A 23-year-old man was reportedly murdered in cold blood at Oloruntele Street, in Oke-Igbo town of Ondo State, in a house belonging to a former traditional ruler, Dr. Fashahun, by his friend, for the purpose of using his body parts for money rituals.


The suspected killer, popularly called Wasiu, was caught by a neighbor after he allegedly killed his victim and was attempting to cut off his head.


According to our sources, the suspect tried escaping after being caught but was apprehended in Epe, a town between Ondo and Okeigbo by the youths of the town who would have burned him down but for the intervention of the town’s elders who handed him over to the police at Okeigbo for investigation and prosecution.


The incident, as we gathered, occurred on June 8th at Oloruntele Street in a house belonging to the late traditional ruler, Dr. Fashahun, in Okeigbo, Ondo State.


How It Happened

Narrating how the incident occurred to ACKCITY, Fadeyi Gboyega, the uncle of the victim who was reportedly killed said:


“Joshua Fadeyi wass my nephew; he was an Aluminum-fitting apprentice, and also rides “Okada” as a part-time job. Joshua lived with his family at No. 12 Oke-Agbe, Oke-Igbo town of Ondo State.


“On Saturday 8th of June at about 8am, Joshua left the house at No. 12 Oke-Agbe in Oke-Igbo after informing his father, Gabriel Temidayo Fadeyi that he was going to spend time with his friend, Wasiu at Oloruntele, a popular street in Oke-Igbo.


“At about 10pm on June 8th, my brother, Gabriel Fadeyi, Joshua’s father called to inform me that Joshua had been murdered. It came as a rude shock to me, because Joshua was a very good boy, a lot of people in Oke-Igbo can attest to this. The saddest part of it is that we were preparing for his apprenticeship freedom which is supposed to come up next month” He said.


According to eye-witness reports, Joshua was seen entering into a building owned by the late traditional ruler of Oke-Igbo, Dr. Fashahun. This house has been abandoned for years now, but it’s being occupied by one Samuel also known as Kalore.


Joshua and Wasiu were earlier seen entering into the house in the early hours of the day, no one know what was going on inside until about 6pm when Kalore came and met the house door locked from behind.


Kalore said he called out to Wasiu, wanting to know why he locked up the door. He said he thought he was raping a girl as he was known to always do.


When Wasiu refused to open the door, he tried to force the door open, and then Wasiu came out with blood stains on his body. When he was confronted by Kalore about the blood stain, he attacked him and ran off.


On entering into the living room, Kalore said he noticed pool of blood on the floor of the living before he saw the dead body of Joshua which had been dragged towards the exit of the house.


An Eye-witness said, Kalore ran out and shouted for help but the suspect had ran off before the villagers could come together to apprehend him.


They promptly reported the case at the Okeigbo Police Station and Kalore was detained as a suspect. He was later released after two days when the suspect was caught while trying to escape at Epe, a village between Ondo and Okeigbo.


The angered youths who caught him were about to set him ablaze for the gruesome murder of Joshua but for the quick intervention of some elders of the town who took the suspect to Okeigbo police station where he was detained before the case was transferred to the State Investigation Bureau (SIB), Akure.


Another witness, Remilekun Fadeyi, aunty of the victim said:


“On Saturday morning, June 8th, Wasiu called Joshua on phone that he should come over to Oloruntele for enjoyment.


“When Joshua was leaving the house that day, he told us that he would not stay long, but what we heard next is that Joshua is dead”


According to her, Joshua’s mother died just about two months ago and the family was still mourning her, only to hear of Joshua’s death.


“We need to bury him but the police are demanding N62,000 for the corpse to be released and we don’t have that kind of money. Our son has already been killed, why should we pay police money? Remilekun asked.


She also alleged that the suspect was going to be released by the police since the family has no money to give to them, claiming that the suspect has the backing of some influential people in the town.


ACKCITY made a call to the State Investigation Bureau; we spoke to the Investigating Police Officer, Inspector Abayomi who declined speaking to us about the current status of the case. He however told us that police did not demand money from the family for them to release the corpse.


He said, “We are not in custody of the corpse, neither have we demanded any money for the corpse to be released. The corpse in question was deposited at the Ondo State General Hospital in Akure.


“The money the family is talking about is required by the hospital for them to carry out a post-mortem on the corpse to determine the actual cause of death.”


He said, it is required that a post mortem be done on every corpse resulting from murder, saying that if the family does not want a post-mortem done on the corpse then they can as well be saying there was no murder committed.

When we probed further about the allegation that the suspect was going to be released without facing the full cause of the law, Inspector Abayomi told ACKCITY that the case has been charged to court for prosecution.


Speaking further on the refusal of police to release the corpse of Joshua, Mr. Fadeyi said, there was no need for a post mortem to be carried on the corpse since the suspect have confessed to have killed Joshua.


He said, “We all know that Wasiu killed him, the knife he used was seen at the place and there are pictures too.


“We need justice in this matter and police seems to be shielding the suspect. We are ready to go to any length to ensure that Wasiu is prosecuted and face the full wrath of the law, if the SIB police decide to shield him, we will expose them”


He called on the Inspector General of Police to intervene in the case so that the suspect will not go unpunished.

He said, after the family had spent about N35,000 for chattering vehicles and feeding for the police, they no longer have any money to give to the police.


When we called Dr. Osasan, the medical director in charge of Ondo State General Hospital to shed more light about the incidence and amount demanded for the release of the corpse, the secretary told us that the doctor was not deposed to speak us on the matter.


We also spoke with DSP Niyi Fadare the DPO in charge of Okeigbo police station he confirmed to us that Joshua was murdered on June 8th and that Wasiu the suspect was apprehended by mobs in the town when he tried to escape.

He said, “The mob tried to kill the suspect but we rescued by him” he added that “though the police van was vandalized by the mobs who tried to rescue the suspect but the police ensured that he was safely taken to SIB, Akure for investigations.

Source: http://www.ackcity.net/gruesome-murder-in-okeigbo