Seven months ago, in October last year, when 19-year-old Toba Falode left Nigeria for Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, his mother, Aisha Falode had high hopes for him.
Toba was admitted to study Audio Production at the SAE Institute, Dubai. Fondly known as “Tyler Hendrix Fray,” he is described by friends as a young, talented and inspirational musician, who was a gift to his family and friends.
Sadly, on February 15, that gift was snatched away from a family and his mother’s embrace by the cold hands of death in faraway Dubai. The official cause of death reportedly stated that Toba died as a result of ‘a fall from a great height and the impact from the fall.’
Until his death, Toba lived on the 17th floor (Apartment 1703) in Manchester Towers, Dubai Marina, Dubai.
But after a searching trip to Dubai in April, a mother’s grief was aggravated by new findings that her son might have been murdered. Falode and her lawyers from the Festus Keyamo chambers have disputed the official cause of death.
In an interview with our correspondent, Falode said the police in Dubai, an emirate in the United Arab Emirates, were trying to protect her son’s killers.
She said, “Where they found my son’s body was too far away from the building for somebody that fell by himself. It was about 18 to 20 metres from the building. The police (in Dubai) have not done a proper investigation on my son’s death because they said everybody in the apartment gave the same account of what happened, which was that my son was alone on the balcony and he sat on the railing and was swinging back and forth when he fell. The police did not tell us the whole truth and were trying to cover up for one of his friends who is Saudi.”
According to Falode, some of Toba’s friends (names withheld) were also present in the apartment when the incident happened. The grieving mother said she had gathered evidence which proved her son was murdered.
And it may have been over a love triangle.
She said, “Toba’s other friends who were in the apartment when the incident occurred told me that they noticed that the Saudi boy had splatters of blood on his T-shirt, a cut on his fingers and blood on his knuckles. In panic, they rushed to the balcony and saw that my son was no longer there. So, they knew that something had happened. The Saudi kept telling them that they shouldn’t worry about it (my son’s death); because the maximum he would do was 25 years in jail, and that he would take care of it.
“They said my son and the Saudi had an altercation over his girlfriend, a Briton. The Saudi had claimed that his girlfriend was cheating on him with my son. But he (one of Toba’s friend) said my son was only being protective of the girl.”
In two separate signed and hand-written statements, dated April 20 and April 21 respectively, Toba’s friends (names withheld) detailed the events that happened in the apartment prior to his death.
At the end of one of the statements, dated April 21, one of them wrote: “I remember that the position that Tyler was from the building was very far off from the building (apartment). It was obvious that an external force caused this.”
In the other statement, dated April 20, another of Toba’s friends who was also present in his apartment, corroborated the earlier statement. At the end, the statement, he added that the Saudi had blood on his shirt but he was ‘never taken for investigation or examination.
Falode pleaded with the Federal Government to intervene on the matter and ensure that justice is done.
“No American or British citizen can be slaughtered anywhere in the world without their government asking questions. We can’t call ourselves ‘Giant of Africa’ if our citizens are killed in other countries, and yet we have not heard of any single investigation by our government. It is indeed very sad for me. This is one death too many,” she lamented, and urged the FG to prevail on the Dubai authorities to re-open the investigation into the case.
“The government needs to see this as a justice for a Nigerian. It is very painful for any parent to lose a 19-year-old son who has so much promise and future ahead of him. It is also to prevent another Nigerian from dying this way. If we had a good system in Nigeria, why would we be sending our children abroad to study? It’s not about my son anymore, but other Nigerians who still have the intention of sending their children to Dubai.”
Many have not stopped talking about Toba’s sterling quality. A testimonial from one of Toba’s teachers in SAE read, “I had the pleasure of meeting Tyler from the start of his educational experience at SAE Dubai. As he walked into my class the first day, he instantly stood out the most, always with a smile, a bright sense of humour, highly active, engaging and always asking the right questions, searching for answers to satisfy creative thirst to express and share his love of music and life.
“I would spot Tyler numerous times in the studios around campus with friends and classmates collaborating and putting tracks together, always ready and willing to help others with projects and issues they may face. These qualities reflected on everyone and made the best out of every opportunity. He was an inspiration to all that knew him.”
In recent times, there have been several cases of Nigerian students who died in foreign countries.
In March, the House of Representatives moved a motion to conduct a public hearing on the death of Nigerian students abroad.
In a motion, the Chairman, House Committee on Diaspora Affairs, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said Ghana, Russia, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and South Africa were listed among the nations where Nigerian students had been killed recently. Dabiri-Erewa noted that in Ghana, four Nigerian students had been killed since October 2013
For Aisha Falode and her family, a dream has been cruelly extinguished and she hopes that justice would be done.
“My son is gone and I can’t bring him back, but it is very painful to lose a 19-year-old who has so much promise and so much future. It is also to prevent other Nigerians from dying this way.
When contacted on the telephone, Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Ambassador Ibrahim Auwalu, told our correspondent that the Federal Government is taking steps to get to the root of the matter.
While he noted that Falode had contacted him on telephone earlier, he said the embassy received an official letter from her lawyers in the first week of May, although it was dated in April.
“Although Aisha and I had been speaking on telephone, I did not know she had already come to Dubai. I waited for her to contact me, so that I could also meet her physically and personally condole with her. United Arab Emirates is a federation, and each of those emirates has its own legal system and police, and anything we do in the UAE has to be through the ministry of foreign affairs. I’ve been in touch with the ministry of foreign affairs. We want to handle this as comprehensibly as possible because it is now a government matter.”
Auwalu noted that the embassy sent the police report and forensic lab report to Falode as requested.
He said, “These two we have done. We are now waiting to put all the parts together and then we would seek audience, either with the Dubai police or with the appropriate authorities. We have taken the matter seriously. The government of Nigeria would get to the bottom of it. That is why we are here, it is our job. I am telling Nigerians that we would do everything that is legally possible to get to the bottom of this.”
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