​WHEN HELPERS BECOME HUNTERS: IF KINDNESS STILL ENDS IN MURDER, WHAT HOPE IS LEFT FOR TRUST?

By Kayode Ogunjobi

​There is a quiet fear spreading across Nigerian homes, one that creeps in not from the gate, but from the corridor. It is the fear that the person you hired to help you, protect you, or simply lighten your daily burden may be the very one plotting your downfall. Sad! Increasingly, domestic staff such as drivers, security guards, house helps, cooks, and even former employees are turning into hunters, preying on the very people who gave them a chance at dignity.

​The most recent tragedy in Abeokuta, Ogun State, is a painful reminder of this growing menace. On 21 June 2026, the respected former OGTV staff Mrs. Olakitan Oyesiku and her security guard, Pelumi Adetayo, were found murdered in her home at Owode-Egba. Her Lexus SUV was gone, the house violated, and the community shaken to its core. Bravo! Police investigations led to the arrest of three suspects, including a former security guard who confessed that he only wanted to “teach her a lesson.” Imagine!

​The tragedy immediately reminded many people of the horrifying murder of a couple, Kehinde and Bukunola Fatinoye, in Abeokuta in January 2023. The couple, respected members of society, had just returned from a crossover service welcoming a new year. Unknown to them, the very driver they had trusted had allegedly coordinated the attack that led to their deaths, while their son, OreOluwa, was kidnapped and later found dead. The entire nation was left in shock.

​Sadly, Abeokuta is not alone. In Lagos, an Ikeja High Court recently sentenced a domestic staff member, Joseph Ogbu, to death for murdering his 89-year-old employer, Mrs. Ajoke John, and her daughter, Oreoluwa. The court found that he strangled one victim and stabbed the other to death despite living under their roof and benefiting from their hospitality. Cruelty!

​Across Nigeria, the relationship between employers and their domestic staff is often built on trust, familiarity, and daily proximity. Drivers, cooks, housekeepers, and security guards become part of the intimate rhythm of a household. Unfortunately and sadly, this closeness has been heavily exploited, leading to violent betrayals.

​In the South-East, one of the most disturbing examples involved a Pentecostal Bishop based in Asaba. His personal driver, a man who had been entrusted with his movements, his home, and his safety, turned against him. The killing was not spontaneous; it was calculated. After murdering the Bishop, the driver fled with his employer’s Toyota Prado Jeep heading into Anambra State. His plan was to sell the vehicle quickly, but the police tracked him down in Nkpor. The arrest exposed a familiar pattern: domestic staff, often under financial pressure or influenced by external criminal groups, using their insider access to commit violent crimes.

​Similarly, in northern Nigeria, a case involved a wealthy businessman whose security guard, the very person hired to protect him participated in his killing. The guard had been recruited by a robbery gang, and his role was pivotal: he disabled security measures, ensured the victim was isolated, and provided the attackers with a clear path into the home.

​Another northern case involved a long-serving driver who collaborated with kidnappers. Although he did not carry out the killing himself, his betrayal was central to the crime. He supplied detailed information about his employer’s travel routes, habits, and vulnerabilities. The kidnappers later killed the principal, and the driver was arrested as an accomplice. This case illustrated how domestic staff can become the informational backbone of criminal operations, even when they are not directly involved in the physical violence.

​What is perhaps most disturbing is not merely the crimes themselves but the explanations often offered afterward: “We wanted to teach him a lesson,” “She offended me,” “He was not paying enough,” “They had money,” or “I deserved more.”

Teach a lesson by taking a life? By leaving children orphaned? By sending parents to untimely graves? By destroying families that may never recover from the trauma?

One is forced to ask whether these individuals ever stopped to remember that the people they murdered must have done something good for them at some point. The deceased may have employed them when nobody else would, paid salaries regularly, provided accommodation, supported medical bills, assisted family members, paid school fees, given loans, or shown kindness when society offered rejection. Yet, in many cases, such kindness is repaid with cold betrayal.

​The Prophet Jeremiah captured this tragic reality thousands of years ago: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 KJV).

One disturbing pattern appears repeatedly in these cases: many perpetrators develop a dangerous sense of entitlement. They become obsessed with what their employers possess rather than what they themselves have agreed to earn. They forget that employment is fundamentally a contract with a negotiated wage, accepted terms, and defined responsibilities. Yet over time, comparison begins, envy grows, and resentment develops. The employee begins to calculate the employer’s assets until the employer’s house becomes evidence of injustice, their vehicle a source of anger, and their success a personal insult. Even when salaries are increased, dissatisfaction remains; when the salary is doubled, they desire ten times more, and the appetite never ends.

