A mother in Ekiti State is being fingered for the murder of her daughter on the allegation that she had confessed to being a witch.

According to information gathered, Oluwafunmilayo Roseline Adanikin, a 22-year-old 300 level undergraduate of the Federal College of Education, Ikere-Ekiti was murdered by her own mother, Mrs. Victoria Aina Adanikin, on the allegation that she was a witch and had caused lots of havoc in the family and the community.

The incident which happened at the Adanikin compound, in Idamodu area of Emure-Ekiti, Emure local government area of Ekiti State, reportedly took place in the night of December 7, and has thrown the community into palpable tension.

Residents and neighbours in the area revealed that trouble started earlier when Abosede allegedly began to confess to committing some evil deeds through diabolical means, causing havoc in her family by killing relatives and spoiling the fortunes of others with some fetish powers she got from her mum.

Abosede had confessed to killing a relative of her mum as well as causing the misfortune that befell her father, Pa Titus Folorunso Adanikin, among other things before she died that night.
Prior to her death, she was taken to some churches for prayers and spiritual deliverance where she spent days confessing and disrupting the peace of everyone there.

She was even said to have confessed to be in a spiritual cult in which she already had two babies.

She said she would return to her home in the occult world whenever she lost her virginity here on earth. She also revealed that she had lost her virginity recently.”

Another resident informed that the last church that Abosede was taken to rejected her and asked her mum to take her home.

“Abosede’s confessions were reported to our traditional ruler, Oba Emmanuel Adebayo, a former Commissioner of Police, who immediately ordered that the girl and her mum should report at the palace so the matter could be looked into according to the traditions of the land.

The Oba sent his messenger with the royal staff, but Mrs. Adanikin lied to the bearers of the king’s message that the girl didn’t confess to committing anything. They said she only had some mental problems.

But as soon as the king’s messenger left, she tied the hands and legs of the girl so as to tame her. Her neighbours said when it was late in the night, she began to beat the girl in the room where she had her locked up and eventually pushed her against some planks earlier kept there by her late father to make doors for his uncompleted building.

It was then that the girl lost consciousness. Adanikin then arranged for people who procured a coffin. She told the hired men to force her dying daughter inside the coffin for burial even when it appeared that the girl had not entirely given up the ghost.

It was early the next day that Adanikin had her daughter buried. She buried the girl beside the uncompleted building of her late father, Pa Folorunso Titus Adanikin. The uncompleted building is in Mosafejo area of Emure-Ekiti.

If you go there now, you will discover that there are two fresh graves there. One is for Pa Adanikin while the other is Abosede’s grave.”

But one of Abosede’s siblings would neither exonerate nor accuse his mother of murder:

“It is true that members of our community, especially the neighbours in Idamodu area of Emure-Ekiti where my mum lives with other members of our family, are alleging that she killed our last born, late Miss. Abosede Adanikin, who until her death, was a year three student of the Ikere College of Education.

However, since it didn’t happen in my presence, I cannot say that our mum killed the girl. But I cannot also say that she didn’t do it. Where one is pushed to suspect a foul play is that my mum and her sister, both of whom were said to be with Abosede during her travails, during the alleged confessions and her reported mental derailment, suddenly disappeared the morning after they allegedly buried the girl.

Given such circumstances, I think my mum owes us all some explanation, more so since the people alleged that she turned down the Oba’s invitation to the palace during the alleged confessions of my sister.

Right now, we don’t know where she is; we would have heard from her what really happened that night, leading to the sudden death and hasty burial of the girl,” he narrated.

On the other hand, there are still some in the community who do not believe that Mrs. Adanakin could kill her daughter having suffered so much to bring up the girl to the age she was before her death.

A female relative toed that line of reasoning:

“Aina, (Mrs. Adanikin), is not capable of hurting a fly, let alone killing her own daughter. Please don’t believe what those people are saying.

How is it possible for a mother who has suffered so much to bring up a child as fully-grown as Abosede, to find it easy to kill her? It is not true. It is not also true that she killed her daughter to prevent the girl from exposing their witchcraft as is being insinuated in some quarters.

And as to why the woman just disappeared the next morning after the hasty burial of the deceased, she may just be afraid or too shocked and ashamed to face the people after the embarrassment that the mental imbalance displayed by the deceased has caused her.

Anyone could do that. You needed to be in this town when the deceased went gaga, saying all sorts of despicable things against herself, her mum and the relatives. It had been a huge embarrassment to us all and a big disgrace also.”