Photo: Barber Stabs Graduate To Death During Football Match

                                                                    Late Saheed

When on Wednesday 29-year-old Saheed Badmus went to a
viewing centre on Lamina Street, Egbe, Lagos State, to watch the UEFA Champions
League semi-final match between Chelsea Football Club and Atletico Madrid,
little did he know that was the last match he would ever watch.

Punch Metro learnt that the graduate of Ekiti State
Polytechnic was stabbed to death by a barber identified only as Yemi, during an
argument that broke out at the viewing centre.

Our correspondent, who visited the scene on Thursday,
observed a large crowd on the street talking about the incident.

Saheed’s friends took our correspondent to a portion of the
street where spinkles of Saheed’s blood could be seen.

They told PUNCH Metro that passions were high at the viewing
centre as most of the Chelsea fans were desperate to see their team qualify.

It was learnt that during the match, Saheed stood up and
Yemi shouted at him and told him to sit down as he was blocking him from
viewing the match on the screen.

An elderly man was said to have cautioned Yemi against
shouting, but Yemi insulted the elderly man.

A friend to the deceased, Muyideen Waheed, told our
correspondent that an argument then ensued between the barber and Saheed.

He said, “Yemi was shouting and one elderly man told him to
keep quiet, but he shouted the man down. Saheed then cautioned against shouting
at an elderly man. Yemi attacked him.

“The owner of the centre pushed both Yemi and Saheed out of
the place and locked them out.”

It was learnt that once they got outside, Yemi picked up a
bottle from a nearby pub and stabbed Saheed.

It was learnt that as Saheed ran for his life, Yemi chased
him and then stabbed him in the face.

Waheed told PUNCH Metro that when some of the viewers came
out, they saw the deceased’s lying in a pool of blood.

He said they rushed him to two hospitals, but he was
rejected.

He said, “There was power failure and everywhere was dark.
Most of us were inside the viewing centre, so we did not hear Saheed scream.
When we came out, we saw him lying in a pool of blood. We rushed him to Obeeh
Hospital, but he was rejected. We then took him to Bisalam Hospital, but he was
referred to Igando General Hospital.

“On getting to Igando, he was pronounced dead.”

Residents described Yemi as a violent man who had on several
occasions attacked youths in the area.

While lifting up his shirt, Waheed said, “You see this scar
on my chest. It was a stab wound inflicted on me by Yemi.”

Our correspondent, who visited Saheed’s mother’s house,
learnt that he was her youngest son.

The mother, Isiwatu, while weeping profusely, said she was
pained that she did not live to reap the fruit of her labour.

“My son was a gentle man. We lived together and he was
responsible. I still saw him on Wednesday before he went to watch the match. I
struggled to send him to school and now, all is wasted. He had no wife and
child.

“Yemi has stolen my joy and I want him arrested and
sentenced to death for his crime. This was not a case of two people fighting.
It was  an outright murder.”

It was learnt that after killing the deceased, Yemi fled to
his father’s home, but his father alerted the police and he was arrested by
policemen from the Ikotun Police Division.

When our correspondent visited the police station, Yemi was
seen writing his statement.

Yemi’s father, who refused to identify himself, described
his son as a troublemaker and wondered where he got the behaviour from.

He said, “I hardly see my son. Sometimes, I don’t see him
for as long as three months. He just came to my house last night (Wednesday),
crying. He told me that he had stabbed someone at a viewing centre.

“I reported him to the police. I don’t know why he went to
watch the match in the first place. What kind of trouble is all this?