HE MUST DIE

■ Slain banker’s family, colleagues say convict husband must face hangman’s noose

■ We’re heading for Appeal Court to save his life –Dad

There is justifiable joy among the friends, colleagues and family of slain banker, Titilayo Omozoye Arowolo, that the antics of her husband, Akolade Arowolo who murdered her, claiming that he was insane so that he could escape the hangman’s noose, did not deceive Justice Lateefat Okunnu, the judge that presided over the homicide case. Convinced by the overwhelming evidence presented by the prosecution, the judge found Akolade guilty and accordingly sentenced him to death by hanging.
For members of Titilayo’s family, the death sentence passed on the murderer of their beloved daughter is a just recompense in the eyes of the law, which should take its course, even though, they said Akolade had been forgiven by them for the grief he caused the family through the gruesome murder. In the wake of the death sentence pronounced on Akolade, colleagues of Titilayo at the Marina, Lagos branch of Skye Bank, who spoke with Sunday Sun, also said they were pleased with the judgment. Speaking through their lawyer, Mr. Nelson Ekoh, on the outcome of the murder case, the family of slain Titilayo said: “We don’t feel he should die but the law demands so.
The principle of capital punishment is that if you took somebody’s life unjustly, you must by right forfeit your life too. And again, the case was be-tween Arowolo and the Government of Lagos State, not between the Oyakhires. The only thing we did was to appear in court to give evidence when our family was summoned. And we owed the society a duty to do that. So it is a pity that he was sentenced to death. Nobody wanted anyone to die. But then, if the law says he should die, he must die. That is it. As Christians, the Oyakhires have forgiven Arowolo but that does not mean we should not do what is required of us by the law, by giving evidence about the murder of Titilayo.
This is our duty as citizens of Nigeria.”Titilayo and Akolade had a child, a girl, who would turn six years soon, and ultimately lose her father too when the death sentence is carried out. In response to concerns expressed about the little child’s future, Ekoh stressed there was no cause for alarm: “As regards the child of the couple, even when the marriage of the late Titi and Akolade was still intact, their child was staying with Titi’s grandparents and had been used to them. So, the child will still remain with them and continue to attend school. So, whatever happens to Akolade would not affect the child. Right from time, Akolade had not been taking care of the child as he was unemployed.”
How does he think members of the Arowolo family are taking the new development, the reporter prodded the spokesman of the Oyakhire family, and he said: “We wouldn’t know how members of the Arowolo family are taking the latest development but we want to say that they (the Arowolos) knew from the outset that Kolade killed Titi, his wife. They came to meet with our family, pleading and said they were shocked that their son could do that. They were  withdraw the matter and we told them that it wasn’t possible as it was only the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) that could do that.
That was because by that time, the case had gone beyond us. Then apart from that, they didn’t handle the case with sincerity from the outset. They came to court and told all sorts of lies because Kolade is their son. “Do you know that the car Akolade used to get away from the scene of the murder, and which was smeared with blood all over, was sold by the family in collaboration with the police?  The police had arrested Akolade while he was trying to run away in that car. Our lawyer has the pictures of the car. The police released the car to the Arowolo family and they sold it off so as to clear off any evidence indicating the culpability of their son in the murder.
Can you imagine such act? They actually did it in connivance with the police. I don’t know why the police descended so low to do that. “While they appeared to be sincere about the issue in our presence, they went outside to say all sorts of nonsense on the streets and many people came to tell us about all that they said. You know, when you go out running your mouth any-how, you won’t know who is listening and would report. So, many people came to tell our family some of the bad things the Arowolo family said about Titi and our family.”
At Skye Bank, Marina branch, where Titilayo worked until she was murdered, her colleagues are quite pleased with the death sentence passed on her murderer: “It gladdens the heart that justice is being served without fear or favour,” said one of the colleagues, who requested not to be   Continuing, the former colleague said: “Titi suffered too much in that marriage. It was her complacency and forgiving heart that led to her untimely and gruesome death in the hands of the man she loved.
There were times she came to the 漀昀fi挀 that she was being abused because she did not discuss her problem with any of us. There was a day she came to work in bandages but when I asked how she sustained the injuries, she said she fell from Okada (commercial motorcycle).
Another colleague chipped in, recalling an interaction with Titi about three weeks before she was murdered: “I saw marks on her hands but when I asked how she got the bruises, she said she slipped and fell in the house. We regret not noticing on time. Probably, we would have been able to avert this disaster. She was hard-working and was even due for promotion before she was murdered.” former colleagues as another recounted with teary eyes: “I knew Titi for more than three years.
She worked at the Adeola Hopewell branch before joining the Marina branch, where she worked for over one year before her murder. She joined Skye Bank sometime in 2007 and I can tell you that she never received a query from the bank. That is to show you how committed she was to her job. The poor lady was so in love with Akolade that on many occasions, she would distribute copies of his curriculum vitae  was eager to see him get a job. Akolade never appreciated her. Sometimes, he would seize her cheque book, ATM cards and her car keys as punishment, whenever they fought. “Titilayo was very happy the last day because her leave was to have started on Friday the next day, June 24, 2011, which happened to be her husband’s 30th birthday.
That was also the day he stabbed her to death. I recall her fondly saying, ‘This period is for me and my husband,’ with glowing smile spreading across her beautiful face.” When the reporter contacted the father of Akolade Arowolo in the family apartment in a cream two-storey building in Ejigbo, Lagos, the elderly man looked visibly disturbed. He simply said, “No comments”, when asked of his views on the death sentence passed on his son.
He, however, added that his family lawyer was heading for the Appeal Court. “There is no comment to make. Our lawyer is already appealing on the judgment. So, no comments,” he said.