Ayobami Ife, Abeokuta
A senior female staff of Federal University of Agriculture (FUNAAB) Abeokuta, Mrs Bukola Fatinoye, and her husband, Kehinde Fatinoye, have been set ablaze by assassins – cum arsonists in their residence at Government Reservation Area (GRA), Ibara in Abeokuta, the Ogun State Capital.
Kehinde Bukola is said to be a staff of Central Bank of Nigeria.
The assailants killed the couple in a predawn savage attack and set their home on fire shortly after they had returned from a cross over New Year church service.
The fire helped by the harmattan breeze engulfed a part of the building and charred the couple in the process.
Their remains were said to have been evacuated by the police, according to some of the sympathizers who thronged the scene to observe the development.
Unofficial sources said the suspected arsonists were believed to have trailed the couple to their GRA home before torching it.
Unconfirmed source said the son and maid were later thrown into a river in Adigbe area of Abeokuta.
Only a couple of months of ago, the couple lost their son in a mysterious circumstance and was still grieving when the unfortunate fate struck again on New Year Day.
The Daily Crucible visited the scene and saw the upper part of the building – the whole roof, had caved in due to the massive inferno that ravaged it and the wall too were all cracked.
The Commissioner of Police in Ogun State, Lanre Bankole, was there in company of detectives, who carried out a preliminary investigation on the spot but the police boss declined to speak with our reporter on the development.
The Commissioner also asked after leaders, especially the Community Development Association(CDA), of the elite neighbourhood, perhaps to have discussion with them on the calamity that hit the area but there was none around at the time of filing this report.
Meanwhile, a wake keep was commenced immediately for the slain couple in a nearby space, hours after the gruesome killings.
Reacting, the Directorate of Public Relations, FUNAAB, Mr Kola Adepoju, said the university management received the news of the gruesome killing of Bukola Fatinoye with great shock, saying she was well loved and popular at the university.
The Acting Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Prof.Olusola Babatunde Kehinde visited the residence of the couple, and described the death of Mrs. Fatinoye, a senior staff of the University, and her husband as gruesome and a rude shock to the University Community.
The Acting Vice Chancellor who was visibly disturbed and pale, described Mrs.Fatinoye as a committed staff, easygoing, and very friendly, according to Adepoju.
Adepoju quoted Prof.Kehinde as urging security agencies to urgently unravel and bring perpetrators of the dastard act to justice as soon as possible.
He prayed to God to give the relations and the entire members of the University Community that the deceased left behind the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.
