Wednesday was gloomy for the Boboye family as of High Chief Oluwole Boboye hanged himself in his bedroom at his expanse compound in the serene community of Ibule at about 11.35 a.m.
Boboye who worked at Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA was the Akorewolu of Ibule Soro, in Ifedore local government area of Ondo State before he took his own life.
The suicide is especially puzzling as the victim had six children, one of them an undergraduate, a dutiful wife and a fairly good job.
The late Boboye, who lived in Ibule, about ten minutes’ drive to his office, reportedly woke up that fateful morning and handed over N20,000 to the wife as housekeeping allowance, but with a statement which the wife could not immediately decode until it was too late.
A family source told Vanguard that the man, who owned two cars: a Mercedes Benz 180 and a lift back Volkswagen-Passat car, usually went to office on motorcycle, popularly called Okada, maybe to beat the traffic or to disguise.
He was said to have told the wife that something would happen that day and that she should take care of the children but the wife could not understand why her husband of over twenty years was speaking in parables. The wife was said to have reported the husband to his friends in his place of work.
But further steps were not taken to make the deceased expatiate on his riddle. Boboye’s friends reportedly put a call across to him phone but he refused to pick it. The wife was said to have complained that the behaviour of the high chief in the days before he died was strange.
Boboye, a plumber in the Works Department of FUTA, left the house as usual and headed for his office on Okada only to leave the office after he was sure that members of his family would have left the house. He was said to have gone to the market where he purchased a rope and headed back home to hang himself.
According to one of those who saw the corpse after it was removed with the help of a native doctor, it had several stab wounds in the chest. It was gathered that N50,000 was found in his pocket while another N33, 000 was met on the table in his room.
One of his co-workers said the sudden death of Boboye came as a rude shock and could not be explained.
He said Boboye was seen that morning in the office and that he did not look like somebody planning to kill himself.
“He had no reason to kill himself. He was comfortable. He had two cars, a house and was building another. He was healthy, had a dutiful wife and promising children. You can see that from all sides he had no reason to want to take his own life. But now that it has happened, it’s a mystery,” the co-worker stated. His dangling body was said to have been discovered by his friends who accompanied the wife to the house after calls put across to him were not answered.
They were said to have been surprised to see his cars and the Okada parked in the compound and was expecting to meet him in his room only to be confronted with the dangling body of the high chief.
Unconfirmed report said the wife fainted on seeing the body of her husband and was immediately revived. Alarm was raised and elders of the community and family members were invited. After some traditional rites were performed, the body was removed from its hanging position and taken to the General Hospital at Aiyetoro Estate, Ibule. The police in Ondo State described the death of the FUTA staff as shocking.
Speaking with newsmen, the public relations officer of the Ondo State police command, Aremu Adeniran, said the deceased hanged himself in his room at Ayetoro Estate, Ibule. Adeniran said investigation into the incident had commenced.
He added that police detectives had swung into action and will soon unravel the mystery behind the death of the 48 year old plumber. The family of the deceased however declined comments on the suicide.
Community leaders equally refused to speak on the death of the high chief, describing the manner of his death as an abomination. One of them noted that traditional rites will have to be done in the community to appease the gods.