RICHARD GBADEBO: ONE YEAR AND TWO MONTHS AFTER, JUSTICE FOR RICHARD?
Olukoga Opemipo Grace
We shared a lot of memories, we travelled to Ife twice for Die Reise. We were in the same bus together, sat beside each other and sang together for minutes We were always in our departmental library together, ‘gisting’, taking pictures…I remember going to Esther’s house together and also our TDBs in Faculty of Law. Richard was really an amazing person. He was someone you’ll love naturally and so calm.
If you passed through the Department of European Studies, you would probably see him smiling brightly with friends. If not that, he might be striking a signature posture for pictures. But none of these things are possible anymore, because tragedy struck. On the 28th of July, 2020, the University of Ibadan was confronted with the horrific details of how one of their own had died in a soap making factory, owned by Henkel Nigeria Limited. Like wildfire, the news had spread all over the internet and subsequently the #justiceforrichard hashtag had begun to trend on Twitter. It has been one year, two months and a day since these events. What has changed? What happened to the cry for justice?
Richard Gbadebo
21 year old Gbadebo Richard was a 300 level student of the Department of European studies, University of Ibadan. Richard was spoken of as a great man with prospects and
wonderful nature, loved and cherished by all. He was a young man with high hopes for the future who believed in optimism, setting goals and working to achieve his set goals. A classmate who wanted to be anonymous asserted that the statement: E no fit tight make we no see am run, we go run am nani” was his watchword and what he lived by. According to his friends and classmates, Richard portrayed himself as one who would never choose to be too downcast and pessimist but rather embrace positivity and as one who could never be influenced by negative attitude.
His hardworking nature this led him to taking up a factory job in a factory owned by Henkel Nigeria Limited, makers of WAW detergent and bar soap located in Oluyole, Ibadan, while COVID-19 unleashed its wrath on the whole world. As a hardworking youth, he had decided to assist his parents since he has been at home for close to four months and before then, money had not been raised to pay his fees.
His mother stated that their son had decided to help bolster the familys finances and she, the mother was a worker in the factory also. He was the only son of his parents. It was at this factory Richard lost his life while working on a night shift. Richard was reported to have mistakenly slipped in the machine which killed him.
Richard’s untimely death was followed by a lot of questions, as the events that led to his death have remained a mystery. In the heat of the period, one of the factory worker suggested that the late Richard may have been suicidal. However, his friends have proved this untrue as another friend described him as a young man with high hopes for the future, he was very optimistic, and he had a lot of plans. And the clear fact is, people with high hopes for the future don’t commit suicide. People commit suicide when they believe there’s nothing more for them, when they believe everything is so tangled and can’t be solved. Like he would say, “E no fit tight make we no see am run, we go run am nani His friends noted that was full of fun; therefore that he would try to commit suicide was far from the truth. As a lively person, full of life and optimism and one who has endured even more difficult periods, to them, it was illogical that he would attempt suicide at a point when he was already making some money.
What happened to Justice for Richard?
The events that followed after the Richard’s untimely death saw a lot of protests from students and non-students alike. The Student Union president, Olusegun Akeju was an active voice during this period. The president confirmed that the Special Adviser to Oyo State Governor on Youths and Sports Kazeem Bolarinwa and the Special Assistant to the governor on Students Affairs, Oloyede Victor and some students representatives, some Human Rights Activists, The Femi Falana group and Lawyer Segun Aborisade also took up the case as they were interested it. The Students Union President, Mr Akeju Olusegun asserted that he had gone to UCH for the autopsy result in which the consultant stated that it did not seem like he was pushed by anybody but it appeared like he slipped in.
After involving the CID on the case for investigation with the body taken back and to the mortuary, the family later had agreement with the company with compensations given to them. The compesation led to the withdrawal of the case. Since there was an agreement already, the family resorted to withdrawing the case.
Contributor:
Tijani AbdulKabeer.
