Rampant deaths in hands of domestic staff call for concern

The police in Ogun State recently paraded the suspected killers of former Central Bank of Nigeria staff, Kehinde Fatinoye, his wife, Bukola Fatinoye and their only son, Oreoluwa. Call it an accurate illustration of man inhumanity to man and you would have hit the nail on the head.

Those paraded at Eleweran, the Ogun State Command Headquarters of the Nigeria police for this heinous crime were surprisingly led by one Lekan Adekanmbi, the driver to the Fatinoyes during their sojourn here on earth.

Lekan who had been working as the driver to the family since 2018 was said to have recruited Ahmed Odetola (aka Akamo) and Waheed Adeniyi (aka Koffi), two members of deadly cult group to snuff life out this family.

The gruesome killing of the Fatinoyes and their only son, Oreoluwa hit the airwaves when Nigerians, like their counterparts all over the world were celebrating the joy of seeing the first day of year 2023.

It was in the middle of this celebration that the terrible news which spread like wildfire in the harmattan broke.

The Fatinoyes were attacked and set ablaze at their Ibara GRA residence, Abeokuta shortly after coming back from the crossover church service which was observed to welcome the new year.

The attackers had reportedly tied the hands of their only surviving son, Oreoluwa and the house help and threw them into River Ogun. Unfortunately, while Oreoluwa died, the house help got his hands loosed and swam to safety.

After painstaking investigation and intelligence gathering, the police got hold of Lekan, the driver to the family and he squealed how he had to organise to wipe out his supposed benefactor and employers, yes, for the audacity not to increase his salary and for also refusing to buy motorcycle for him as if it was part of the contract signed with the Fatinoyes.

Even if that was part of the contractual agreement, under what provision of the law has he carried out his nefarious acts? Many have said that, the alleged mastermind of the gruesome and unacceptable killing of the Fatinoyes was only hiding under such gibberish as a license to commit crime against humanity and should therefore be made to bear full weight of the law for being such a greedy and callous soul.

As the wind of this calamity was settling down and just as people were on the lookout for the results of the March 18 governorship and House of Assembly elections, the news was all over again that a retired Permanent Secretary in Ogun State, Adefemi Egbeoluwa, aged 72 and his wife of around 68 years, Oluwafunmilayo had been killed in Lagos.

Their lifeless bodies were said to have been found at their residence around Allen Avenue, in the Ikeja area of Lagos State alongside their female house help said to have been found unconscious.

A report said that the driver of the family had been picked up and he had allegedly confessed that he and others at large decided to attack the couple that was due to go to the UK for their medical checkup to steal the 5000 pounds that the family kept at home for the journey.

Just last month, a Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja sentenced a domestic worker, Joseph Ogbu, to death by hanging for killing his employer, an 89-year-old grandmother, Adejoke John, and her daughter, Oreoluwa, at their home in the Surulere area of the state.

Justice Modupe Nicole-Clay handed down the verdict after finding the convict guilty of three counts of armed robbery and murder. Ogbu had been standing trial since October 2019. He was charged with armed robbery and murder.

These rampant deaths in the hands of the domestic staff is seriously a source of concern for all. It is unthinkable that someone you have engaged to work for you and earn a living so as to also live a decent life will all of a sudden turn around and be your killer.

Many argued that, at the center of this malady and criminal act is greed, craze to become rich very quickly and most importantly, fall out of the deteroriation of our value system.

Unfortunately, at one point or the other, the need to hire domestic staff usually arise and this is one informal sector that has given employment to so many. In fact, many had used the ladder of being domestic staff to go ahead and become great academicians, professionals, entrepreneurs, the list is endless.

It has been often said that hiring a domestic staff requires that the employer is security conscious. This is because of the pride of place these people usually occupy in the day to day running of the activities of their employers. For instance, your driver will often hear a lot about your conversations which hover around your family, business, future plans, banks transactions and so much more.

It is against this background that security agencies have always warned and advised that people should be ready to run background checks on their would be domestic staff before employing such.

People should also not be too naive to keep an eye on their domestic staff and stop assuming that their (domestic staff) friendly disposition they meant well whereas that is just to serve as a shield for them to strike like a green snake under the grass when it is unexpected.

People have also called for a revisit of our cherished values of integrity, hardwork, honesty, contentment, love for others, dignity in labour among others as moral decadence is one huge factor fuelling increase in crime rate in the country.