Encomium
Paul Oluwaseun Olafare, a Lagos based pharmacist who allegedly committed suicide on Sunday, April 12, 2015, in his Shomolu residence in Lagos, was buried on Saturday, May 2, 2015, in Lagos amidst controversy.
ENCOMIUM Weekly spoke to the deceased’s brother, Olami on Friday, May 1, 2015, and he said; “My father does not want us to talk to the media about the issue anymore because we have not buried my brother. Things can escalate from granting interviews and people may misquote us. We just want to bury my brother.”
Olami was mum when we asked him for more information on why the family would want to bury the deceased before the result of the autopsy.
On Saturday, May 2, ENCOMIUM Weekly spoke to Olami and he confirmed that his brother was buried in the early hours of Saturday (May 2). He admitted that it was strictly attended by the family of the deceased and very close friends.
When ENCOMIUM Weekly asked him if the wife and her family members were at the funeral, he said no, and he doesn’t know if they were informed. He further said that his family was fed up with the whole situation and refused to divulge more information.
When ENCOMIUM Weekly contacted Lagos PPRO, Kenneth Nwosu, he confirmed that an autopsy had been carried out, but the result will be announced on Monday (May 4, 2015). The result of the autopsy will also decide whether Mrs. Busayo Olafare would be released. Meanwhile, the children of Paul and Busayo Olafare are in the custody of Busayo’s mother.
Kehinde Nubi who released a press statement on behalf of Busayo’s family said, “How could we attend a funeral we were not aware of”, when he spoke with ENCOMIUM Weekly on Monday, May 4, 2015. He made it known to us that they have updated the press state released by Taiwo family (Busayo family).
UPDATED PRESS STATEMENT RELEASED ON MONDAY, MAY 4, 2015
- PREAMBLE
This is AN UPDATE to the initial press statement issued by the family of Mrs. Busayo Olafare nee Taiwo, on the unfortunate suicide of her husband Oluwaseun Paul Olafare, on Sunday, 12th of April, 2015.
Why are we updating our press statement?
We had, until the initial press statement of Tuesday 28th April, 2015, maintained a dignified silence, despite huge temptations to break it by the thoughtless action of her husband’s family who threw caution to the winds by going on unbridled rampage on social media. They ran a one-sided campaign of hate and calumny filled with innuendos, half-truths, brainless lies, prejudicial comments, and unfounded and baseless accusations sprinkled with a generous dose of libel.
AS WE WRITE, THEY HAVE SIDETRACKED DUE PROCESS AND IN CONNIVANCE WITH THE HOSPITAL AUTHORITIES, COLLECTED THE DECEASED BODY AND BURIED IT ON SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2015 WITHOUT THE PRESENCE OF THE WIFE AND THE CHILDREN AND HER FAMILY.
THIS IS ALSO DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE POLICE ARE STILL CONDUCTING INVESTIGATIONS, AND DESPITE THE FACT THAT BUSAYO IS IN HER FOURTH WEEK OF DETENTION FOR A CLEAR CASE OF SUICIDE.
WHATEVER THE POLICE INVESTIGATION WILL REVEAL, WE ARE SAYING IT IS A CLEAR CASE OF SUICIDE BECAUSE IT IS ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE TO FORCE DOWN THE THROAT OF EVEN A DAY-OLD-BABY THE AMOUNT OF POISONOUS SUBSTANCE THAT HE TOOK TO END HIS LIFE!
Amongst other reasons, we had kept quiet:
- ….out of respect for the memory of the deceased who was more of a beloved son than a son-in-law.
- …. out of shock, we must confess, at the way those who are claiming that they loved Seun were treating his memory.
III. …. out of consideration for the feelings of our daughter whose grief was compounded by the inconsiderate action of her husband’s family who, without conscience and out of malice, and despite knowing the facts, accused Busayo of murdering her husband, on account of which she was taken into custody by the Police.
- …. out of the belief that the irrational noise they were making was not the best, and that common sense will eventually prevail, considering that the marriage produced two children (out of three confinements) who are still infants, and who deserve a better memory of a father they will grow up without knowing.
- ….also because of the belief that we should not issue any statements or engage in a press war with Seun’s family, in order not to prejudice Police investigations into the matter in any way.
We are constrained to update our statement because this family has misled the public down the wrong road for too long and are trying so hard to “give a dog a bad name to hang it”! They are desperate, for reasons best known to them, to act the woman in the bible who lost her child, and wanted King Solomon to divide her partner’s child into two out of pure hate, jealousy and malice. (1 Kings 3: verses 16 – 28).
Who was Oluwaseun Paul Olafare?
The social media and regular newspapers have published enough snippets of his life, especially the ‘award-winning pharmacist’ and youth mentor bit. The public has also heard that he had financial issues. He took a loan from a bank and a cooperative without consulting the wife, but was forced to tell her when the centre could not hold, and when she had to even be fuelling and maintaining the car, in addition to picking up all the bills.
