Sister Loses Right Eye During Alleged Fight With Stepbrother Over Dad’s Property

A lawyer identified as Olusegun Alalade allegedly attacked his stepsister, Ifeoluwa Oluwaloseyitan, with a plank over their late father’s estate on Ladipo Oluwole Avenue, off Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, Lagos. She lost her right eye in the course of the alleged fight.

According to Punch, Ifeoluwa, her husband, Pastor Abraham Oluwaloseyitan and her two elder brothers – Tunde and Kolawole – had been to the estate to inspect the painters working on one of the apartments. Kolawole, who works in Abuja, had embarked on the renovation of the flat for him to stay whenever he comes to Lagos. They were about to leave the premises when the lawyer and his accomplices unleashed terror on them. Apart from the woman, the pastor was slashed in the head with a machete while Kolawole and others were also injured. Tunde however escaped unhurt.

Ifeoluwa reportedly had an operation on Thursday to prevent the ‘ruptured’ eye from getting infected. One of the doctors treating her at the Lagos State University Hospital where she was admitted confirmed that shortly before the operation, the eye had become blind.

He said: “The trauma has ruptured the eye. The surgery we want to do is just to prevent infections. But medically, she can’t see with the eye.”

Narrating her ordeal, Ifeoluwa said:

“It all started on Saturday when his younger brother, Babasanjo, used a machete to inflict wounds on a step-brother, Shola, in the palm inside our father’s estate. Babasanjo was arrested by the police from Man Centre Police Station but was released that same day. The lawyer was boasting before the policemen that he would deal with all of us.

On Sunday, we went to the property to see the painters working on it. I was reading a magazine beside the gate when I saw the painters rushing out. I was approaching them to know what was wrong when Olusegun smashed a big plank on my forehead. He was hitting me, shouting ‘I will kill all of you’. He stopped when I pretended I was dead.”

Her husband, Pastor Abraham, said:

“I moved her away from them (Olusegun and Babasanjo). Suddenly, they started clubbing me in the head. It was when two policemen came that they stopped beating me. Between Sunday evening and today (Thursday), I have spent over N200, 000 on her treatment alone. She is blind in one eye and her nose is affected too.”

Kolawole, one of Ifeoluwa’s step-brothers, who accused the police of not handling the matter properly, said, “I am going to petition the Inspector-General of Police on this matter. Why would they release persons who attempted to kill? We are not happy with the way the matter is being handled by the police. It was because Babasanjo was released on Saturday that he was able to attack us on Sunday.”

Another brother, Tunde, said Olusegun had been ‘fraudulently’ administering their father’s property within and outside the state since he died in 2008, without giving them any share of the income.

The lawyer however denied attacking the victims. He said: “Tunde’s claims are not true. They were the ones that attacked me and I was injured in the head. I don’t know about the hoodlums and how Ifeoluwa got injured. They have been warned by the police to keep away from the estate. I just ejected a tenant from that place last month and locked the room. What was their mission on that premises on a Sunday? After all, they have sued me and my sibling.”

One of the painters, Ayoola Henry, described the attack as ‘bloody’ saying he witnessed the incident from where he hid.

He said: “We were done with our work when Mr. Babasanjo, the lawyer and some people came with weapons and started attacking everybody. I ran to a corner but my partner was slightly injured in the leg. The lawyer was saying ‘I will kill everybody’. I am not sure whether it was the lawyer or Babasanjo that injured the woman (Ifeoluwa) because I was in shock.”

When contacted on the phone, Babasanjo only replied that the battle over the said property “is already in court.”