I tell my story today not as a man seeking pity but as a son who has bled, suffered, been humiliated, hunted, and nearly killed for insisting that what my father left behind must not be stolen in broad daylight. When my father died in circumstances too mysterious to ignore, everything that should have been sacred collapsed instantly. The man assigned to nurse him back to health, Mr Fredrick Akinnuoye, AKA, Adaja, swiftly transformed from caregiver to claimant. After my father breathed his last, this same man, already in his sixties, appended my father’s name to his own and began parading himself as Fredrick Ajisafe Akinnuoye. Adopting my father’s name as his middle name, Ajisafe! He relied on a deceptively obtained power of attorney he made my father and I sign out of the ignorance of an unschooled bricklayer, a document that died naturally the moment my father passed, and he seized our land as though the rightful heirs were too young or too powerless to resist. We were in our early twenties, but we were not fools.
It was in those turbulent and suffocating days that Hon Akinlaja sent for me. He said he had been observing the drama silently and believed it would be cruel to allow Adaja walk away with what he described as blue murder. He took me in, supported me when I was being detained weekly across different police formations in Ondo, and introduced me to Barrister Femi Akinbinu, my first truly capable lawyer. He even paid five hundred thousand naira in legal fees on my behalf. (proof on request) Those were the only brief days when I felt the world would stop crushing me. He bought me a motorcycle and gave me money several times, some in cash and some deposited directly into my bank account, as reflected in my statements. For a moment I believed God had finally sent helpers.
The illusion shattered the day Hon Akinlaja demanded that I give him one hundred and eighty acres out of my father’s inheritance in exchange for eight million naira at a time when a single plot of land was selling for more than eight hundred thousand naira. I refused. I told him I could not, without my family’s consent, dispose of our father’s heritage for crumbs. Everything fell apart instantly. He branded me ungrateful, threw me out like a stray dog, and vowed that I would see the other side of him in agony. That promise came to pass with mechanical accuracy.
One of the earliest attacks came through ASP Christy Bolaji, his then girlfriend and dedicated lieutenant. At his instruction, the Yaba Division DPO, CSP Musbau Tijani, ensured that I was detained repeatedly and cut off from the outside world. On one of those horrifying detentions at the Ondo Police Station in Yaba, instructions were given never to allow anyone visit me, not even my lawyer, Mr Femi Akinbinu. I remained in that cell for eight agonizing days. I refused to eat the food they brought, because a sympathetic, God sent police officer had quietly warned me never to taste anything they offered. I survived eight days on nothing but prayer.
When I did not break, they manacled my hands and legs, dragged me out in chains, and transferred me to the State Headquarters in Akure under the direct supervision of ASP Christy Bolaji. Unknown to them, fate was about to reverse my misery. The then Commissioner of Police, CP Abayomi Peters, a transparent officer and genuine man of God, had already gotten wind of the strange movement of a young adolescent detainee whose rights were being trampled. When he confirmed the details he became livid. He investigated Hon Akinlaja’s involvement and what he uncovered disgusted him. He immediately transferred CSP Musbau Tijani and ASP Christy Bolaji out of their posts and rebuked them publicly with the Yoruba phrase “awodi jeun epe sanra,” meaning the vulture growing fat on poisoned food. CP Abayomi Peters rose to the challenge and protected truth at a moment when truth would have died. Today he has risen to the lofty rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police and now mans Zone 13 in Anambra. The Nigerian Police may have their shortcomings, but we say proudly that there are still officers who will not bend before mouth watering inducements.
Once the case was removed from the grasp of those who had been manipulating it, the CP directed that it be reassigned to a different department headed by Superintendent of Police Okunfolami Christiana. But even there, their machinery of corruption attempted to follow the file. ASP Christy Bolaji waylaid SP Okunfolami, knelt before her, and begged her to cooperate, promising a large incentive and an opportunity to meet the benefactor behind the persecution, Hon Akinlaja himself. Horrified at the implications, SP Okunfolami ran straight to her boss and reported what had just happened. Had ASP Bolaji not been nearing retirement, she would have faced disciplinary action for attempting to implicate the institution further in the web of dishonour.
