Almost every hour since last Saturday, friends, neighbours, relatives, and sympathisers have continued to throng the home of the Tiamiyus in Sagamu, Ogun State, following the killing of their son, Tiamiyu Kazeem, popularly known as ‘Kaka’, a footballer with Remo Stars FC of Sagamu.
With teary eyes and a Bible in her right hand, mother of the deceased, Mrs. Selimot Tiamiyu was surrounded by friends when Nigerian Tribune visited on Tuesday.
The plump light-complexioned mother in her late 40s, clads in a white robe and veil to match, Selimot spoke in a strained voice, uttering the words, “I have been reduced to nothing. Today, my hope seems shattered; I have lost one of my favourite children.”
Looking drained, she held firmly to the Bible, apparently as the only solace for the loss.
“My son was born on August 7, 1994, and was never a ‘Yahoo’ boy, but a professional footballer in his life. He was very industrious on the pitch and his consistency made me cheer him up to be great in it.
“He usually wore his club’s jersey. He cherished the jersey more than any other cloth. I washed his jerseys almost every day, and his boots too.
“He had up to 15 pairs of boots. Whenever he wore a white jersey, he would match it with a white pair of socks. His jersey and socks always matched. That was his practice. In fact, that Saturday, [the day he was killed], he was in one of his jerseys when the incident happened.
“There was a certain day that his elder brother’s wife put to bed and he was at the hospital. Just as he went in, I was called that SARS operatives had surrounded his car. I rose and went there and on getting there, I met them.
“I called one of their bosses immediately because, during Gbenga Daniel’s tenure, I served all policemen in the state souvenirs whenever they had meetings. So, he told them to leave my son alone and they did. They told me they were sorry and I, in turn, told them to be sorry for themselves,” Mrs. Tiamiyu said.
Though there have been conflicting narratives about what led to Kazeem’s death, an operative of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) was fingered in the circumstances that led to the killing.