​The consequences of these crimes extend far beyond the immediate victims. The first casualty is trust which is the invisible glue that holds society together. Once trust begins to disappear, relationships become strained, making employers and workers mutually suspicious and preventing genuine relationships from forming. The second casualty is mental health. Imagine the psychological burden of constantly wondering whether the person driving your children to school can be trusted, whether the person holding the keys to your house secretly hates you, or sleeping with one eye open because the person protecting your property may be planning your destruction. A society where nobody trusts anybody is a society slowly destroying itself from within.

​Perhaps the most frightening aspect of this challenge is that insiders are often the most difficult threats to detect. Globally, the problem of an insider is difficult to deal with. An outsider may know little, speculate, guess, or attempt access; an insider knows everything, knows the routines, knows the facts, and already has access. That is why security professionals across the world consistently identify insider threats as among the most dangerous challenges faced by individuals, organizations, and nations.

So what can be done?

First, employers must treat recruitment more seriously. Background checks should not be viewed as a luxury. References should be verified independently. Identity documents should be properly scrutinised. Previous employers should be contacted wherever possible.

Second, trust should never replace oversight. Even trusted employees should operate within clearly defined systems of accountability. Good systems protect both employers and employees.

Third, behavioural changes should never be ignored. Sudden aggression, unusual secrecy, unexplained wealth, excessive curiosity about finances, strange associations, or repeated expressions of resentment should be carefully monitored.

Fourth, employers should invest in staff welfare while maintaining professional boundaries. Fair treatment matters. Respect matters. Timely payment matters. However, kindness should not eliminate vigilance.

Fifth, families should avoid over dependence on a single individual. Concentrating too much information, responsibility, and access in one person’s hands creates unnecessary risk.

Sixth, religious institutions, schools, parents, and community leaders must intensify efforts to rebuild moral values. Character formation must once again become a national priority. A society cannot survive on economic development alone. Character is infrastructure too. Family Living, Civic Studies and other subjects which were part of our curriculum should be revisited.

Seventh, government should strengthen employment verification systems, criminal record databases, and community policing initiatives. Better information sharing can prevent dangerous individuals from moving undetected from one victim to another. Imagine that the guy who killed a week ago was working on another site making the people also vulnerable to his attack.

​Ultimately, every employer of labor, artisan, driver, domestic worker, apprentice, security guard, personal assistant, and support staff should regularly review conduct, performance, attitudes, and behavioral patterns. Difficult conversations should not be postponed, and warning signs must not be ignored.

​The truth is uncomfortable. Many Nigerians are trying desperately to solve problems. They are hiring drivers because they cannot drive everywhere, employing guards for protection, engaging domestic staff for support, and recruiting workers to scale businesses. Yet increasingly, some discover that the very person brought in to solve a problem has become a bigger threat. The helper becomes the predator, and that is a tragedy that should concern every citizen.

​As a nation, we must pause and reflect deeply because we cannot continue down this path. A society where benefactors fear beneficiaries is in trouble; a society where kindness is rewarded with betrayal is in danger; a society where trust repeatedly ends in bloodshed is slowly losing its moral foundation. The Fatinoyes had dreams. Mrs. Kitan Oyesiku and his guard had dreams. Countless unnamed victims across Nigeria had dreams, families waiting for them, and plans for tomorrow. Today, many of those dreams lie buried beneath the cold earth, leaving behind grieving children, shattered spouses, aging parents, empty seats at dining tables, silent rooms, and painful memories.

​Perhaps the most heartbreaking reality is that many of these tragedies were not caused by strangers lurking in the darkness, but by people welcomed into homes, trusted with responsibilities, and treated as family. That is why the pain cuts so deeply; the wounds of betrayal are often far more painful than the wounds of violence itself. If you have been betrayed by a friend before, you will know how it feels,

As we mourn the dead and comfort the living, we must confront the deeper crisis beneath these crimes: a crisis of character, conscience, gratitude, and values. ​For when a nation begins to lose its moral compass, locks become thicker, gates become higher, fences become stronger, and security becomes more sophisticated. Yet fear continues to grow, because no wall is high enough when character collapses. No gate is strong enough when conscience dies. No security system is powerful enough when the enemy already lives inside the gate.

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May we never become a people who repay kindness with cruelty, trust with betrayal, and goodness with bloodshed for the day a society normalises such behavior is the day it begins to lose its soul.

​Kayode Ogunjobi, FHEA, FFAN, is an environmental researcher, public affairs analyst, and leading advocate for nature conservation. He writes extensively on environmental sustainability, ecological security, governance, and public policy, with a commitment to advancing sustainable development and societal wellbeing.