The Ogun State Police Command on Wednesday arrested a herbalist and five suspects for allegedly slaughtering and dismembering a 45-year-old housewife, Memunat Akinde, and a motorcyclist, Ibikunle Ajose in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of the state.
The suspects allegedly committed the offence in after the victims, Memunat Akinde a fish seller and Ibikunle Ajose, the motorcyclists were declared missing on October 1, 2020.
This was disclosed in a statement by Abimbola Oyeyemi, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state on Wednesday.
Oyeyemi stated that Akinde hired Ajose to convey her to the market but both never returned home and the security agents were able to unravel the mystery behind their sudden disappearance, adding that the woman and the motorcyclist were killed for ritual purposes by the suspects.
He said, “This prompted the woman’s husband to lodge a complaint at the Ado-Odo Divisional Headquarters, where the case was formally recorded.
“The case was later transferred to the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the state Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department on the orders of the Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun, who gave the team a marching order to unravel the mystery behind the disappearance of the two within the shortest possible period.
“The team there and then embarked on intelligence and technical-based investigation and the efforts paid off when one of the suspects, Okediran Monsuru, was traced to Badagry and apprehended.
“His arrest led to the apprehension of three others, Ajaoba Monday, Akewusola Wajud and Nupo Pona.”
Oyeyemi further stated that the suspects confessed to have slaughtered and dismembered the victims on the instructions of one Lebo.
He added that police recovered the woman’s head at the herbalist’s shrine, while Lebo, said to be the contractor, is still being hunted.
According to the PPRO, “The four of them confessed that they were working for a notorious land-grabber, whom they simply identified as Lebo; they stated that they accosted the victims at Abisoye village, abducted them and took them to an uncompleted building in a bushy area, tied their hands and legs, and later called their principal on the phone to inform him that they had succeeded in getting the victims.
“They confessed further that when the said Lebo came, he ordered them to slaughter the two victims. The trio of Okediran Monsuru, Ajaoba Monday and Akewusola Wajud held the victims down, while Nupo Pona slaughtered them with a sharp cutlass.
“Having killed them, the fifth suspect, Dasu Sunday, who is an herbalist, was invited, and on his arrival, they cut the victims into pieces and loaded their parts into a sack brought by the herbalist, who took the parts away for money-making rituals.
“The head of the woman was recovered at the herbalist’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 Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun had directed that the suspects be charged to court without delay while the other suspects are still being hunted down.
