Life will be miserable without my son, says father of slain banker

Olusoga Bakare was, until his death, the Operations Manager of First Bank, Idoani, Ondo State. His death has brought untold grief to members of his family, who regarded him as their breadwinner. SEYI SOKOYA, who paid a visit to the family, reports that things might never be the same again for the family.

 

HOME of the bereaved parents of the Mr Olusoga Bakare, who was killed during a robbery attack recently at the Idoani, Ondo State branch of First Bank, is now filled with mourners, even as sympathizers continue to visit to pay their condolences.

Bakare was the Head of Operations of the branch of the bank until he was shot dead when robbers stormed the bank on Monday, 8 April, around 2.00 p.m.

Nicknamed ‘Solution Provider,’ the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) Accountancy graduate, was found in a pool of blood after he was shot in the head at close range.

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Recalling what he knew of the tragic incident, Bakare’s father, Mr Isaiah Bakare, told Sunday Tribune that he received several calls from the wife of the deceased that she had not been able to reach her husband during, and after working hours on that day.

After her notification, the father said he called his son’s mobile line. “His phone rang, but no one answered it. It was unusual for my son to ignore my calls. I became worried and later reached out to his friend around 10.00 a.m. the following day. He confirmed that that there had been a robbery attack in the bank and that my son had been rushed to the hospital because he was shot.

“I requested to speak with him, but he told me that the doctor won’t allow me to do that. I sent his uncle and two other family members to Ondo immediately because of the reports in the social media. It was later confirmed to me that he had been shot. I was devastated,” the father of the slain banker narrated.

Distraught, he said he had told his relatives to bring his corpse back to Ibadan. But unknown to him, they had contacted the venerable of the family church to break the news to the family. The aged man later arranged with the cleric for the approval of a burial site at the church’s cemetery. “I paid for the necessary arrangements. It was a rude shock. I cannot still believe that my son is gone,” he told Sunday Tribune.

But Mr Bakare is not happy, even as he would not be consoled. He accused the bank’s management of negligence as he was not informed of his son’s death on time, leaving him  and the entire family in the dark.

According to him Olusoga was certified dead on April 8, same day of the incident as stated in the death certificate presented by the territorial manager of the bank. But the bank, he explained further did not communicate this to any family member until representatives of the family went to Ondo to ascertain the news.

Fond memory of a devoted son…

Mr Bakare disclosed that the last discussion he had with his son took place on Saturday night two days before the robbers killed him.

“It was an interesting discussion and I said that I would like him to come and see me, especially to assist me on my health condition. My son was a committed staff of the bank. He never fought and he was a good listener. Even when I had problems and he came around, he would solve them for me,” he said.

Although he has accepted his fate, the man is worried about the safety of other young Nigerians working in jobs that are full of hazards.

He expressed his worry over job security to his son’s colleagues when they paid his family a condolence visit. “They are educated and well experienced, but there must be good security measures taken to protect them all. I was told the operation took hours, but that there were no security measures at the bank to protect workers. It is high time bank operatives provided standard security for their workers. My child is gone, but there must be measures to protect the lives of bankers and customers. I wish Nigerian security agents well, but I advise them to improve on security matters,” he said.

Mrs Bakare, mother of the slain banker, was inconsolable. “Soga promised me he would come and check on us next weekend. God, why me? I pray a lot and I pray for all my children a lot,” she wailed.

An uncle of the deceased, Mr Tosin Bakare, who led other family members to Ondo State to confirm the report, described the incident as devastating and a rude shock to the entire family.

“After waiting for five hours for the situation report, they eventually broke the news to us that Soga was among those killed in the attack. According to the bank officials, four staff members were actually killed. The Vice Principal of Idoani Secondary School, a policeman attached to the bank, and maybe one of the robbers, as they said, were also killed,” he said.

While expressing sadness over the incident and the pain the deceased’s family had been subjected to, Bakare noted that his primary concern was that Nigerian leaders should not continue to hide under the guise of insecurity and “continue to waste the lives of our bright minds in the line of duty. Peradventure, if such happens, there should be a channel of communication that within the first six hours, once the person is certified dead, one should not subject the victim’s family members to the torture of hearing such news on the social media. We thank God we didn’t lose my uncle over this incident because of his bad health. He slumped in the church a week before the incident. Now, the pain of the loss of his only son has compounded it.

“We were there when the bank officials brought an ambulance to convey his corpse from the morgue. I could not move close to see his corpse, but I was informed that the impact was severe.”

On the kind of burial he wanted for the deceased, he said the family doesn’t want a ‘hush-hush’ arrangement because Soga did not deserve such a treatment having spent the best of his life serving customers and was killed in the line of duty. Soga’s father, however, said the family doesn’t want the killers to remain faceless.

“Our family deserves to know what actually happened. Though we are not aware of the plans of the bank, one cannot imagine the torture the parents have gone through since the incident happened. Soga was the operation manager at Idoani and was once acting manager at one of the branches of the bank in Ifaki Ekiti before he was eventually posted to Idoani. From what I know about my son, he was a great asset to the bank. I think he deserves not to die just anyhow”.

Mr Tosin Bakare confirmed to Sunday Tribune on Saturday that a team of the officials of the bank paid the family another condolence visit last Monday where they presented a condolence letter to the family. “They promised to visit the family again.”

The bereaved father told Sunday Tribune that he was sure that life without his only son would be miserable. Soga attended Lagelu Grammar School before proceeding to UNN for his degree. The 38-year-old was survived by a wife; an eight-year-old boy and three-year-old twin girls, as well as a younger sister. A Chartered Accountant and also a Master’s Degree holder from the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, late Soga started his banking career with Bank PHB and had been working with First Bank of Nigeria for almost 10 years before he was killed.