By Felix Mordi
Five suspects, arrested by the police in Ogun State in connection with the kidnap and killing of two persons in Ado-Odo area of the state, have recounted their respective roles in the dastardly act.
The suspects, comprising four hatchet men and a herbalist, revealed in their confessional statements to the police that the victims, a commercial motorcyclist and a housewife, were accosted on the road along Abisoye Village, from where they were abducted and taken into an uncompleted building.
Thereafter, the victims were tied down and a call put across to their principal, a land grabber identified simply as Lebo, who allegedly ‘played piper and dictated the tune’ has been on the run.
Lebo allegedly ordered that the victims be slaughtered like goats.
In carrying out their master’s instruction, three of the suspects, Okediran Monsuru, Ajaoba Monday and Akewusola Wajud, held the victims down while Nupo Pona slaughtered them, one after another, with a sharp cutlass.
Satisfied that the task had been accomplished, Lebo then called the fifth culprit and the herbalist on phone, and he was prompt in his appearance at the scene.
The herbalist, identified as Dasu Sunday, ordered that the victims be cut into pieces, loaded into sacks and taken away by him, ostensibly for money making ritual.
In the course of investigation activities by the police, Memunat’s head was recovered in the herbalist’s shrine.
Crime Puzzle gathered that the victims, a 45-year old housewife, identified as Memunat Akinde, and a commercial motorcyclist, Ibikunle Ajose, were said to have been missing since October 1, 2020, a development that threw their families into disarray.
The female victim, a fish seller, made an arrangement with the motorcyclist to come to her residence at Idoleyin area in Ado-Odo/Otta Local Government Area on the fateful day, with the purpose of taking her to a nearby market.
Behold, that was the last they saw of them.
The then missing Memunat’s husband had to lodge a complaint at the Ado-Odo Police Divisional Headquarters, following which the state Commissioner of Police, Edward Awolowo Ajogun, ordered the transfer of the case to the Anti-kidnapping Unit of the state Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) in Abeokuta.
Ajogun also gave the team a matching order to unravel the mystery behind the disappearance of the two victims within the shortest possible period.
The Command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi said in a press statement made available to our reporter that: “The team, there and then, embarked on an intelligence and technical based investigation, and their efforts paid off with the tracing and tracking of one of the suspects, Okediran Monsuru, to Badagry, where he was apprehended. His arrest led to the apprehension of three others namely: Ajaoba Monday, Akewusola Wajud and Nupo Pona.
According to Oyeyemi, “the four-man killer squad confessed that they were working for a notorious land grabber who they simply identified as Lebo”, adding that the female victim’s head was recovered at the herberlist’s shrine.
“The five suspects Okediran Monsuru, Ajaoba Monday, Akewusola Wajud, Nupo Pona and Dasu Sunday are all in police custody, while a serious manhunt has been launched for their fleeing principal simply known as”Lebo”, the PPRO maintained.
Meanwhile, according to the police image maker, CP Ajogun, while commending the investigating team for their determination and resilience in bringing the culprits to book, has directed that the suspects be charged to court without further delay while the remaining ones are to be hunted for and fished out.
