The {photograph} was taken on a Sunday, the primary Sunday of the yr. Ganiyat Ayanwale smiled into the digital camera, unaware that it will develop into a haunting souvenir, a quiet reminder of a life that ought to by no means have ended.
Few days later, she was lifeless.
Ganiyat, a younger mom of three, was brutally stabbed to demise inside her dwelling at River Valley Property, Ogun State, in an incident that has as soon as once more thrown the highlight on the lethal penalties of home violence. By the point assist arrived, her physique had misplaced an excessive amount of blood. Her inner organs have been badly broken.
She was pronounced lifeless at about 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 8, 2026, at Gifted Fingers Hospital.
She was 13 years into motherhood. Her kids have been witnesses to a tragedy no youngster ought to ever see.
It was after the primary stab that one of many kids screamed. After the second, Ganiyat reportedly tried to run. She was dragged again and stabbed once more.
Bleeding closely, she staggered in the direction of the gate of the home. Neighbours, alerted by the screams, rushed in and helped convey her to the hospital. Alongside the best way, she reportedly narrated what occurred in damaged breaths, insisting she had executed nothing fallacious.
Her final phrases, “I simply entered the home,” she was stated to have instructed these serving to her. “He attacked me.”
Medical doctors later confirmed that the knife wounds, together with accidents near her lungs, severely affected her respiratory. Minutes after arriving on the hospital, she gave up the ghost.
Sources throughout the neighbourhood described the late Ganiyat’s husband, Mr. Ayoola Ayanwale, as a serial spouse beater. In keeping with accounts, he allegedly tried to power his spouse to ingest a toxic substance after asking their older youngster to purchase a locally-known pesticide. When she reportedly refused, he allegedly locked the youthful kids in a room, picked up a knife, and repeatedly stabbed her.
The assault, neighbours stated, occurred within the presence of the couple’s kids.
What adopted shocked even these already shaken by the brutality of the act. Witnesses alleged that after the assault, the accused husband returned to the condominium to scrub blood stains earlier than fleeing.
Barely 12 hours later, Mr. Ayanwale was present in an open discipline in Sotubo, a suburb of Ogun State, gasping for breath. He was later pronounced lifeless in what police suspect to be suicide.
Objects recovered on the scene included a bottle containing a suspected liquid substance, two cellphones, a voter’s card and an ATM card.
Confirming the incident, the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Oluseyi Babaseyi, stated the command was conscious of the event and would situation an in depth assertion.
At the moment, three kids are left with reminiscences as a substitute of oldsters. They’re compelled to develop up with photos that may doubtless observe them for all times, photos of violence, worry and loss.
Neighbours who spoke to Vanguard stated the late Ganiyat, even in her remaining moments, requested for water and questioned what offence she had dedicated to deserve such brutality.
There was no reply.
This isn’t simply one other crime report. It’s a human story, one which echoes far too typically throughout Nigeria.
Marriage, advocates insist, just isn’t a do-or-die association. Love just isn’t violence. Endurance just isn’t a advantage when it’s killing you.
Consultants warn that abusive relationships not often “get higher” with silence. They escalate. And too typically, they finish in funerals.
To each lady trapped in worry, this story carries a painful however pressing message: staying alive is extra essential than staying married. There isn’t a honour in struggling quietly, and no disgrace in selecting your self.
The yr has simply begun, one more lady is gone.