Kola Olawuyi, The Investigative Journalist Who Exposed Reverend King

Kola Olawuyi, The Investigative Journalist Who Exposed Reverend King

When Kola Olawuyi passed away in 2007 at the age of 44, many people were deeply saddened. My mother was one of them. He once dominated the airwaves with his Iriri Aye radio program that I grew up listening to.

At 8 PM on Fridays in the South West, it was common to see people gathered around radio sets in street corners, homes, and electricians’ workshops, listening to Kola Olawuyi’s program. It became a weekly tradition for us.

Kola Olawuyi was larger than life. The number of cases he investigated and brought to light has not been matched by anyone since his death.

No one has had that level of confidence since. He exposed Reverend King’s case. He uncovered churches where owners buried people alive as rituals to attract crowds.

He revealed numerous cases of child abuse and people pretending to be witches to harm others. He exposed Aja ile (underground killing houses) where kidnappers’ dens were raided and brought to light.

He uncovered blood ritual killings and ritualists in the South West. There was even a woman called Malaika who claimed to be God and that she created everyone and could do as she pleased until Kola Olawuyi brought her to justice.

The man was fearless and seemed unstoppable. Listening to him was both terrifying and thrilling.

On one hand, you admired his bravery. On the other, you feared for his safety. It wasn’t surprising that when he died, many people’s immediate reaction was, “Oh, they finally got him.”

Perhaps even he had that thought in the back of his mind. At the end of every show, he’d always say: “Aa ma be obe nii besu, atelese a bena wo. Eni ba ni a ma bo nikan lawa o ni de ba nle” (loosely translated: “We’ll always go out to work. It’s those who don’t want us to return that we won’t meet when we return”).

His life was enigmatic too. Even though he was a member of the Redeemed Church, the number of occult cases and ritual killers he exposed made people suspect he was involved in the occult himself.

>>> to be continued