The Nigerian government was quick to condemn Sunday Igboho’s eviction notice but authorities ignored the murder.

I decided to travel to Igangan, in Ibarapa north local government area of Oyo state. I wanted to see for myself why the murder of one man is generating so much controversy, yet no one had been arrested two months after.

At 6am on Saturday February 27, 2021, I left Lagos for Igangan. I arrived in Ibadan at some minutes past 8am. One of my hosts, Wale Oladokun, a university lecturer was waiting to receive me at Iwo road.

We headed for Eleyele where his younger brother Oladiran joined us. The journey to Igangan lasted for more than three hours including a one hour stop over at Igbo-Ora where we met Adedeji Oluwole, the Abuja Coordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC). He told us of how he intercepted suspected Fulani herdsmen with guns and handed them over to the police on Friday February 26, 2021.

Igangan forms part of Ibarapa Meje (the seven Ibarapa towns) – Igboora, Eruwa, Igangan, Lanlate, Ayete, Tapa and Idere. It is about 130km away (2 hours, 30 minutes drive) from Ibadan, Oyo State capital.

The Isamuni Hill at Ayete, one of the tourist attractions in Ibarapa that residents believe the government left undeveloped. Photo: Michael Orodare. Designer: Tonte Briggs. 

Oladokun, who is the President of the Igangan Development Advocate, told me Igangan is about two hours to the unguarded northern Benin Republic by motorcycle through the forests. And the “forests have become dangerous routes for moving ammunition and all manner of contraband into Nigeria.”

Igbo-Ora, the headquarters of Ibarapa Central, is considered the twin capital of the world because of the high number of twin births in the community. The ‘Ibarapa Meje’ are multiethnic communities and home to the majority indigenous Yoruba and migrant minority groups including Fulani herders.

Aside from farming, charcoal production is a major source of revenue in Ibarapa. On my way to Igangan on Saturday February 27, 2021, I saw trucks heading for the towns. I was told they were going to buy charcoal for export.

Igangan, Idere, Ayete are also fertile lands for cashew in exportable quantity. But the ‘Ibarapa Meje’ have not seen much development, Igangan has suffered years of neglect from successive governments, the residents told me during my visit.

Trucks along Ibarapa highway heading into the towns to move charcoal. An estimated 35,000 bags of charcoal are moved weekly from Ibarapa, says a report by U.S National Center for Biotechnology Information.

The town has no standard public health center. To access healthcare service, residents travel for about 40 minutes through Tapa, Ayete, Idere to Igbo-Ora to access the Comprehensive Health Centre and other private hospitals. It’s a long ride, and many emergency patients don’t make it to Igbo Ora before passing, residents told me.

On our way to Igangan from Ibadan, Oladokun told me “we need to do everything as fast as possible, so we can return to Ibadan before dusk.”

His reason, the roads are not safe. The Iseyin-Igbo Ora-Abeokuta highway is the most dangerous in Ibarapa land. A popular herbal medicine practitioner, Fatai Yusuff, aka Oko Oloyun was shot dead on that road in January 2020.

I counted about four police checkpoints between Eruwa junction and Igbo-Ora and about 10 police, immigration, military and customs checkpoints from Ido to Igangan. Yet travellers commute in fear.

Since 2015, banditry, attacks on farmers and abduction of travellers for ransom in different parts of Nigeria have taken a dangerous dimension. Ibarapa is not left out of the trend, and residents claim Fulani herdsmen are responsible for most of the attacks. 

The 2020 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) says Fulani extremists were responsible for 26% of terror-related deaths in Nigeria in 2019.

This forced southwest governors to set up a local security network – Amotekun, in 2019, but it has done little to stem the attacks.

The many atrocities of persons described as Fulani herdsmen in their host communities and years of reported terror in Igangan was the reason Dr Aborode’s murder was easily linked to them.

Alhaji Aborode suspects his son’s death may have been swept under the carpet if Sunday Igboho had not intervened. Photo: Olamide Fawole, Designer: Tonte Briggs.

His murder did not immediately make headlines until youths in the community led by the Igangan Development Advocates staged a protest at the Oyo governor’s office in Ibadan on Tuesday December 15, 2020. Then Sunday Igboho stepped in with his visit to Igangan in January 2021.

