BY HENRY ADAZE
BENIN CITY :The life of Edosa Matthew Ewemade , an aluminum worker and shop owner is still hanging precariously four years after his staff apprentice accidentally fell and died while fixing the window frames of a storey building.
. Mr Edosa’s ordeal began on March 12, 2014, when he took his workers to a building site for the fixing of window frames. Little did he know that tragedy was lurking around that fateful day . Midway into the work, he left his boys to continue with the fixing of the window frames.
Minutes later he got a call that one of his staff apprentice, Kingsley Imade had fallen headlong from one of the windows of the one-storey building, smashing his skull against the concrete.pavement . He died while being taken to the hospital.
It was a sad day for Mr Edosa Ewemade and his entire staff. But instead of being allowed to mourn his late worker in quietude, the family of the deceased turned his life into a living nightmare.
They accused him of killing their son for money ritual and consequently vowed to avenge Kingsley’s death. In a frenzy of anger, Mr Ewemade’s multi million store was burnt down by a mob of aggry youths who were believed to be relatives and friends of the deceased.
The police were called in to conduct an investigation into the matter, especially the death of the apprentice, Kingsley Imade. The police report cleared Mr Ewemade from any crime in relation to the death of his staff apprentice.
But inspite of that, Mr Edosa Ewemade got several threat messages. Fearing for his life, he went into hiding hoping that with time the family of the deceased would toe the path of peace and reconciliation.
However, that has not been the case four years after that tragic incident. Edosa Ewemade:’s elder sister was reportedly attacked by unknown gunmen penultimate Tuesday. She narrowly escaped death after her car windscreen was shattered by bullets. She too has reportedly gone into hiding. The family believes the unidentified gunmen are killer agents hired by the Imade family to avenge the death of their son Kingsley in 2014.
Another relative of the embattled shop owner, Mr Godfrey Ewemade says the family of the deceased are seeking for retribution.
” They can’t talk of justice because a crime had not been committed. The family of the boy are only seeking for retribution over the accidental death of their son, and that is absolute miscarriage of justice” , he said.
He said all efforts to pacify the family of the late staff apprentice had failed in the past four years, thus putting the life of Edosa Ewemade and that of other members of the family in grave danger.
‘”With this failed attempt on the life of his elder sister , it’s pretty obvious that neither Matthew Ewemade nor any of us is safe . We are all living in fears “, he said