It was this very case that Barrister Olufemi Akinbinu took to court and won against the police. The court awarded a judgment in excess of two million five hundred thousand naira in damages against ASP Christy Bolaji and the institution. The judgment remains unpaid till this day despite several demand letters.
The persecutions continued unabated. In yet another incident, They came again early morning to my house and chained me in front of my house, first to the ground and then behind my back, they then jumped on my manacled hands. The pain defies description. I lost control, and defecated on myself. I would have signed away every acre of land that day just to breathe again, but Barrister Akinbinu urged me on and the courts vindicated us again. Yet those in power ignored our victories. The Attorney General who prosecuted did not respond to our letters and the police authorities pretended the judgment did not exist. A poor bricklayer was painted as the villain while the millionaire feeding fat on stolen land was celebrated as a saint.
Then my fortunes changed. The new Commissioner of Police in Ondo State, CP Wale Lawal, decided to personally take it upon himself to verify all our judgments at the issuing courts, a prerequisite to unraveling the root cause of this mayhem. When he found them authentic he issued a formal police report that calmed the storm. His courage prevented mayhem and preserved peace. He is an action driven, fearless, thorough, and unrelenting officer, and Ondo State is blessed to have him.
But when their manipulations failed, they came for my life. On my own land, they attacked me with a machete. If my wife had not been with me I would have been buried by now. They would have claimed a wild animal killed me or that I died by my own hand. Today there is a bounty on my head. Pa Akinlaja allegedly instructed his Chief Security Officer, Idowu Fadayomi, known as Madman, to finish the job with the promise of a portion of my land. That is why I fled Okedasa, my root and my father’s home in Ondo, and now live in hiding while continuing the fight through the courts, the only refuge left for the poor.
In another shocking turn, an Honourable from Ondo East LCDA called the magistrate handling Olaleye Awonusi Apalara case on phone, directly in her chambers while she was writing a ruling, falsely claiming that the Attorney General, Mr Kayode Ajulo, had directed her to insert illegal instructions. But to her eternal glory, the magistrate rebuked him openly and confirmed that the Attorney General had never attempted to influence her. This is why we believe the Attorney General is genuinely neutral, save for the aronda ronda deception he was unwittingly dragged into by corrupt politicians.
Even at that, a powerful clique continues to insist that court certified judgments are fake and that those who benefited from them are land grabbers. The poor Ajisafe becomes the villain and the rich becomes the victim. But truth is stubborn. It always finds air.
Our appeal to the Attorney General is simple and sincere. Sir, we ask you to allow the law to take its full course. Ignore the noise, the pressure, the manipulations, and the theatrics of those who believe themselves untouchable. The magistrate’s actions, done without jurisdiction, are nullities from the beginning. The matter is before the High Court where the presiding judge has already adjudicated in the presence of both counsels. What we seek is not favour but fairness, not sympathy but justice, not selective strength but equal strength applied to all parties.
Sir, we also ask you to stand as the Attorney General of the people, not of the powerful. We acknowledge your neutrality and urge you not to allow villains escape accountability. Only a clear demonstration of fairness will restore public confidence in your office and assure the oppressed that the justice system still has room for them.
We must also commend CP Wale Lawal, the action driven and fearless Commissioner of Police, and His Majesty Oba Victor Adesimbo Kiladejo, Jilo the Third, the Osemawe and Paramount Ruler of Ondo Kingdom. His Majesty’s relentless stand against cultism and violent crime remains the backbone of the relative peace we still enjoy. He is a father to the community and a stabilizing force. Anyone in Ondo, days back will witness droves of cultists surrendering their weapons of mass destruction. Kudos to you both sirs
Finally, I write this not to provoke fear or pity but because silence is death. Let justice be done, not for me alone, but so that no poor son defending his father’s honour may ever again be hunted as a criminal.
By Ojo Ajisafe