“In my life, I have never seen such a crowd before in this community,”Alhaji Lasisi Aborode, Dr Aborode’s father, told me while narrating how Sunday Igboho’s visit excited the community and brought his son’s death to public knowledge.

From the two hours I spent in Igangan speaking with Alhaji Aborode and other residents, I realised there is more to the death of Dr Aborode than what I could see sitting in my Lagos office.

As his father and others claimed, Dr Aborode’s murder appears to be a conspiracy between politicians and herders.

Dr Fatai Aborode: The tragedy that made many hearts bleed in Ibarapa

When I arrived at Igangan around 1pm on Saturday February 27, 2021, I met a town calm and peaceful, but the calmness belies trauma and shock from the murder of Dr Fatai Aborode on December 11, 2020,  by assailants alleged to be Fulani herdsmen.

It was not the first time herders would be accused of killing in Igangan. But this is one death too many. It was a murder that made many a heart bleed in Ibarapa and Nigeria.

Dr Aborode was a highflying corporate executive, businessman, and an influential figure in Ibarapa.

Born September 18, 1965, in Igangan, he was the first son of Alhaji Lasisi Folorunso Aborode, and only child of his late mother, residents told me.

The 79-year-old senior Aborode, who is the Baba Adinni of Igangan, retired from the Oyo state public service on December 31, 2001, as a Chief Environmental Officer.

His son, the deceased Dr. Aborode, grew up in Igangan where he attended Ansar-ud-deen Primary School, Igangan High School, and Igbo-Ora High School. He had his first degree in Chemistry at the University of Lagos and a master’s degree at the University of Ibadan.

The dilapidated sign post of Igangan High School where Aborode attended and taught for 2 years. Photo: Olamide Fawole, Designer: Tonte Briggs.

In the town behind the rocks, as some indigenes referred to Igangan, Aborode was known for his philanthropy, and passion for community development. From the two hours I spent in the small town, I discovered why his death is so important.

Many people in Igangan adored and drew inspiration from him. He was the go-to person for support. Some of the residents described him as that public well the whole community fetched from. Others told me he was the shoulder upon which Igangan rested.

“Dr was everything to everybody,” Wale Oladokun told me. “He was like the breath of the community that was why his death triggered all manner of things.”

Oladokun, President of the Igangan Development Advocate, is a university lecturer.

The old saw him as a model for their children. The young ran to him for support and tapped from his pool of knowledge.

Residents say they’ll remember him as the philanthropist who brought hope and prosperity the government never provided.

“As a student, Dr was very nice to me,” Taiwo Sangotunde, an undergraduate at the First Technical University, Ibadan, told me. “Whenever the students’ association visited him, he was always ready to support our projects and education financially and also guide us.”

Before travelling for his Ph.D in the UK where his family currently lives, Aborode taught briefly at Igangan High School, worked with the Federal Ministry of Works, Lagos for two years and the West African Portland Cement Company (WAPCO) now Lafarge in Sagamu, Ogun state. He left as a manager after 10 years.

“After his Ph.D., he was convinced by his colleagues to stay in the UK, but he insisted on returning to Nigeria,” his father told me. “Some pharmaceutical companies wanted him to work with them and told him to name whatever he wanted as salary and allowances. He rejected and said he didn’t want to be a salary earner but a self-employed person.”

Aborode contested for House of Representatives in 2015 under the Accord Party promising hope and change. He lost. Photo: Facebook/Fatai Aborode.

“Dr told me without [Obafemi] Awolowo’s free education he wouldn’t have moved close to the corridor of education. So he came back to give back to the community,” Oladokun said.

He returned to Nigeria before the 2015 election and was tapped by former governor Rasheed Ladoja to join the Accord Party. He was given the ticket to run for House of Representatives.

Aborode lost the election, Olugbenga Ojoawo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) won, defeating the incumbent PDP lawmaker Saubana Muraina who had spent two terms and was running for a third term. Saubana was reelected in 2019 and currently represents Ibarapa North/Central Federal Constituency.

After losing the election, he decided to quit politics but his followers urged him to consider them. So he stayed and started mechanised farming on his 200 acres farmland, according to his father.

