by Sunday Aborisade
The Ondo State Police
Command is investigating three individuals in the state for allegedly killing
their childhood friend for ritual.
Our correspondent learnt that the
suspects are, Chief Babatunde Olumofe; a worker of 7up Bottling Company
Limited, Ijora, Lagos State, Mr. Sunday Akeju; and another man identified simply
as Eso.
The suspects and the victim, Mr.
Olufemi Ogunkorede, were said to have built their personal houses near each
other in Ikorodu, Lagos State.
It was learnt that Oumofe, Akeju and
Eso suspects carried out the act at Erusu Akoko area of Ondo last week. They
were said to have tricked Ogunkorede (53), an indigene of Ilu Omoba-Ekiti,
Ekiti State to the town last Saturday on the pretext that Olumofe was going to
bury his late mother.
They were said to have bought and
given a new cloth to Ogunkorede as the Aso Ebi for the occasion.
Investigation by our
correspondent revealed that as soon as they arrived at Erusu-Akoko, the
suspects handed over Ogunkorede to a witch doctor, who allegedly killed him.
The suspects were said to have
dumped his corpse along a major highway and claimed he was killed by armed
robbers.
They later reported the case to the
police at Erusu-Akoko police post.
However, when the case was
transferred to the Oke Agbe police station, the Divisional Police Officer was
told that the deceased merely slumped and died. The discrepancy made the police
to investigate further.
A source in the town confided in our
correspondent that trouble started about three years ago when Olumofe, who was
to be honoured with a chieftaincy title, invited Ogunkorode to celebrate with
him.
Olumofe and Ogunkorode allegedly
carried out some activities that were considered sacrilegious by some
traditionalists in the town. The source added that the traditionalists had been
mounting pressures on Olumofe to re-invite his friend for necessary rites to
appease certain gods in the town.
It was believed that the victim’s
death would bring back peace between Olumofe and the traditionalists.
It was learnt that as soon as the murder was discovered, it sparked off a
cold war between the people of Erusu-Akoko and Ilu Omoba-Ekiti. The
latter allegedly chased away representatives of the former who were in their
town to plead for forgiveness.
The source said, “Delegates from
Erusu, including some chiefs were in Ilu Omoba-Ekiti last Sunday in connection
with the case.
The Public Relations Officer for the
state police command, Mr. Aremu Adeniran, confirmed the development.
He said one of the perpetrators of
the act had been arrested and that a case of murder had been established
against him.
However, Ogunkorode family members
through their spokesperson, Mr. Gbenga Oluwatuyi, told our correspondent on the
telephone that Olumofe and Akeju were in police custody.
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