• In spite of efforts by state govt, security agencies, violent crimes persist in state
By Henry Akubuiro
Like most Nigerians, the New Year was expected to be a thing of joy for the Ogun State couple, Kehinde and Bukola Fatinoye. It was a day to thank God for surviving 2022 and look forward to a better year. But it wasn’t to be after attending the Crossover Night.
On January 1, thecouple was murdered at home – their house is located in Oba Karunwi Street at the Ibara GRA, in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
The ease with which the assassins operated in the gated community has left many bewildered. Karunmi Street has an entry and exit gate, and houses a first class monarch, the Osile of Oke-Ona Egba, Oba Adedapo Tejuoso; the state’s office of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), as well as the National Industrial Court.
That notwithstanding, the assailants entered the street and murdered the two residing in a semi-detached duplex, setting the building on fire, and disappeared.
This came on the heels of a June 2022 incident when the two sons of the couple were kidnapped and thrown into the Ogun River.
Confirming the New Year killing of the couple, the Ogun State Police spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said: “It is true that a couple was killed and set ablaze at their residence in Abeokuta shortly after they returned from a cross over service.
“One person has been arrested by our operatives in connection with the incident. We will get to the root of the matter as investigation has since begun.
“The assailants took advantage of the busy cross over night into the New Year to carry out the dastardly act.”
The murdered woman was a worker with the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), while her husband was a staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The burial service for the couple took place at the Anglican Church, Iporo-Ake, Abeokuta, on Monday and were thereafter buried in the Lantoro area of Abeokuta.
Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has since given marching orders to the police command in the state to go after the killers: “This is a grievous crime; no doubt. I have directed the Commissioner of Police to ensure that everything is done in order to arrest the people behind the dastardly act. I assure you that the perpetrators will not go unpunished. Such a heinous crime should not go without making the people responsible face the full wrath of the law.”
To make matters worse for the slain couple, their son, Oreoluwa, and a maid, were also abducted by his parents’ killers. Oreoluwa’s body was later found floating in a river along Adigbe-Obada Road in the Ogun State capital Abeokuta on Tuesday, January 10, morning, with his hands said to have been tied with rope.
Idowu Taiwo, a fisherman, who discovered the body and reported it to the police, said he found it floating in the river while he was preparing for the day’s work.
Meanwhile, the only arrested suspect, Lekan, the driver of the late Mrs Fanitoye, was reported to have escaped from police custody at Ibara Police Divisional Headquarter in Abeokuta on Tuesday, four days ago.
However, the couple’s murder, together with their son, wasn’t an isolated case of violent crime in Ogun State. Ogun has been swimming in blood since last year with ritual murders and targeted assassinations.
On Wednesday, January 4, 2023, the Ogun State Police Command paraded a couple and six others for kidnapping and dismembering a 26-year-old mother, Oyindamola Adeyemi, on December 28, 2022.
The suspects, Taiwo Olutufese Ajalorun and Salawa Oyenusi Ajalorun, were arrested along with six other suspected members of the syndicate. The others arrested are Lukman Oladele, Kayode Ibrahim, Bello Akeem, Alebiosu Adebayo, Fatai Rasheed, and Fatai Jimoh.
Abimbola Oyeyemi, the police spokesman, said the suspects were caught following a report lodged at Obalende Divisional Headquarters, Ijebu-Ode, by one Ojo Omolara, who reported that her neighbour, Oyindamola Adeyemi, who left home since morning of Wednesday 28th of December, 2022, hadn’t returned and her phone had been switched off.
Unlike many cases whose disappearance has remained a mystery till date, the police didn’t take time to unravel this particular mystery.
A day after the reported incident, on the 29th of December, while a patrol team from Obalende Division was on routine patrol, they saw a dismembered body of a lady by the road side, and took it to a mortuary, not knowing it was the missing woman.
The mortuary was just a stone’s throw from the house of the deceased, and one of the mortuary attendants, who knew about the missing person, called the attention of the deceased family to come and have a look at the body brought by the police.
The deceased friend, Ojo Omolara, promptly identified the corpse through the bra and underwear she was putting on, for her head had already been chopped off.