He later joined the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and was planning to move to the PDP when he was murdered.

Many people in Igangan saw Aborode as Muraina’s potential successor.

The murder that ruffled Igangan

It was around 5:30pm on Friday December 11, 2020, the fury of the afternoon sun had passed and the broad sun was gradually sinking down. A sign that it was time to go home after spending the day on the farm, about 25 minutes drive to his residence. Dr Aborode called on his farm manager Olanrewaju Bolanle to take him home with his motorcycle.

“He used to go to the farm with his vehicle but the road is terribly bad and he couldn’t do that again,” Alhaji Aborode said.

The spot where Aborode was attacked on Igangan-Igana road, about 5 minutes to his house. Photo: Olamide Fawole, Designer: Tonte Briggs.

It was on that narrow and dusty Igangan-Igana road in the middle of an expanse of farmland that everything ended that evening.

Earlier in the afternoon, Aborode and other Muslim faithfuls (Yoruba and Fulani) had observed the jumat prayer on his farm.

“He never discriminates, whether you’re Hausa/Fulani or his Yoruba kinsmen. Dr is a friend to everyone,” a source told me.

When I visited the farm, it was about 25 minutes drive from Igangan town by motorcycle. It was on the road to the farm that his assailants struck and left him for dead after hacking him.

Arrow points at the road to Aborode’s 200 acres farm in Igangan. Photo: Google Earth. Designer: Tonte Briggs.

The spot he was attacked is about 20 minutes away from his farm and five minutes to his residence which sits at Igangan-Iganna road junction, the road to his farm. Residents told me his wrist and other parts of his body were macheted before his attackers left him. But he didn’t die immediately.

“He begged them and promised to pay them any amount to spare his life, but their mission was to take his life and they brutally did without mercy,” said Oluwole John aka Babangida.

According to ‘Babangida’, Aborode’s friend and the vigilante who rode the motorcycle that took me to the farm, the assailants emerged from the bush and left through the same route after hacking him.

On their way home, Alhaji Aborode said eyewitnesses told him that Bolanle who rode the motorcycle suddenly stopped at the spot where the assassins were laying siege.

“The road was good and they could move fast to leave the spot, but Bolanle stopped his motorcycle at that spot, left the motorcycle there and started running back home,” he said.

“A couple coming behind saw what was happening, and they were beaten by the assailants for persuading them not to kill Aborode. They saw what happened, and they didn’t touch nor hurt Bolanle as he claimed.”

“Bolanle didn’t inform anyone of Dr’s attack, instead he fled to Tapa,” Alhaji Aborode.  Photo: Olamide Fawole, Designer: Tonte Briggs.

The deceased’s father said it was the couple who alerted people in the town who rushed to the scene and found Aborode lying on the ground. He had been hacked and his wrist had been macheted.

Word went round Igangan that Aborode had been attacked by Fulani herdsmen. He died at Tapa town, about 15 minutes away from Igangan while they were rushing him to a hospital in Igbo Ora.

“He asked them to take him to the nearest hospital for treatment but there is no doctor available here and they were planning to go to Igbo-Ora. But getting to Tapa he lost his life,” Alhaji Aborode narrated.

He probably would have survived but residents say there are no standard hospitals in Igangan except in Igbo-Ora.

Forty minutes, that’s how long it would take to get him to the nearest public medical facility in Igbo-Ora. But he didn’t make it there before he died.

From that moment the air in Igangan and Ibarapa became thick with tension.

“I lost hope in Igangan the day Dr was killed,” said Ibrahim Oladoke, a graduate of Ekiti State University, who sees Aborode as a role model.

Dr Aborode had tall dreams for Igangan and he already had his plans mapped out before his life was cut short.

A signpost on Dr Aborode’s farm warns against trespassing. Photo: Olamide Fawole, Designer: Tonte Briggs.

His father told me that in 2020, Dr Aborode invited American investors to Igangan who were going to build a cashew processing industry in the town for the cashew plantation on his 200-acre farm which are now ripe for harvesting. Shortly before his death, he had just harvested soybeans and was preparing to harvest cashew.

The investors were also going to build schools, provide potable water, build roads and attract banks to the town, Alhaji Aborode told me.

But all that would never happen.

