A middle aged man, Koya
Arowosegbe, is battling for
his life following a machete
cut he received during a
fight, which severed his right
hand.
The incident happened in
Iyana-Ipaja, a Lagos suburb,
on September 16, when a 30
year-old-man, Afeez Ganiyu,
allegedly severed Mr
Arowosegbe's right hand
over a ₦100 debt. Mr
Ganiyu's mother is the owner
of the six bed room
apartment where the victim
lives with his pregnant wife
and two children in one of
the rooms.
How it began
According to residents in the
area, trouble started about
10.30pm when Mr Ganiyu, a
bricklayer returned home
from work. His mother was
quarrelling with one of the
tenants, identified as Iya
Muntia, over an outstanding
₦100 electricity bill. The
quarrel snowballed into a
fight and the landlady's
children allegedly beat up
Iya Muntia. Mr Arowosegbe
reportedly tried to stop Mr
Ganiyu from disconnecting
the electricity because Iya
Muntia allegedly refused to
pay the debt. In the melee, Mr
Arowosegbe's right hand was
severed at the wrist with the
a machete blow from Mr
Ganiyu.
Moyowa Arowosegbe, the
wife of the victim narrated
what happened. "My husband
came back from work that
day and we were in the room,
when we heard quarrelling,"
she said. "The landlady and
her children were fighting
Iya Muntia over ₦100 NEPA
bill, people tried to
intervene but the fight
continued. Afeez came back
from work and they told him
about the quarrel with Iya
Muntia. He went to threaten
her, and after went to
disconnect the light in Iya
Muntia's shop where she uses
as a saloon. When he was
disconnecting the light, we
started having power surge
in our room, so my husband
went to tell him to stop, but
he refused and started
insulting him, and Afeez
mother also joined him to
insult my husband and they
used a plank (wood) to hit
him. My husband tried to
escape into the room, and
that was how Afeez rushed
my husband with a cutlass,
my husband was trying to
block his face and that was
how the cutlass cut his hand,
the hand was on the ground
and he started bleeding." Mrs
Arowosegbe, added that her
husband went into a coma and
was rushed to a government
hospital in the area, but they
were unable to get doctors to
attend to him because of the
doctors' strike. He was later
taken to MayFair Hospital, a
private clinic, where he is
receiving treatment.
Regrets and demand for
justice
. Mr Ganiyu said he regretted
fighting his neighbours.
"Iya
Muntia suppose pay N700, but
she pay N600 for NEPA bill,"
he spoke in Pidgin English. "I
want disconnect her light for
her shop but Mr Arowosegbe
no gree, we come dey fight, I
come use the cutlass cut am.
Na my mama used the cutlass
go farm come leave am for
outside. I no want kill am, Na
mistake and I feel bad." Mrs
Arowosegbe said she wants
justice for her husband. "My
husband is a mechanic, and I
do not work, now that his
hand is cut off, how will he
work and feed his family? So
I want government to come to
help him," she said.
Meanwhile, the landlady and
her other children have fled
their home after they
received threats from
residents in the area to lynch
them over their involvement
in the fight. The Lagos State
Police Command
Spokesperson, Frank Mba,
said the police is worried
about the increasing cases of
domestic violence in the
state.
"The Lagos State Police
Command is concerned about
domestic violence in the
state," he said. "This is an
issue that normally should
not have resulted into any
violence. This is an issue that
should have been resolve
amicably. The Commissioner
of Police, Marvel Akpoyibo,
has ordered a thorough
investigation into the case.
We advise residents to live
in peace and shun violence."
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