Noodles and egg seller kills bus driver over N30 debt

Olalekan Adeleke

A 37-year-old commercial bus driver was allegedly killed, Sunday night, by a Hausa food vendor in Igando area of Lagos during an argument over N30 debt.
The death of the commercial bus driver, identified as Olalekan Adeleke, popularly known as Star Boy, sparked off protests yesterday, as irate youths set fire to the suspect’s belongings.
Late Adeleke, 37, an only son, who plied Iyana-Ipaja/Iyana-Iba route, visited a canteen owned by the suspect, identified as Adamu, at College Bus Stop at about 11p.m.
He requested for noodles and two eggs to be prepared for him, after which he was given a bill of N230. But he was said to have paid N200, and Adamu started a fight.
Another customer, Kehinde Ayanduro, appealed to Adamu to allow Adeleke to go home to get the balance of N30, which Adeleke did.
But when he came back with the money, Adamu still continued the fight.
Ayanduro said Adeleke finally escaped and was crossing the road when Adamu went after him and hit him on the head with a piece of wood. Adeleke fell and died. Adamu ran and hid in a drainage until police arrived.
Colleagues of late Adeleke were also seen around. They stayed off work yesterday to mourn Adeleke, who they described as easy going.
Meanwhile, the bereaved aged mother, who said her late son was the bread winner of the family, said: “My hope and joy is gone. The only son that made me to forget the pain of being a widow is gone.”
Late Adeleke had informed his mother two weeks ago of his intention to go to Ilorin for Islamic evangelism for six months and cried that he would miss his mother.
Younger sister to late Adeleke, Kehinde, said: “When police took the corpse away, we thought they kept it at the Igando General Hospital mortuary. But when we got to Igando this morning (yesterday), we were told that it was not there.
“We were made to under-stand that it is in a mortuary at Yaba. We demand that the corpse be released for burial according to Islamic rites.”
On her part, Adeleke’s widow, Fatimo, stated that her last word with her late husband was his promise to pay their eight-year-old daughter’s school fees this week.