His murder did not only end his dreams, it also took away the hope of a community.

Aborode was devoted to providing jobs, empowering the youths, towards community development in a town that longs for it. But he became another casualty of a failed system – insecurity and absence of good medical facilities.

Why would anyone want Aborode dead?

He suspects the farm manager and PDP leaders of arranging his son’s death. Photo: Olamide Fawole, Designer: Tonte Briggs.

We may not have the answers but his heartbroken septuagenarian father, his friend, and other members of the community who would not like to be mentioned told me they strongly believe Dr Fatai Aborode’s death was a political assassination disguised as herdsmen murder.

Aborode was murdered three days to the day he planned to defect to the PDP from ADC.

Alhaji Aborode said his son’s friend who is a former gubernatorial aspirant and State Secretary of ADC in Oyo state, Aderemi Oseni, defected to the PDP in March 2020 and had invited Aborode to join him in the PDP. 

His father and other community members said his defection was postponed because a PDP leader in Igangan and member of the Oyo House of Assembly, Peter Ojedokun, lost a child. But he was murdered three days before the new date and they suspect foul play.

“I do not dispute that the assassins cannot be Fulani, Yoruba or Igbo, all I know is that there is an accord with the manager and it is politically motivated,” Alhaji Aborode said.

“He had so many supporters with him who were moving from ADC to PDP. I think that is why they are afraid.”

Alhaji Aborode told me on Saturday February 27 that “Bolanle was arrested about 10 days ago.”

He also accused Chief Samuel Olaluwo, an 80-year-old PDP chief in Igangan, of making utterances that raised suspicions.

“Bolanle is likely to know about Dr’s death,” Oluwole John aka Babangida claimed as he rained curses on the farm manager.

Dr Aborode took care of ‘Babangida’s’ hospital bills when he broke an arm in an accident and his death was a personal loss to him.

“What I suspect is that Dr may have been killed by politicians in Ibarapa who feel threatened by his popularity and know he may decide to run for House of Representatives in 2023,” another source told me.

Chief Samuel Olawuwo confirmed to me in a telephone conversation that Aborode and his group were going to join PDP before he was murdered.

He couldn’t share further details as he claimed he was in transit at the time of the call on Friday March 5, 2021.

Exactly two weeks after speaking with Chief Olaluwo and just when we were making final preparations to publish this report, sources in Igangan informed me that Chief Olaluwo had been arrested.

“He was invited by the police for questioning on Thursday in connection with Dr Aborode’s murder and he is yet to be released,” the source told me.

The Oyo police spokesperson Olugbenga Fadeyi also confirmed the arrest in a telephone conversation on Monday March 22, 2021.

“He was arrested concerning the death of Dr Aborode,” Fadeyi told me. “He has been charged and remanded, and the court proceeding is on.”

Who was afraid of Aborode?

Some residents believe Aborode was killed over his growing political influence in Ibarapa. Photo: Facebook/Fatai Aborode.

Many residents in Igangan told me Aborode was widely seen as the potential successor of Saubana Muraina who is currently in his third term at the House of Representatives.

Muraina, an Obafemi Awolowo University trained lawyer, is a former chairman of Ibarapa Central LGA and member of the Green Chamber from 2007-2015. He lost to the APC in 2015 and was re-elected in 2019 for a third term.

Some residents told me Aborode’s move to the PDP had positioned him as the party’s likely House of Representatives candidate in 2023 and he would likely win the election with the overwhelming support he enjoyed in Ibarapa land.

In Igangan I was told of an agelong bitter political rivalry which  has been the bane of underdevelopment in the community.

In 1996 when Ibarapa North LGA was created from old Ifeloju LGA, the headquarter was to be sited in Igangan, but disagreement between two leaders from different political parties in Igangan led to the relocation to Ayete, a source told me.

“One political leader believes if the government in power chooses Igangan for the local government headquarter, the man who was closer to the government would take the shine, instead he pushed for the relocation to Ayete,” the source said.

The long wait for justice

Many residents who spoke with me said Aborode’s murder may have been politically sponsored, “but we cannot rule out the involvement of Fulani herdsmen.”

“His death has the signature of their attacks. From previous experiences, whenever herdsmen attack, they hack their victims and leave them with machete cuts, that was the same mark on Dr after he was attacked. They macheted his wrist and other parts of his body,” he said.

