LandLord Kill Tenant For Dating His Wife

AshmarkOlakunle gathered the news that a 36-year-old, Waheed Oyatunde, recently escaped death after he was shot in the thigh by his landlord identified as Mr Latunji over his affair with the landlord's wife.

Latunji owns a block of flats at Ketu Adie Owe area of Ado Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State, which he let out to tenants. Oyatunde, a native of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, moved into Mr. Latunji’s house about three years ago after he completed his youth service and got employment with an Agbara, Ogun State-based multinational company.

The landlord is a member of the vigilance group in the area. Latunji’s wife, Ireti, runs a canteen in Agbara where Oyatunde works.

Oyatunde, a bachelor, always gave the landlord’s wife a ride in his car to Agbara every morning since his office is close to the woman’s canteen. This he was doing with the blessing and approval of the landlord. Ireti is said to have been married to the landlord for six years but is yet to be blessed with the fruit of the womb.

Trouble started in the Latunji family sometime in April, 2013 when it was reported that Oyatunde and Mrs. Latunji were dating. When news of the amorous relationship with his wife got to Mr. Latunji, he confronted his tenant with the rumour. According to neighbours, when Mr. Latunji confronted Oyatunde with the allegation that he was dating his wife, the matter almost degenerated into an exchange of fisticuffs between the landlord and his tenant until some elders in the area intervened.

Since then, Oyatunde has stopped giving the woman daily morning rides to Agbara. Mr. Latunji’s wife, however, did not take kindly to being accused of dating her husband’s tenant. She reported the mater to her in-laws, who prevailed on her husband to put the allegations behind him.

However, according to neighbours, even though Oyatunde had stopped taking his landlord’s wife to Agbara in his car, the rumour mill was still agog with allegations of an amorous relationship between Oyatunde and his landlord’s wife.

The story was that the bachelor was always seen with his landlord’s wife at some hotels in parts of Lagos State, especially on weekends. The bubble finally burst on Saturday, July 20, 2013, when Mrs. Latunji informed her husband that she would be travelling with her friend to Ekiti State for a burial ceremony.

A day before that fateful Saturday, Mr. Latunji had reportedly called his wife’s friend to confirm their purported movement to Ekiti, which the woman confirmed. But it later turned out that the Ekiti trip was a hoax after all.

The landlord’s wife left home early on Saturday morning for the purported weekend trip. Her suspicious husband hired three hoodlums to trail her movement. The three hoodlums rode on two motorcycles behind the bus the woman boarded from Lusada junction to Agbara. It was reported that the woman also boarded another bus from Agbara to Mile 2 area of Lagos State and the ‘spies’ still rode behind the bus the woman boarded.

Eventually, Mrs. Latunji reportedly found her way to a hotel in Surulere area in the heart of Lagos State. It was reported that Oyetunde’s car was also found in the parking lot of the hotel. The hired ‘spies’ promptly informed their client on telephone of the development.

An enraged Mr. Latunji left home and headed for the hotel in Lagos. A couple of hours later, he arrived at the hotel and he told the receptionist he was on appointment with owner of the Hyundai car parked at the lot.

A waiter at the hotel, who spoke with Saturday Mirror on condition of anonymity, continued the story, “When the man came that Saturday morning, he approached the boys at the reception that he wanted to see the owner of the car whose plate number he wrote for them.

When asked to call him on his mobile phone, the man claimed that the visitor’s mobile phone was switched off. So, the boys felt that he was a genuine visitor and one of them chose to take him to the room where the visitor lodged.

“When the boy knocked on the door, the visitor came to open the door. And when he did, he was shocked to see his landlord standing right in front of the door.

The landlord’s wife was on the bed sleeping. That was when trouble started.” Mr. Latunji forced his way into the room and aimed a stool at his wife.

But Oyatunde and the hotel attendant prevented Mr. Latunji from hitting his wife with the stool. The noise from the room soon attracted other workers of the hotel to the scene. After much persuasion, Mr. Latunji was whisked out of the hotel and he left for his house.

Both Oyatunde and Ireti hurriedly left the hotel. The woman has not shown her face back home since then. Knowing that the game was up, Oyatunde went to his apartment in Latunji’s house on Tuesday, July 23, 2013, apparently to move his belongings out of the house.

That was the opportunity Latunji had been waiting for. Once Oyatunde opened the door to his apartment and started packing his property, Latunji burst into the apartment and engaged Oyatunde in a fight.

The brawling men were soon separated by neighbours, only for Latunji to rush into his apartment and emerge moments later with a loaded gun. He aimed at Oyatunde’s thigh and pulled the trigger.

A neighbour, who pled anonymity, said Oyatunde was lucky to have lived to tell the story. “The landlord could have killed the man. But we thank God that did not happen,” the neighbour said. Oyatunde was rushed to an undisclosed hospital. The landlord has since fled his house with a 10-year-old son he had from another relationship.

Saturday Mirror could not get Ogun State Police Command spokesman, Muyiwa Adejobi to confirm the story. A source at the Eleweran office of the command claimed that the matter was reported but that he had no details of it.