The leadership of Ekiti State Youth Parliament has called on the Governor of the state, John Kayode Fayemi, to expedite action in ensuring that justice is served to the family of Oluwabamise Ayanwola, a young lady, who went missing and found dead after boarding a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), on Tuesday, in Lagos State.
While lamenting, Comfort Ayanwola, the mother of Oluwabamise, the late 22-year-old fashion designer, says she wants “true justice” for her daughter.
Speaking with journalists at her residence, the deceased’s mother, who hails from Ekiti, asked the Lagos and Ekiti governments to work together to ensure justice is served in the case of Bamise.
“Oluwabamise, the daughter who the Lord gave me, boarded the Lagos government BRT bus and she has been declared dead. I can’t see her again,” she said in Yoruba while crying.
“My desire is justice. I want true justice that will not be hindered by those in higher authority.
“I am from Ekiti. I want the Ekiti state government to collaborate with the Lagos state government to get justice for me. I don’t have any influential person aside from God.
“If not God that said it is time for him to be caught; the phone she was using before got spoilt. Before she got a new phone, I could barely hear her whenever she called me with her old phone.
“She bought a new phone via payment by installment some days ago. Last Saturday made it 15 days since she bought the new phone. It was the phone she used to message her friend about happenings inside the BRT bus.
“I want the Lagos state government and all Nigerians to stand for us to get justice. This is not the first time that BRT bus has been used to murder people. My daughter’s case brought everything out.
“I heard it from the news that the BRT bus driver is saying this and that. He is being directed to say those things. He is the one who abducted and killed my daughter.”
According to the Speaker of the Parliament, Rt. Hon. Toba Fatunla, the leadership of the parliament met on Wednesday, in Ado-Ekiti, in an emergency session to press home their demands, saying that Bamise, an indigene of Ekiti, deserves justice and called on the governor to use his office to intervene in the matter.
He said, “The news of the death of Bamise, an Ekiti born, precisely Moba Local Government Area indigene in a BRT of death in Lagos is most unfortunate and disheartening, it shows how our society has degraded and the country becoming increasingly unsafe for the youth.
“We call on the Governor of Ekiti and Her Excellency, Erelu Bisi Fayemi to intervene and not allow this incident swept under the carpet. The life of every Ekiti youth anywhere matters and we cannot, therefore, keep quiet while one of us is killed mysteriously.”
They went further to appeal to the governor to prioritise the welfare of Ekiti Youth, engage them more and enhance their capacity before the expiration of his tenure.
Andrew Nice, the driver of the BRT bus which Bamise boarded, has been arrested by officers of the Department of State Services (DSS) in Ogun state.
Also, Damilola Titilayo Ayanwola, elder sister to Bamise Ayanwola, has revealed how she died in pain.
Countering the claim made by Lagos State Police Command, Damilola narrated that the private part of Bamise was cut while she was still alive.
She spoke at a press conference on Tuesday at Ikeja.
Damilola disclosed an elder sister to Bamise who is pregnant, Elizabeth, has been hospitalised.
Narrating Bamise’s last moments, Damilola said, “Governor Sanwo-Olu, I am challenging you. My family is not wealthy, we are not influential but we have God. We work hard and struggle to survive. We are content with what we have. We are Christians to the core. Why has our last born been used for the things of the world? This is a money ritual case.
“They made her (Bamise) to suffer life, they removed her private part. They did not kill her o, she suffered the pain and hell on earth before she moved to her destination.
“They forced her to stop at the bus stop she was not supposed to stop.”
Describing the late Bamise, she said: “Bamise was patient, joyful person, she makes everyone happy in the family”.
“He (driver) said all these that it was an attack, why didn’t he report to their terminal that there was an attack? He didn’t report to the police station or his superiors.
“He now resumed back to work on Monday, please if this was an attack, why was he able to resume back to work on Monday?
“We met a man at the park who said Bamise had gone to enjoy herself that she will call us, and that she does not want to call now, because she was enjoying herself, while in pains where they were cutting her private part.
“They did not kill her before they cut her private part. My sister experienced hell-in-cell situation like that of wrestling before her last breath on earth.
“My mum who is 74 years old, and my Dad 84 years old, in the morning time, they didn’t mourn over any one of us the children, at this phase of their life, they are enjoying the little token that we are rendering to them.
“They used the death of Bamise to cause sorrow for the family. She had a dream to become a fashion designer and she was doing brilliantly well in the training but look at what they’ve caused. Please we want Justice.”
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has urged the federal government through the Nigeria police force and the National Security Intelligence (NSI) to fast track the investigations in the murder of Miss Oluwabamise Ayanwola and ensure her killers were brought to justice.
The call came on the heels of a motion under matter of urgent public importance titled “Rampant Cases of Violence, Incessant Rape and Ritual Killing of Our Women Folks: A Call for Urgent Intervention”, presented at Wednesday plenary by the minority leader, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu.
In his motion, Elumelu described the rising cases of violence, incessant rape and ritual killing of female Nigerians by criminally-minded persons in various parts of the country as alarming, worrisome and therefore the need for urgent reaction.
He said that the attacks were hindering national productivity as it occurred amongst people in the productive age group who were having to deal with the negative physical and psychological consequences of the vice.
He said: “In the last six weeks so many incidents have occurred that have made headlines and the recent being that of 22yr old miss Oluwabamise Ayanmola whose corpse was found on Carter Bridge at ogogoro Community in Lagos Island nine days after being declared missing by her family with some vital parts missing.
“Oluawabamise was last seen on the 26th day of February 2022 after boarding a BRT bus number 240257 at about 7pm around Chevron bus stop.
“There are allegations that the BRT driver earlier confessed of having canal knowledge of late miss Bamise before killing her and harvesting some vital organs only for the story to change after some influential Nigerians intervened on his behalf.
“Many of these cases are underreported because of the stigma attached to such incidences and the molestation attached to it by the security agents when such reports are made.”
Elumelu expressed worry that according to the Nigeria stability and reconciliation program, approximately 80 million Nigerian women and girls had been victims of gender based violence, which he said fostered the spread of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV, lack of self confidence of victims and in most recent cases death.
“If serious sensitization on the preventive and elimination of gender based violence is not embarked on to curb this menace, young girls and women across Nigeria will keep falling victims to sexual assault, rape and continuous ritual killings.
“Nigerians we must realise that this is a fight that demands action from everyone of us , hence the need to sing with a loud voice that there is no place in our country for those who commit this sort of violence and this can be achieved by adopting a multi-facet approach that requires an increase in advocacy and partnerships between government, the private sectors and grassroots.
“The continuous reviews of the existing policies and laws on gender-based violence that accommodates the best practices and strategies will nip this scourge in the bud and reduce future occurrences”, he said.
Adopting the motion, the House mandated its committee on Police Affairs and National security and intelligence to ensure compliance to the resolution as it later observed a minute silence in honour of deceased Ayanwola.
