship got to a point that the community had to intervene in an attempt to bring about peace between the two women.
The acting Chairman of Temidire Community Development Association and retired deputy superintendent of police, Alhaji Taofeek Akanni, while commenting on the incident, described it as pathetic.
“The mystery surrounding the death of Adeoye and the other four persons can only be unraveled by God. With my length of service in the Nigeria Police Force, once a matter is reported to the Police, it is their duty to investigate the matter and come up with a report,” Akanni said.
He described the late Adeoye as an easy going and friendly person.”
The late Adeoye’s younger sister, Mrs. Akerele, said she was yet to come to terms with the reality of her brother’s death.
“When I received the sad news through a member of the community, I did not believe it until I got to the scene and I saw the lifeless body of my brother. I may not know who and why my broth­er was killed along with his wife and three children, but I know that his death and those of others were not natural. I suspect foul play,” she said.
“The chemical odour coming out of the house suggested that my brother’s death was not natural. She also dis­missed the theory that the Adeoye Five died of generator fume.
The Ogun State Police Public Rela­tions Officer, Adejobi affirmed that the senior wife would remain in protective custody of the police on the ground that her culpability in the death of the hus­band and others was not established.
“As an institution, we don’t believe mere accusations that she sprayed some­thing into room,” Adejobi said.
In the absence of an autopsy report on what caused the death of the Adeoye Five, the senior wife would for the rest of her life bear the burden of the accu­sations against her with no recourse yet to independently and properly establish either her innocence or guilt. Time, as it is said, will tell.