Having identified the body, the DPO of the Obalende Division, SP Murphy Salami, mobilised a team of detectives and embarked on a technical and intelligence based investigation, which led them to Taiwo Olutufese Ajalorun, a herbalist from whom the deceased’s Itel phone was recovered.
He was promptly arrested, and a search conducted round his house revealed a container filled with human blood, which was to be identified as belonging to the deceased.
The Ogun Police Command explained further: “His arrest led to the apprehension of his friend, Lukman Oladele, in whose house the legs of the deceased were also recovered.
“They both made confessional statements which led to the arrest of other suspects who are buyers of different parts of the deceased body.”
Upon interrogation, Saturday Sun gathered that Taiwo Olutufese Ajalorun and Lukman Oladele confessed that the deceased was lured to the house of Taiwo who happened to be her man friend, but, as soon as the victim entered, she was pinned down by both Taiwo Olutufese and Lukman Oladele, “and they subsequently strangled her to death,” according to the police report.
After killing her, they cut off her head, legs and the two hands, which they sold to their standby buyers to be used for money making rituals.”
The police revealed that, according to the apprehended syndicate, “the legs of the deceased were sold at the rate of N30,000, while the heart was sold at the rate of N50,000 to Akeem Bello, while the person who bought the head is still at large.”
The suspects also confessed that the victim was the third person they had killed in such a gruesome manner.
The Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, has ordered the immediate transfer of the suspects to the Homicide Section of the state Criminal Investigation Department for discreet investigation and diligent prosecution.
On December 11 last year, a suspected member of a kidnapping gang, Usman Aliyu, was also arrested by the police for kidnapping and killing victims in Ogun State.
That development came after the police had earlier arrested two members of the “deadly” gang at Onigbedu forest in the Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun.
While announcing the breakthrough, the Ogun State police spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the police had engaged in an aggressive bush combing exercise, leading to the arrest of Usman, who had earlier escaped.
The fleeing suspect was arrested on following information received by policemen at Ewekoro Division that the suspect was sighted boarding a commercial motorbike at Onigbedu, moving towards Papalanto, en route Lagos.
Upon the information, the DPO of Ewekoro Division, CSP Sunday Opebiyi, had quickly mobilised his men on a stop-and-search operation along the said road, and the suspect was subsequently identified and promptly arrested.
Upon interrogation, the man “confessed being a member of the kidnap gang, whose two members were earlier arrested and a victim rescued from them.”
He also revealed that the group was made up of six members, and that when two among them were nabbed, the remaining four members scattered to different directions in the forest.
But since policemen were on their trail in the bush, he decided to come out and take a commercial motorcycle out of that vicinity before he ran out of luck.
Uman said the police, made another confession that his gang was responsible for the abduction of one Owolabi Abiodun and Fakorede Kazeem at Kipe village, Idi-Ori, Abeokuta, on October 7, 2022.
Fakorede Kazeem, he disclosed, was “killed by the gang because he was unable to walk fast while they were being taken away in the bush.”
He informed the police that they also kidnapped a 10-year-old girl, Adekunle Esther, and one 15-year-old boy, Adekunle Adebayo, at Olomowewe Street, Rounder, in Abeokuta on October 10, 2022.
Also, he confessed that on October 19, the gang had kidnapped one Mrs Famurewa at Abule Ijaye in Soyooye, Abeokuta, at the entrance of their house, killing her 65-old-husband, Festus Famurewa, while releasing the wife after ransom had been paid.
Besides, on November 16, 2022, the same gang dragged away Olatunji Azeez and Osoba Moroof at Olujobi town in Itori for ransom payment.
Those who survived the gang had come out to testify, including the two kids, that the suspects were the masterminds of their abductions.
Earlier, in November, 2022, a pastor and two others were arrested in connection with the abduction and killing of a 39-year-old man, Adekunleuyiwa, and dismembering his body for ritual purpose.
The Command’s Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, who revealed this to the media, said the suspects, Idowu Abel, Clement Adeniyi and Felix Ajadi, were arrested following a report lodged at Owode Yewa Divisional Headquarters, on November 15, 2022, by the elder brother of the victim, Oluwaseyi Adekunle, who said that his younger brother left home on the 10th of November, 2022, and never returned.
