Meet the Man who Killed for Love..

At the age of 22, Wasiu Kadiru thought he had it all, especially
when he won the love of a woman of his dream, Barakat, whom he
described as the most beautiful gift of God in his life. Little did he
know that the passion he had for her would destroy his life in the
nearest future.

Trouble started barely a year into their marriage, when he
discovered that he was about to lose his wife, Barakat to his best
friend, Tunji Bello with whom she had been entangled in a secret
romance.

Moved by rage caused by a possible loss of his wife to his friend,
Wasiu allegedly slaughtered another man simply identified as
Segun on the last Eid-el-kabir day (October 4) who he claimed
conspired with Tunji to snatch his wife, Barakat.Wasiu in police
custody, told Saturday Sun that it was the love that he had for
Barakat that made him deadly jealous.
“I could not live with the fact that my friend snatched my wife
from me. To make matters worse, he would always remind
me of my loss. I can’t believe that I am now known and tagged
a murderer. In fact, my eyes opened as soon as I stabbed that
man,”
Going down memory lane, Wasiu narrated that he met his wife,
Barakat in Ikorodu while he was on a visit to the town.

“She is black and very beautiful. She was actually selling
recharge cards by the roadside. Pretending I wanted to buy a
card, I chatted her up and we became friends. I visited her
severally till she agreed to be my friend after six months of
wait. The delay in convincing her, made me to fall so much
more in love with her. She later got pregnant and I quickly
visited her home and paid her bride price.
“All was well till I relocated her to Epe. To make ends meet, I
would travel down to Lagos Island to hustle and return by
weekend with goodies for my family. I introduced Tunji to my
wife and he assured that he would take care of her while I was
away. I never knew that he had plans.”
According to Wasiu, he found it hard to believe when he started
hearing rumours that his friend had taken over his wife who just
gave birth
. “I did not believe it but when I confronted her, she confirmed
that Tunji was toasting her but denied that they had an affair.

Since she was a nursing mother, I thought it was not possible.
Days before the Ileya festival (Muslim celebration), I gave my
wife N1500 to make her hair and another N1500 to take our
child to Ikorodu for treatment. He had rashes and my mother-
in-law requested that the baby should be brought to her.

“I was shocked when I called her mother and she told me that
Barakat was yet to get to Ikorodu. When she finally picked my
call, she claimed that she had gone to see a friend. It was then
that I realised that Tunji was not also in town. I don’t need a
soothsayer to tell me where she was. When she finally
returned a day to Ileya, she said that she was with Tunji. I was
heartbroken but my rage took over my soul when Tunji saw
me the next day and dared me. He said that he would not only
have sex with my wife but will marry her as his second wife. I
was mad and tried to control myself from killing him.”

Determined to toe the path of peace, Wasiu claimed that he
reported the matter to the elders of the village but Tunji refused to
stay away from his wife.
“It was just a waste of time and energy because the matter
became worse”, he added.

On the day of the incident, Wasiu specifically asked God to help
him erase the thoughts of Barakat from his mind but he never
knew the reverse would be the case.

“I was devastated and my emotions badly hurt. While we were
preparing the ram that would be eaten, Tunji came on a bike
with one heavily built man. They kept driving past me making
jest of me. I had to draw the attention of Baba Ade (his uncle)
to their behaviour. He advised me to drag one of them to him,
so that he would ask the person what the issues were. I heeded
his warning and tried to drag Segun to see Baba Ade. He gave
me a sickening blow on the head, it was so painful that I
picked up the knife that they used to slaughter the ram and
stabbed him. My initial plan was to give him a mark that he
would not forget but I mistakenly stabbed him on the neck
and he bled profusely. I knew he would die and the
community might set me on fire, so I ran into the bush and
escaped to Lagos Island”,
When reminded that he might be hanged or sentenced to life
imprisonment for murder, Wasiu burst into tears and said:

“Tunji has succeeded in taking over my wife, whom I love so
much. I am ready to die for the love of my wife. It is
unfortunate that I can no longer be there to fight him. I am
finished”.

When Saturday Sun visited Eredo community, in Epe Local
Government Area where the incident happened, Tunji was seen
hanging out with some of his friends during which he was arrested
by SARS operatives who had been trailing him. He told Saturday
Sun that it was not his fault that Barakat chose to start a
relationship with him
. “I met her last year and never knew that she was married to
my former friend. That time, she was heavily pregnant. She
complained bitterly that her husband was not taking care of
her and her unborn child. I started assisting her before I knew
that Wasiu is the husband. When she gave birth, she contin­
ued the friendship since I was still giving her money. I don’t
know how Wasiu got to know about our affair. The truth is
that if Barakat still likes him, she would not come back to me
after she had been warned severally.

“I never knew that he would go as far as killing someone
because of her. I thank God that I was not close by. It was my
dear friend, Segun that was killed. He decided to kill him
because he thought that I was making mockery of him.”

When asked where Barakat was, Tunji alleged that he relocated her
to Ijebu Ode where he rented a room apartment for her
. “Ijebu Ode is close by and I normally go there to work. I kept
her there for her own good since her husband will be sent to
jail for the rest of his life.”
Culled from Sun

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