By Tunde Oso
FEBRUARY 13, 2025 was supposed to be a regular day for 36-year-old Lowo Bababo Joel, the Assistant Secretary of Ugbonla Community Development Association in Ondo State, instead the day ended being the day he lost his life.
The father of four whose fourth child was just eight days old on the day of his demise was sitting with Chief Adebowale Ebiwano, the Baale of Ugbonla community in Ugboland around noon, discussing issues in the community before an angry mob allegedly dealt him a blow of machete to the head and multiple blows of sticks armed with his nails to every part of his body which led to his demise.
WHAT HAPPENED ON THE 13TH OF FEBRUARY?
According to narration by multiple residents of the town and Ebiwano, trouble started brewing in the morning of that day when a group of people in the town started ringing bells, saying that no one should be recognised as the Baale of Ugbonla community as the town does not have any Baale. At the time this was going on, Oyinbo, as Joel was fondly called in the community due to his very fair complexion, was sitting in front of a betting shop owned by a youth leader in the community.
When Oyinbo and the community leader and a few others heard that the angry mob, which had earlier paraded the town announcing that the community no longer as a ‘Baale’, was coming in their direction, they ran for their lives to take refuge in the house of an elder in the community (names withheld).
The Baale, who is also an eyewitness of incident, said: “While seeking refuge in that elder’s house, the mob got wind that we were there and decided to pounce on us. “We hid in one of the rooms in the house, other executive members of the community development association and I.” “Pleas by a daughter of the owner of the house fell on deaf ears as the mob threatened to burn down the house and started destroying the window fittings in the house. “All attempts to get the police in Igbokoda, a town about 16 kilometers from our community, to come to our rescue proved abortive as they said they didn’t have petrol in their vehicles.
“When the crowd finally removed the window fitting of the room we were in, they saw my other cabinet members including Oyinbo (the deceased) but they didn’t see me as I was hiding under the bed.
“Attempts by Oyinbo (the deceased) to escape the crowd only got him blows of machete and sticks to the head. “When some bystander saw the rate he was bleeding, they tried and stop the bleeding and took him to a nearby hospital, where he later died after attempts to save his life by the medical team at the hospital failed.”
Amateur videos and pictures seen of the incident by this reporter corroborate some of the statements of the Baale as the videos are in bit and pieces. The videos show a crowd consisting of youths both male and female including children marching across Ugbonla in a protest-like manner, chanting that the community no longer has a ‘Baale’. Other videos show the crowd attacking various houses with sticks and cutlasses and still maintaining the same narrative. One video shows part of the mob using a piece of cloth, trying to stop a cut on Oyinbo (the deceased) head, which was bleeding seriously. This, however, is not the only injury on Oyinbo’s body as other parts of his body also were also seen bleeding in the video.
When this correspondent contacted Ondo State Police PRO, SP, Odunlami Ibukun, he said the family of the deceased should have approached the Area Command of the Police and if they were not satisfied and still felt aggrieved should write a petition to the state Commissioner of Police.
MOMENT OF VIOLENCE
The devil reared its ugly head again in the town when rumours of the death of Oba Obateru Akinruntan, who only traveled outside the country, started circulating in Ugbo Kingdom, and it was gathered that the parties who didn’t want Ebiwano to rule the community saw this as an opportunity to unseat him and were the alleged mastermind of the mob action, which led to Oyinbo’s death.
Ebiwano and other residents of the town, who pleaded anonymity, fingered a religious leader (name withheld) in Ugbonla as the mastermind behind the mob action that led to the death of Oyinbo and injury to many others.
They said that the mob, throughout their operations, kept on parading the picture of the religious leader, chanting his name. Videos seen by this journalist confirm this claim.
But a representative of the church, who didn’t give his name, denied the involvement of the church in the whole fiasco. He added that the town had never had a Baale as the Olu of Ugboland has always been the administrator of the community with the church playing a significant role in the affairs of Ugbonla. The death of Oyinbo and the injury to others are not the only results of the mayhem that happened on the 13th of February.
Several cars and houses including those of Ebiwano were also destroyed in the chaos.
An autopsy carried out on the deceased by Dr. Pelemo O. E, a pathologist with the Ondo State government, revealed that Oyinbo died as a result of “multiple head injuries due to sharp force trauma with cervical fracture.”
CRY FOR JUSTICE
Members of the family of Joel (the deceased), who spoke to this reporter, are pleading with the Inspector General of Police, Ondo State Police Command and Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa to help get justice for their beloved.
Ebiwano and members of his cabinet, in a written statement made available to this reporter, are also pleading with the government and the police to help end the conflict as they “can no longer sleep in their houses since that day as they keep receiving death threats”. The statement partly reads: “It’s appalling that, despite frantic efforts made by the Baale of Ugbonla and his cabinet members and families to enter their houses and go about their normal businesses/works in Ugbonla, gangsters continue to threaten to kill the Baale, his cabinet members and families if they are sighted in Ugbonla community.
“The nightmare of how Lowo Bababo Joel was murdered and the attempted murder carried out on Baale and his cabinet members still resonate in their minds till this moment.”
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