Acting upon the report, the DPO of the division, CSP Mohammed Baba, detailed a team of detectives to unravel the mystery behind the sudden disappearance of the man.
In the course of their investigation, Idowu Abel was discovered to be the one who came to pick the missing man from his house on that fateful day, leading to his arrest
On interrogation, Idowu Abel confessed that the victim, who happened to be his bosom friend, was lured out by him and taken to his second accomplice, Clement Adeniyi’s farm, where he was killed and butchered.
“He confessed further that it was one herbalist, who was introduced to him by Pastor Felix Ajadi, who requested for a human head, heart, two hands and legs,” said the police.
He revealed also that the herbalist promised to pay him the sum of N200,000 if he was able to get the listed human parts for him. He was said to have paid N80,000 in advance, promising to pay the balance of N120,000 on receiving the items.
With the advance payment in hand, the suspect, Idowu Abel, approached his bosom friend, Muyiwa Adekunle, and asked him to accompany him somewhere.
Being a long-time friend, the victim, who didn’t suspect any foul play, followed him innocently, and he was taken to the farm of Clement Adeniyi, where they killed him and dismembered his body. His head was cut off and his heart was also removed and the remaining parts were hurriedly buried in a shallow grave in the said farm.
His confession led to the arrest of Clement Adeniyi and Pastor Felix Ajadi, while the herbalist, simply identified as Abeeb, a.k.a Boko, had bolted away, even as the State Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, ordered the immediate transfer of the suspects to the Homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation Department for discreet investigation.
All through last year, Ogun State was in the news for some of the most bizarre killings outside of Boko Haram, marauding herdsmen and unknown gunmen in the South-East.
Some of these killings in Ogun were cult related. For instance in March, 2022, 16 people were murdered as cult killings escalated in the state, the type that hadn’t occurred in the state in almost a decade.
A popular area boy named Tommy was hacked to death at the popular Panseke Market in Abeokuta, the state capital, by rival gangs.
The clash, which was reported to be a battle between the Eiye and Aiye cult groups, took a more dangerous dimension immediately after Tommy was murdered.
Saturday Sun findings revealed that, before Tommy was killed, six other persons had been killed in different parts of Abeokuta in connection to cult skirmishes.
Those killed in Abeokuta included Scater, School Boy, Alakanni, Tommy, Azeez, Olaosebikan, Alameda, and Babajide. The killings were said to have taken place at different locations in the metropolis: Asero, Kugba, Ikereku, Adigbe, Oke Ijeun, Isale Abetu, and Panseke.
Areas in the state capital, including Oluwo, Mercy Road, and Mango, have become regular sites of violent clashes and killings.
It was gathered that the clashes between the Eiye and Aiye cult groups lasted for over a week, following the killing of key leaders of both groups.
Following the murder of Tommy, several small business owners shut their shops around the Oluwo, Onikolobo, Mango, and Adigbe axis, fearing escalations.
A day after Tommy was buried at his house in Oluwo, on Sunday night, gunshots, once again, resonated in the Panseke neighbourhood atmosphere as residents and motorists fled the scene.
Three days later, two gunmen shot and killed one Dare Ojugbele, suspected to be a member of the Eiye cult group, in Ilaro, Yewa South Local Government Area.
The deceased, according to Abimbola Oyeyemi, the police spokesperson in the state, had just been released from the Nigeria Correctional Service.
Within the same period, about eight persons were murdered in Sagamu Local Government Area, not far from Abeokuta.
The Sagamu killings, which occurred on a Monday, took place early in the morning at 7 a.m., with young men storming the area and killing their targets.
One of the victims, Akeem, an electrician, was attacked at Ajegunle area of Sagamu at 7 a.m. A source said he did not die immediately, but when they were rushing him to hospital, another bike hit them, and he fell from the bike. He died eventually, because his intestines were gushing out of his stomach, having been shot there.
The Sagamu killings occurred at different locations, such as Soyindo, Ijagba, Ajegunle and Sabo.