Let’s go back a little and we’ll see that Seun was an insecure child; according to his older brother Femi Olafare, he had once wanted to commit suicide because he broke five crates of minerals with the liquid contents, for fear of punishment from his mother.
Fast forward to his Facebook Note of November, 15, 2011, where he wrote what he titled, “This is my story”:
“When all the light becomes darkness, when your strength becomes weakness, When all you preach against catch up with you, when failure stands face to face, shoulder to shoulder with you.
When you are surrounded by people that doesn’t (sic) understand you <loneliness?>.
HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT OF COMMITTING SUICIDE? OH! I HAVE BEEN THERE”
He went further to tell us, how he “grew up in the slum”, how he “MOVED WITH THE DEAD”, how his “mum and dad splitted (sic)”, and, how he thought he “WOULD NEVER HAVE A FUTURE”.
ON APRIL 3, 2015, SEUN SENT A TEXT MESSAGE TO BUSAYO ASKING HER TO REMARRY IF ANYTHING HAPPENED TO HIM; of course, this was ‘rejected in Jesus’ name’ by Busayo. She discussed the matter with him and they ended up praying about it. She suggested going for counselling but this he vehemently rejected.
His last post on Facebook was on April 4, 2015 wherein he wrote, “LIFE IS NOT FAIR…
I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong neither yet bread to the wise nor yet favour to men of skill…”
That Seun had psychological issues is not in doubt. He was a relatively quiet person who didn’t speak out his mind and was haunted by the fact that he came from a broken home. He could only sleep with lights on because, according to him, evil spirits are in the darkness around him. Days before his death, during a night vigil, a bird flew into the church, and he said to the hearing of many people that ‘it was him they came for’. At another vigil, someone had a vision that he saw a human form walking with its legs above the ground, Seun promptly said, again to the hearing of many people, that ‘they came for him’.
He was given a message to remain under ‘protection’ in their church for some days but failed to complete it. He had once expressed to his wife that he felt like jumping into the lagoon from the Third Mainland Bridge, this is what his siblings twisted into Busayo physically restraining him from jumping from the bridge.
There is no doubt that his financial problems significantly contributed to his depressed state of mind, which led to his unfortunate end. There is evidence that Seun’s father put him under financial pressure, through a text message, for Seun to “assist” him in the burial of his brother in the days leading to his suicide.
His father told people that he had a horrible dream about Seun days before, and sent a text message telling him not to give himself to the ‘enemy’. He told Seun to see him on that same Sunday when he killed himself. Apparently, they know the ‘enemy’, and a few things about this unfortunate event that they have not told the world.
Again, but for the incomprehensibly thoughtless attitude of his family, all these should not be in the public domain.
‘Who is Mrs. Busayo Olafare (nee Taiwo)?
Busayo is the first child of the family, she is thirty-one years old, has three siblings – an immediate younger brother and a pair of twins one male and the other female. She is a double graduate of Accountancy of the Yaba College of Technology and the University of Lagos. She holds a Higher National Diploma and Bachelors Degree respectively of the two top higher institutions in Lagos. She works in one of the top financial institutions in Lagos. Raised in a solid Christian home, her passion for God is not in question, and as said earlier, she has two children, who are infants, a male and female, for her late husband.
What happened and when did it happen?
Early in the morning on Sunday 12th of April, 2015, we were jolted by a phone call from Busayo telling us that Seun had attempted committing suicide and had been rushed to the hospital. This naturally shocked us to our bone marrows. On our way to the hospital, we got another call that he had died in the hospital. We made our way to their residence where we met her in a state of understandable shock; she was a total emotional wreck. Their neighbours were trying so hard to calm her down as she was totally distraught, while awaiting the arrival of families on both sides.
We asked Busayo what happened and she told us that they were preparing for church and as she was about to iron their sutana, Seun offered to do it. Busayo at a stage found out that his sutana was not amongst the ones to be ironed. She asked him why and he answered that he would not be going to church because he is expected to contribute some money in the church which he cannot afford. According to the wife, he was visibly unhappy to the extent that she gave him some money and told him to pick more money from the wardrobe if he needed more to sort things out in the church. He told her that she should go ahead to the church and that he would join her later.
She went to the bathroom to take her bath and on her return found him with the plastic bottle containing the poisonous substance that he drank, and before she could stop him, he drank more of the substance. She rushed to the kitchen to bring palm oil to use as an antidote and raised an alarm calling on the neighbours for help; however, he told her that “it was too late”!
With the help of neighbours, he was rushed to the hospital where he eventually gave up the ghost.
We must remark that her offer to give him money to sort out the financial issue in the church was not the first time that she would assist him financially; aside from cash, there are verifiable records of fund transfers from her to him to support this. These transfers were usually to sort out one financial problem or the other as his finances were never in a good shape. At this stage, it is right to disclose that it was Busayo that provided the money for the renewal of their tenancy and was also the one taking care of the school fees (kindergarten/crèche) of the kids, fills the gas, buys clothes for the children, and also takes care of feeding. These are facts that ordinarily are not supposed to come into the public domain but for the way his family had taken matters.
