Three months have passed since the morning of that black Thursday, February 4, 2021, when 13-year-old Favour Adanne Osinachi Opara, here called Faour 1, was stabbed to death by Favour Adindu (Favour2), a 14-year-old. Both teenage girls, until the fateful day, resided at No. 2 Lawrence Omagbemi Street, Double Power Line area of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area, Lagos State.
Since the tragic incident happened, Favour 2 has been in the custody of the Homicide Unit, State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Lagos, where the matter was transferred for investigation and prosecution. Meanwhile her father and other members of his family have run away from the neighbourhood and proven difficult to track down.
As would be expected, the father of the deceased, Kennedy Opara, has been in psychological agony, wracked by the un-abetting pain of losing a promising daughter. The death of Favour1 was the result of prolonged period of frequent altercations between the Opara and Adindu families. On the day of infamy, the animosity that had built up over time burst like a dam and the blood of Favour1 poured as she writhed on the ground following the fatal stab in the chest, which Favour 2 allegedly inflicted on her with a sharp kitchen knife.
When he sat down for an interview with Sunday Sun, the father of the deceased, Mr Opara, a company driver, said that the father of Favour 2 was for long a terror to everybody in the compound. “Adindu became a terror to me and my family for just no reason. This is common knowledge among our co-tenants and neighbours. He was in the habit of threatening and brandishing that same knife before other co-tenants at the slightest altercation. That was the same knife that his daughter used to stab my daughter in the chest, resulting in her death,” Opara alleged.
According to him, Adindu was said to be fond of telling his children to fight back with any object available if anybody in the neighborhood touched them. Opara also alleged that Adindu boasted openly that he would deal with him and his family; there were days he would allegedly curse Opara and his family while invoking the names of various deities.
Recalling what directly led to the death of Favour 1, Opara said: “On Thursday, February 4, we woke up as one happy family, hale and hearty without knowing that my daughter would not see the end of the day. We were all at home in the morning hours and had the normal family interactions. Later, I went out to join my Christian brothers to attend the naming ceremony of a member’s child within the area. On that day, my daughter did not go to school because it was their day-off, an arrangement Lagos State schools put in place as a precautionary measure to curb the spread of COVID-19.
“I was informed that trouble started around 4:00p.m when my youngest son and Adindu’s young son had a scuffle near the tap where they were fetching water in the compound. In that brawl, my son ran behind his sister for protection while Adindu’s boy went to report to his own sister. Then his sister, Favour 1, ran out fast from the backyard where she was peeling yam with a knife and stabbed my daughter in the chest; blood spurted out and she slumped immediately in the pool of her blood and died. Instantly, a frantic message was sent to me while some neighbours who gathered rushed her to a private hospital which I hurried to; it was at the hospital that she was confirmed dead. From the hospital, some co-tenants and I went to Ejigbo Police Station, to report and later headed to the mortuary to deposit the body around 1:00a.m.”
Before she died, Favour1 was bright, academically sound girl who attended Okota Junior Secondary School, and had a good record, always being among the top five in her class. The demise of Favour1 threw the school into grief.
Recalling the life and times of Favour 1, Opara said: “My only daughter loved to read her senior brother’s books and novels, and would explain what she read like a teacher, but all that is gone. My special daughter who had a bright future; who I nurtured was cut down in her prime. She who had a special relationship with me is no more, not to be seen again forever. My whole family is still in a state of disbelief and shock that our Adanne is dead.”
He further alleged that Adindu openly gave his children a standing instruction to seriously injure Opara’s children if they fought at any time. “You therefore see why his daughter rushed out with the knife she was peeling with, to stab my daughter to death,” Opara said, wiping off a tear drop that rolled down his face.
Perhaps to escape retribution and the wrath of youths in the area, Adindu and family fled from the compound after the fatal incident.
When a call was put through his GSM, he blamed the devil for what happened, claiming that the compound was filled with evil-minded tenants. He wondered why any of the adults could not separate the fighting teenagers.
“Whoever that is behind all these bad things that have happened in the compound would not escape the wrath of God,” Adindu said.
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GermoDon
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