EXCLUSIVE(SAHARA REPORTERS): After Killers Face Death, Lagos Sound Engineer's Widow Laments Lost Canada Dream

More than four years after the tragic death of Lagos-based sound engineer David Sunday Imoh, known widely as “Dave Sound,” his widow, Bolu, has opened up about the family’s shattered dreams. Imoh was brutally lynched and set ablaze by a mob following a dispute over a mere N100 balance. In an exclusive interview with SaharaReporters on Tuesday night, just hours after a Lagos State High Court delivered a death sentence to three of the six individuals convicted for their roles in the heinous crime, Bolu shared the intimate plans they had for their future, including an imminent move to Canada. She tearfully described her late husband as a peace-loving, diligent man whose sole aspiration was to secure a brighter future for his loved ones.

The emotional revelation came amidst high drama in the courtroom where one of the condemned convicts reportedly attempted suicide immediately after Justice I.O. Harrison pronounced the judgment. The individual allegedly used a razor blade to slash his wrist and throat, an attempt quickly thwarted by vigilant prison and police officers who rushed him out for urgent medical attention. For Bolu, however, no judicial outcome can alleviate the profound grief of losing her rock. “I fondly called him Timmy,” she told SaharaReporters, emphasizing his role as an ideal father and husband. “He’s the father that anyone would wish to have. He’s the husband every woman would fight to have in her life.”

Bolu further highlighted Imoh’s calm and joyful nature, qualities that endeared him to many. “David was always a peaceful person throughout his life. Nothing you did to him could keep him angry. He would rather laugh over any quarrel you were having with him,” she recounted. She painted a picture of a man who faced life’s challenges with a smile. “He had this smile that would make you wonder. You could be fighting with him and he would still be smiling. David could be going through issues that would make other people cry, but he would just laugh over them as though he didn’t have any problems.”

She also praised his unwavering commitment to providing for his family through any honest means. “He was a caring father and a loving husband. Anything legal David could do to provide for us, he would do,” she stated. Bolu fondly recalled his diverse skills, referring to him as her personal electrician, mechanic, carpenter, and welder, a testament to his resourcefulness. “Tell me any legal job David would not do. He was a man of many trades and he mastered them all.” His reliability meant friends and neighbours frequently sought his assistance. “Whenever anything happened, the first person people wanted to call was David. That’s how dependable he was. That’s why I miss him so much,” she added.

The most painful aspect, Bolu revealed, was the realization that their meticulously planned emigration from Nigeria was just around the corner. “If he was alive, by August 2022 David would have travelled out of the country,” she explained. “The plan was for him to go first, then the children and I would join him later. We were planning to move to Canada.” Beyond relocating, Imoh harboured ambitions of establishing various businesses to secure his family’s future, including building a specific type of house and owning a mechanic workshop with a car wash. Bolu expressed her hope to fulfil these dreams in his memory.

Reflecting on her life since his untimely demise, Bolu struggled with tears as she spoke of the immense void Imoh left. “What I miss most is his smile and the assurance he always gave me that everything would be fine,” she confessed. “He would tell me everything would be okay even when we both knew things were not okay. We always used to tell each other, ‘I got you.’ But who has us now? Only God has us now.” She described her current existence as a relentless struggle, battling to meet daily needs such as rent, children’s school fees, and other bills without his support.

The widow also shared the challenges of raising their two sons alone. “Sometimes the younger one asks me questions that I don’t even know how to answer,” she said. At the time of their father’s murder, the older son was five, and the younger one was just one year and five months old. Today, they are nine and five respectively. Special occasions like Father’s Day are particularly difficult for the family. “When Father’s Day comes and all the children in school are celebrating their fathers, I don’t even know how to cope. It is a very big pain. Only God has been carrying us.”

Bolu admitted that no court verdict could bring back what she truly desires. “All I need is just his hug, but I can’t get it anymore,” she lamented. “I miss his assurances. I miss his words of encouragement. I even miss our arguments. Sometimes I just want someone to argue with or someone to cuddle with, but he’s not there anymore. The house is quiet. It still feels like a dream. I can’t explain it. It feels as though he has just stepped out, but someone has taken him away from us forever.”

On Tuesday, the Lagos State High Court concluded the protracted murder trial, finding all six defendants guilty on various counts. Three individuals received death sentences by hanging for their convictions on conspiracy to murder, attempted murder, and murder charges. Two others were handed 11 years and two months imprisonment each for conspiracy to murder and causing grievous bodily harm, while the sixth defendant was sentenced to five years and six months for inflicting grievous bodily harm.

SaharaReporters had earlier detailed the chaotic scenes that unfolded post-judgment when the first defendant, identified as the commercial motorcyclist whose N100 dispute with Imoh sparked the deadly attack, allegedly produced a razor blade. He reportedly cut his wrist before attempting to slit his throat in what appeared to be a suicide attempt. Prison and police personnel swiftly intervened, and the presiding judge ordered he be taken for medical care, emphasizing his need to survive to serve his sentence.

This judgment marks the end of one of Nigeria’s most horrifying mob justice cases. David Imoh, a 37-year-old sound engineer with Legacy360 Band, was brutally assaulted and set ablaze on Admiralty Way, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos, in May 2022. The incident began as an argument over N100 with a commercial motorcycle rider but quickly escalated into fatal mob violence. Two of his bandmates, saxophonist Francis Olatunji and keyboardist Philip Balogun, also sustained severe injuries while attempting to escape the attack. The gruesome killing ignited widespread public outrage, with calls for justice and stricter measures against mob violence across the nation. For Bolu and her children, however, Tuesday’s verdict, though a form of justice, cannot resurrect the future they had meticulously planned. The Canadian dream remains unfulfilled, the envisioned mechanic workshop unbuilt, and the dream house an unmaterialized memory. The man who constantly reassured his family with "I got you" never returned.