While the community waits for positive outcome from police investigations into Aborode’s murder, many do not have hope that anything good will come out of it. Some have fears that it may join the long list of unsolved murders in Nigeria that have names like Bola Ige, Funsho Williams, Dipo Dina, Ayo Daramola and many others.

The Fatai Aborode we know – father, Igangan residents, others share details about slain businessman

Alhaji Aborode (right) at Dr Aborode’s Ph.D. convocation at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. Photo: Photo: Family. Designer: Tonte Briggs

The murder of Dr Fatai Aborode on December 11, 2020, was almost swept under the carpet until protests at the Oyo governor’s office in Ibadan by members of Igangan Development Advocate on December 15, 2020, blew it up. 

The intervention of Sunday Igboho after his visit to Igangan in January 2021 and his ultimatum to the Seriki Fulani forced the nation to pay attention to what was happening in the town up north Lagos.

Sunday Igboho didn’t know he was related to Dr Fatai Aborode before his death despite meeting him regularly at the home of ex-governor Rasheed Ladoja. Report of his death took him to Igangan where he met Alhaji Lasisi Aborode, father of the deceased. It was during the visit he realised he was related to the deceased philanthropist

“He said he never knew Dr was his senior brother after seeing the tribal marks on my face which is the same with the one on Dr’s face,” Alhaji Aborode said. “When he was in the Accord Party, they used to meet at Ladoja’s house, Dr used to be good to Sunday Igboho but he never knew they were related.”

At that point, Sunday Igboho became more enraged. It was a death so close to home. And it fuelled his fight for justice.

During a visit to the town on Saturday February 27, 2021, Neusroom spoke with the father of the deceased businessman, friends, and community members who shared intimate details about the man whose death put Igangan in the news.

“Even the death of our king couldn’t have had such a huge impact on the community and Ibarapa the way Dr Aborode’s death did,” one of the residents told Neusroom.

Taiwo Adeagbo, Secretary of Ibarapa Farmers’ Association told Neusroom that Dr Aborode was a man who was very interested in the development of the community and he loved the youths.

“He helped indigent students with financial support. Those who could not afford to earn a living ran to him and he employed over 200 people, Yoruba and Fulani, to work on his farm,” Adeagbo said. “His death is saddening.”

Wale Oladokun, a lecturer in a private university in Ondo state and President of the Igangan Development Advocate, wondered if there could ever be another man like Aborode in Igangan.

“I don’t think we can have another Aborode in that community again,” he said. “See the clout around him, he was everything to everybody. He was like the breath of the community that was why his death triggered all manner of things.”

He said Aborode was a philanthropist who was “doing it selflessly without expecting any reward.”

“He has paid for the WAEC and JAMB registration fees of about a thousand students,” said Oladokun.

Recounting his first encounter with Aborode, Ibrahim Oladoke, a graduate of Ekiti State University, said “the first time I met him was when he returned from overseas. He gathered us (students) and was enlightening and encouraging us. He made us see reasons why as youths we need to participate in politics.”

Oladoke believes the death of Aborode, whom he described as a very humble man even before joining politics, is a great loss to Igangan, Ibarapa, Oyo state and Nigeria.

“His death is a great loss and I’ve started losing hope in this community and nation,” he said.

Shakiru, a 17-year-old student of Igangan High School I met at the public water point within the premises of the Igangan town hall, only knew Dr Aborode as a politician.

He expressed shock when I asked him about Aborode’s death. Shakiru said he was not aware he was dead.

“Dr was a very nice person. I was part of the first set of people who pegged his farm in 2018 before the Cashew seeds were planted,” said Taiwo Sangotunde who had fortified himself with a charm worn around his neck before following Neusroom correspondent to Aborode’s farm.

“You know how terrible this road is, we have to be fully prepared,” he said.

Apart from employing hundreds of youths to work on his farm, Sangotunde said Aborode also empowered youths with resources to start business and secured jobs for many.

“His death has robbed us of the many big dreams he has for Igangan and has taken away glory,” he said.

Alhaji Aborode said all the testimonies about his son are true.

