Ahmed Azeez, elder brother to 36-year-old Rahmon Azeez, who was stabbed to death when some members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), otherwise known as Park Management System (PMS) clashed with shop owners in the Iwo Road area of Ibadan, on Wednesday evening, June 16, revealed that the deceased was planning to see his newborn twins in United States before he was killed.
It was gathered that the deceased recently bought a Toyota Camry and drove the car to the Iwo Road Shopping Complex in Ibadan, Oyo State, built by his mother popularly known as Mama Ahmed. However, on getting to the spot, the entrance was said to have been blocked by commercial bus drivers dropping and picking passengers despite the place not designated as a bus stop.
Azeez was said to have asked the drivers to leave the entrance to allow customers and visitors to the complex to access the building. But his speech, it was gathered, reportedly resulted in an altercation. The drivers were said to have reported him to the park managers who were accused of swooping on the young man and dealt him blows and slaps.
Being a popular person at the complex, his mother’s tenants and phone sellers were said to have rescued him from the hands of the drivers and park managers. Not satisfied, the assailants reportedly left to mobilise and invaded the complex with weapons.
According to PUNCH, eyewitnesses said the hoodlums targeted Azeez and hurled stones, sticks and other sharp objects at him before he was stabbed in the chest.
One of the shop owners, Taye Salawu, said Azeez’s assailants made sure that he was dead before leaving. He noted that they later hid under the cover of the melee to loot and vandalise shops in the complex. Salawu said, “Not satisfied with the level of destruction, they looted shops and carted away phones and other electronic devices.’’
Azeez’s grieving elder brother, Ahmed Azeez, said the leader of the Park Managers, Alhaji Lamidi Mukaila, popularly known as Auxiliary, led armed members who killed his brother at the complex.
Ahmed said, “There is video evidence to back it up and I saw it. My brother was 36 years old. His family resides in the US and he already got a visa to visit them. His wife gave birth to twins. He had not seen the babies since their birth. He planned to see his family but that never happened. We have buried him. I am heartbroken. I can’t talk for long. I don’t know if this is a dream.”