The Damoche We Knew – LASU Students, Lecturers

Had he known that he would be murdered in cold blood on Thursday, February 28, 2013 by yet to be identified gunmen, he wouldn’t have come to school in his bid to meet up the 70 per cent compulsory class attendance of his course, Banking Lending & Credit Administration (BSS 405) taught by Dr. (Mrs.) Oluitan.

Had he been aware that his sojourn on earth will end that fateful day, perhaps he would have left the university campus earlier.

Had he been pre-notified that
he would not be among those that will sit for the First Semester examinations, commencing on March 11, 2013, he would have waited until half-time or even the end of the match to entertain the students who gathered at the university’s sports complex to watch the Deans’ Cup Finals between his department, Banking & Finance and the Department of Insurance.

All these and many more are rhetorical questions, which no one but God Almighty could answer. On what students and staff of the Department of Banking & Finance of the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, termed a brutal death, upcoming artiste, and final-year Banking & Finance student of LASU, Olaniyan Damilola popularly known as Damino Damoche was, on Thursday, February 28, 2013, shot dead some meters away from the university gate along Iba Road by two unknown gunmen who rode on a motorcycle.

As Damoche was buried last Saturday, students, staff and friends revealed to Quadlife the Damoche they knew.

One of his friends who pleaded anonymity condemned the killing saying; “Damoche was a very reserved person and I’m so shocked that anyone would think of killing such a young man with a bright and promising future.”

Asked on his take that Damoche belonged to a fraternity and must have been murdered by a rival fraternity, he retorted; “When something bad happens to someone, you hear a lot of negative things about such person.

I don’t think he belonged to any fraternity because we all know he detested radicalism as is common with most cultists.

“Rather than looking at his death from the cultism perspective, is it not likely that he must have been killed by arch music rivals, considering the fact that the music industry is highly competitive?”

Another student, Yahyah, averred that the gruesome murder of Damoche, of whom he is an ardent fan, must not be swept under the carpet.

“The Police said they have arrested over 70 suspects, but how sure are we that they are not innocent passers-by around the scene of the murder? Serious investigations must be carried out to know what led to his death because I can’t just imagine that somebody I saw at the sports complex waiting to perform would be brutally killed.

“It was said that Damoche got a call before he left the sports complex that fateful day. Who called him and who picked up his phone after he was killed? Did his killers go away with his phone because the Police can track who called him minutes before his death.”

On his part, Comrade Seyi Jaga, Sports Director of the Faculty of Management Science, where Damoche belonged, described his death as a rude shock.

“On that fateful day, when I saw him at the sports complex, I pleaded with him to perform after the half-time of the males’ final which was to commence in some minutes.

He agreed and I asked the Sports Director of Industrial Relations & Public Administration to get a microphone for him since the females’ final has just come to an end. But no fewer than 15 minutes after he left for the microphone, we learnt that Damoche has been shot dead.”

The Head, Department of Accounting & Finance, Dr. Babatunde Yusuf, who described Damoche’s murder as a dastardly act, expressed displeasure in the conflicting reports in the media about his death.

“I was sad when I learnt of the demise of Olaniyan. My displeasure, however is the wrong notion given by some media about LASU to be a den of cultists.

I must say that in the last eight years or more, we have not witnessed this kind of situation. No single issue of students killing has been recorded on campus.”