There have been other violent crimes in the state.
In October 22, an ex-convict, Anu Orija reportedly raped a 12-year-old girl, Janet Fakeye to death at Fehintoluwa in Idiya, Abeokuta North Local Government area of the state. The suspect has since been on the run.
It was gathered that the suspect dragged Janet into his family house while she was going home from where she went to buy soap to wash her school uniform on Wednesday. He then allegedly tied her hands, legs and covered her mouth before raping her to death. He then reportedly dumped the corpse of the girl in another building beside his house and ran away.
It was gathered that the suspect’s family house has been set ablaze and damaged completely by angry youths in the community.
In November last year, the Ogun State Police Command confirmed the arrest of a 27-year-old suspected ‘yahoo’ boy, Obeta John, on Tuesday November 29, for allegedly killing his girlfriend, one Idowu Buhari, an HND1 Mass Communication student of Gateway Polytechnic in Saapade area of Ogun State.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the suspect was arrested following a distress call received at Ode-Remo Divisional Headquarters, that Obeta John, who resided at No 3, Mojubade compound, Eredu Ishara, locked his girlfriend inside his room and beat her severely, hitting her head against the wall. All efforts made to persuade him to open the door proved abortive. The lady eventually died.
Also in that month, two suspected Internet fraudsters popularly call ‘Yahoo boys’ were arrested by police operatives in Ogun State for killing a 40-year-old man, Abdullahi Azeez, and cutting him to pieces.
The police gave the suspects’ names as Oyeyemi, Friday Abinya Odeh, 21, and Poso Idowu, 20.
He said the suspects were arrested following a report lodged at Owode Egba Divisional headquarters on June 9, 2022 by relations of the victim, who reported that the victim left his home in Kobape area on June 8, 2022 and did not return since then.
In March last year, a Magistrates Court sitting in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital ordered the remand of four teenagers for the alleged murder of one Sofiat Okeowo.
The suspects – Balogun Mustakeem, Majekodunmi Soliudeen, Abdulgafa Lukman, and Waris Oladeinde – were arraigned on a two-count charge of murder and conspiracy.
They were arrested for allegedly slaughtering and burning the head of the victim, identified as a girlfriend to one of them, for money rituals.
Earlier in February, a couple – Kehinde Oladimeji, 43, and his wife Adejumoke Raji, had been arrested by the police for being in possession of human parts at Leme area of Ogun State. They later confessed that they killed a friend of the wife. The friend had paid them a visit.
Oladimeji said his wife killed the friend, butchered her and dismembered her body parts, which the police later discovered in a bucket.
In May last year, a 30-year-old man, Oluwagbemiga Shogbola, reportedly stabbed his friend, Victor Olabiyo, to death over $150 (N61,950) proceeds of a business deal between them in the Ikenne Local Government Area of Ogun State.
Shogbola, also known as Oja or Federal, accused the victim of cheating him and taking all the money to himself. The argument degenerated into a fight between the men, during which the victim was stabbed to death.
Irked by the Sagamu shootings, the state government warned that the youths in the state must resist the temptation to go into cultism and similar vices.
The government, in a statement, noted: “This administration has invested heavily in programmes and activities designed to equip our youths with the necessary skills and education that could make their future better, as part of our Building Our Future Together agenda. They should not endanger that future by getting involved in crime.
“Parents and guardians must also ensure that their children and wards stay away from criminality. We have zero tolerance for any act that could disturb the peace we have been enjoying in Ogun State since the commencement of this administration. We will deal decisively with anyone intent on disturbing the peace.”
This spate of violent murders has, however, persisted till date despite the well articulated intentions of the state government to tackle all forms of criminality.
In June 11, 2021, Governor Abiodun had handed over 55 patrol vehicles, motorcycles, 200 bullet proofs, 20 helmets and communication equipment to the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, who was on an official visit to the state.
At the presentation ceremony, the state governor said the overture to the police was another demonstration of his administration’s resolve towards providing a safe environment for residents.
As Ogun State continues to swim in blood, the million dollar question is: who will bell the cat?