Pastor Pekun Olusola, 60 escapes death from his own employee, a Fulani herdsman. Please Read!

Herdsman mauls pastor boss, escapes with cows
 … As victim battles for life in hospital
Pastor Pekun Olusola, 60 is an ordained minister of God at the Living Faith Church, Awe, a village near Oyo town in Oyo State. Aside being a shepherd in God’s vineyard, he’s also into farming, especially poultry farming, rearing of cows, sheep and other domestic animals.

 As a result of his busy scheduled, coupled with the expansion of his farming business, he employed a Fulani herdsman, Mohammed Aliu to help him take proper care of his cows. He had handed over 28 cows to Aliu’s care. That was about four years ago.

 Now, the man of God cum farmer is full of regrets for taking that decision. Reason: On March 13, Aliu attempted killing his boss in order to take over all the cows. He also set Olusola’s motorcycle ablaze and put him in the fire. The pastor, however, escaped death by the whiskers and lived to tell the story.

 Pastor Olusola had been in farming business for almost 14 years. He had initially employed Aliu and placed him on a monthly salary. According to him, he decided to be giving Aliu a cow every six months to enable him establish himself. Both parties agreed on the arrangement. “He was very happy when we made that arrangement”. Olusola said.

 “I didn’t bother myself with the problem of visiting him on the farm. I concentrated on other things,” the pastor said. However, in 2011, he got the information that Aliu had started selling the cows. At the last count, he was told that seven cows were already missing. He said he made efforts to invite Aliu to his house and advised him to stop selling the cows. “I didn’t understand why he had to be selling my cows because this is somebody that would approach me for money and I would help him out. There was a time he told me that he wanted to marry a second wife and that he didn’t have money. I then told him to sell one of the cows.”

 On the fateful day, Aliu tricked his boss, telling the pastor to come and see one of the cows that just delivered in the bush. Rather than delaying his visit to the farm as was his usual practice, Pastor Olusola took Aliu by surprise as he immediately went to the farm where he discovered that the Fulani man was lying. On arrival at the farm, he resorted to counting the cows so as to ascertain how many were actually missing.

 “I counted 21 cows instead of 28, and that was how I confirmed that seven cows were missing but I still remained calm and told him I was going home.”
 Not comfortable with the pastor’s silence, Aliu, it was learnt, started coming up with different stories. ”He told me one of the cows was sick on the farm, while another one was pregnant, that I should come and see them. I insisted on going home but he persuaded me.”

 He eventually fell for Aliu’s evil deceit. He decided to ride on the same bike with the Fulani to see the sick and the pregnant cows. “I asked him to drive the motorcycle but he said he would prefer to seat at the back while I drive.
 “We were going when Aliu suddenly hit me on the head with a cutlass. I fell down from the motorbike and blood was coming out of my head. I used the jacket I wore to cover my head but he again hit me on my right wrist which I was using to hold the jacket to my head. My wrist was dangling and was only held to the other part of my arm by a thin layer of flesh.

 He would call me daddy to confirm if I was dead and I would reply by asking him, ‘Aliu, why are you doing this’? But the more I talked, the more he hit me with the cutlass. I then decided to keep quiet and pretend as if I was dead. He thereafter removed the hose connected to the tank of my motorcycle and set the bike ablaze. He later dragged me to the fire and left. I became unconscious, but after about an hour, God revived me.”

 Having regained his consciousness, his effort at getting assistance from passers-by proved abortive, as people were too scared to get near him due to the severity of the wounds and burns on his body. He was at the scene for hours until a man coming from the farm emerged and volunteered to assist him. “The man told me that he initially thought I was dead because my brain was outside. I gave him my phone to call my people but the numbers were not going. While he was making effort to contact my people, we discovered that Aliu had taken away one of my handsets and a sum of N13, 000. He later contacted operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SAR) who rushed me to the state hospital, Oyo.”

 With the belief that he had succeeded in his plan, the Fulani man was said to have returned to the farm to pack all his belongings, having successfully moved all the cows to a new destination. But luck ran against him as he was ambushed by family members of Pastor Olusola and taken to Durbar Police Station in Oyo, where he was interrogated. He was said to have confessed to the crime.

 Pastor Olusola on his part was immediately taken to the Theatre for a corrective surgery on his head and wrist before being transferred to the University College Hospital (UCH) the following day, (Wednesday March 14), for proper medical attention. He had also undergone another surgery at the UCH. A source at the UCH confided in Daily Sun that the pastor’s right wrist might be amputated as a result of the severity of his wounds.

 Speaking at the emergency unit of the UCH, the farmer told Daily Sun that he never expected that Aliu would plan such evil against him, considering all he had done for the Fulani man in the past. He added that such evil plot could not have been planned alone by Aliu but alongside his brother, his wife and the two Fulani boys who were with him the day he visited.
 “I remember his wife looking at me strangely that day; it was after the incident that I started reading meaning into her strange look. He wanted me dead but God says I will live. For others involved in such act to learn their lessons, let the law take its course,” he said.
 The state Police Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Okuwobi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police in her reaction, said the case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID), adding that Aliu would soon be prosecuted at the conclusion of investigations.