“He was a philanthropist to the core,” he confirmed to Neusroom. “In the family, he was the sole person who takes care of any responsibilities.”

Aborode said whenever his son was called to render assistance to those in the hospital, he would not hesitate to foot the bill. Whenever people in the community are in need, they go to him and no matter the financial challenge, when they go to him, he assists.

“When we were given a new LCDA recently, and the officials complained to him that there are no funds to buy some of the things needed at the secretariat. He called a vendor in Ibadan and asked them to supply some of the materials which he paid for,” Aborode said.

Some residents said many people in Igangan compete to work on Aborode’s farm because he pays his workers well and never owes.

Oyo state governor, Seyi Makinde, who said he knew him personally said “Dr Fatai Aborode was someone I’ve known for a long time. Losing him was very upsetting.”

Upsetting, that is what Dr Fatai Aborode’s death is to many and they are hoping that the perpetrators would be made to face the full wrath of the law.

Bolanle Olanrewaju – What we know about Aborode’s manager accused of complicitity in murder

During Neusroom correspondent’s visit to Igangan on Saturday February 27, 2021, among the litany of stories, name dropping and accusations by some of the community members, one name stood out – Olanrewaju Bolanle.

Neusroom gathered that Bolanle was Dr Aborode’s farm manager who rode the motorcycle when the philanthropist was attacked.

Here is what Igangan residents told us about Bolanle:

Alhaji Lasisi Aborode, father of the deceased, said Aborode had two managers, one in Igangan and the other at Ayete, but Bolanle who manages the farm in Igangan was closer to the late businessman.

One of the youths in Igangan told Neusroom that Bolanle is in his late 40s and also hails from and lives in Igangan with his family.

Many residents call him Alfa (an Islamic cleric) and this appellation endeared him to Dr Aborode who was a devout Muslim himelf. 

“My son loved Bolanle because people call him Alfa, and he decided to give him a job,” Aborode said. “When Dr saw him wretched, as a Muslim he believes if you see anybody who is poor, you have to help them. He employed him, paid him N30,000 monthly as salary and bought him a motorcycle.”

As the manager of the farm in Igangan, Bolanle was responsible for paying workers on the farm daily as Dr Aborode hardly spent time in the community.

All the detailed testimonies gathered by Neusroom from residents and family members on Aborode’s death indicted Bolanle who is now in police custody in Ibadan over his boss’ murder.

The farm sits on 200 acres of land along the Igangan-Igana road. Photo: Olamide Fawole. Designer: Tonte Briggs

Residents told Neusroom that Bolanle escaped unhurt from the scene where Aborode was attacked and fled to Tapa (about 15 minutes from Igangan) without calling for help or reporting the attack to anyone.

His action, according to residents who spoke with Neusroom, fuelled suspicion that he may have a hand in his boss’ death.

“My thinking is that, Bolanle Olanrewaju connived with people who killed my son and after two months nothing happened until he was arrested about 10 days ago,” Alhaji Aborode said on Saturday February 27, 2021. “It was after the sad event that people were telling us that he is a person of bad character and he’s not a responsible element.”

Another source in Igangan told Neusroom that a couple coming behind the motorcycle Aborode rode and witnessed the attack claimed Bolanle deliberately stopped the motorcycle at that spot where his boss was hacked.

“There was no reason for him to stop the motorcycle at that spot because it was not the bad portion of the road,” the source who would not like to be mentioned said. “He definitely has a hand in the attack.”

Oluwole John who has been a long time friend of Aborode believes Bolanle was not truthful in his account of the incident. 

“Bolanle likely knows about Dr’s death. I think he didn’t expect that Aborode would be killed, he probably connived with the assailants to kidnap him and demand a ransom,” Oluwole claimed as he rained curses on the farm manager.

Bolanle was arrested a few weeks ago by the police.

We could not reach him for comments.

The assassination may have been carried out by any ethnic group, as Alhaji Aborode claimed, but community members say the cuts on the deceased had the signature of men described as Fulani herdsmen when put side by side with previous victims and survivors of their attacks.

“They hardly shoot when they attack, they brutalise their victims with machete cuts and that was exactly what was found on Dr Aborode,” said a member of the Igangan Development Advocate, the umbrella organisation of Igangan youths.