‘My girlfriend sacrificed herself for our love ’

Detectives at the Homicide
Section of the State Criminal
Investigation Department,
Lagos, are quizzing a 23-
year-old law student of the
University of Lagos, Fisayo
Tifase, over the death of his
girlfriend, Peace Asukwo, 17,
whose corpse was found
hanging from a ceiling fan in
his one-room apartment at
10, Kalejaiye Street at
Shasha in Lagos on November
4.

The suspect and the victim
were involved in a love
affair, but things came to a
head on that fateful day
when they reportedly had an
argument. “After telling her
that I am no longer
interested in the
relationship, I left her in the
room and she locked herself
up, ” said Mr Tifase. “I did
not know that she can kill
herself the way she did by
hanging herself in my room.
This is a suicide case and
people should not think that I
killed my girl fiend. I love
that girl to a point of no
return and I can never do
anything to hurt her. She
killed herself, she sacrificed
herself for our love, and this
is what I will live with. ”

“Before this incident
happened, I had been hearing
rumours that she was not
faithful to me but since I did
not have any proof, I decided
to let it pass, ” he said. “But
a day before this thing
happened, I called her and
she told me that she was at
Ikeja to collect N20,000 from
a man; that her sister sent
her there when it was like
9pm. I called her again and
she said she will be spending
the night there. So I told her
that her sister was using her
to get money from men; she
denied it and I was angry.

The next day, when she came
to my room, I tried to avoid
her but she would not leave
my room. Later that evening, I
went into the room and told
her that I cannot continue
with the relationship
anymore; that I do not trust
her. She begged and begged,
but my mind was made up and
she saw that I meant what I
said. I asked her to leave but
she refused, so I left her in
the room. She locked herself
from the inside and when I
came back to check on her,
she refused to open the door.
I continued to knock but she
did not answer. When it was
getting dark, I had to do
something so that was how
we forced the door open and
we saw her body hanging
from the ceiling. It was a
shock to me and I did not
believe my eyes. I just kept
shouting. ‘Peace why, why,
why’ and that was how
people came and the police
arrested me. ”

Mr Tifase is hinging his
hopes on an autopsy, which he
believes will convince the
police that he did not kill his
girlfriend. “I am very angry
and sad about Peace’s death
and I have never stopped
mourning her, ” he said.
“I love her and it affected
me so badly that my CGPA
fell from 4.3 to 4.0 last
session. The message she has
passed across to me is that
she will rather die than lose
my love. She paid the
ultimate price for our love
and I am willing to face any
consequence, but God knows
that I am innocent. If the
police can allow me to swear
to any oracle, I can swear to
it because I did not hang her.
I am learning the hard way. I
am supposed to be in school
studying and now I am in this
mess. Young people should
hold on to God and take their
studies seriously after that
they can look for mature
people to share their lives
with. For me, if God helps me
out of this case, I do not know
yet what to do about women. I
am psychologically down and
it seems I will lose my mind
because of the way my
girlfriend died. I am now
closer to God and I know He
will vindicate me ”