Boys Corpse Found In Neighbours Fridge

How boy’s corpse was found in neighbour’s refrigerator

Thursday, June 19, 2008
Adewale Ajayi reports on the case of a six-year-old boy who was allegedly kidnapped by a neighbour with his corpse subsequently recovered in a refrigerator.


 The hope of Mr and Mrs Afolabi of seeing their only child Wasiu grow to maturity was dashed recently, just a day to his birthday. The boy would have celebrated his sixth year of existence on May 26, 2008. Ignorant of the danger that lurked around her residence (number 20, Oshewa Street, Oriokuta, Ikorodu), Mrs Ganiat Afolabi had sent her child to the next building, No 18 Oshewa street, to buy a candle to allow them illuminate their apartment pending the time the boy’s father would return from work, and switch on the generator.



The time was around 6:30pm. Wasiu left for the next compound occupied by Mr and Mrs Fatai Folami, but was sent back by Mrs Folami to his mother to serve her part of the soup his mother had cooked. Wasiu’s mother said the boy was told to go and inform Mrs Folami that the soup was not sufficient even for the family. After waiting for a while, Wasiu’s mother became impatient around 7:00pm when the boy did not return to the house. Shedecided to trail him to Mrs Folami’s shop. At her neighbour’s shop, the response she got was shocking and made her to suspect something had gone wrong. Mrs Folami claimed Wasiu left her shop long ago and that she saw him off to the entrance of the gate of their compound. Mrs Folami, worried and disturbed, raised an alarm that attracted the neighbour- hood.



The neighbours quickly set up a search team which combed the nooks and crannies of the area to locate the missing boy. The parents of the boy decided to go spiritual over the matter. They sent for Muslim clerics who after saying prayers, assured the parents that the boy would be found though they never informed them if he would be found alive or dead. The entire residents of Oshewa Street were thrown into confusion and none of them went to sleep as the search continued till dawn. Apparently not comfortable with the development, the boy’s father decided to travel to Osogbo Osun state, early the next day to seek the help of more powerful clerics to make supplications over finding the boy while those in Lagos continued with the search for Wasiu.



At a point, one of the clerics invited told the parent that the location of the boy was between his father’s house and the next building . Around 12:30 pm the following day, Mrs Folami was alleged to have shouted from her compound: “Is this not the boy they are looking for?” Her voice was said to have drawn the attention of everybody, and they headed towards the direction she allegedly pointed at . Alas, the boy was found dead and packed inside a deep freezer, and blood was oozing from his nose. The corpse was carefully kept inside the freezer belonging to Mrs Folami (the neighbour). The moment the attention of the neighbourhood was drawn Mrs Folami and her family disappeared, and nobody knew of their whereabouts .



The enraged public, who had wanted to pour their anger on the suspect, started asking questions: How did the boy get into the freezer? Who killed him? Was he killed by the Folamis? For what purpose? Some were quick to arrive at the conclusion that the boy was killed for ritual purposes. The Afolabis and Folamis were said to be friends of long years standing, they were said to be trading in the sale of chemical products , and the friendship that existed had influenced the decision of the two families to build houses near each other. Wasiu’s mother said that the two families had maintained a good relationship, and that Mr Folami influenced her to change the school his late son was attending to the one his children were attending .



She said at a time the transport fare charged by the school authorities was increased arbitrarily and Mr Folami assured her not to worry, that he would be assisting the family by taking the boy to and from school along with his children in his car, and that he was doing so until the unexpected happened. Mrs Afolabi claimed that because of the friendship, she used to assist Mrs Folami in her business, particularly grinding of pepper, and earlier that day, before the whereabouts of her son became questionable, she had gone to assist her.

The incident was bizarre, and residents of Ori Okuta were perturbed over the incident, with many wondering who to trust again, if a friend of many years could do such a thing. They were worried about the safety of their children.



As a result of anger and anguish demonstrated by those in the neighbourhood, men of the Nigeria Police were drafted to the scene to maintain peace, and prevent them from vandalizing the suspects’ property. Due to anger that pervaded the area, the corpse of the boy was not removed during the day; it was removed around 11 p.m, when some members of the community had retired to bed. The Folamis were said to have reported to the police in Ikorodu, and were detained for some days, before being transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department Panti, while another member of the community was said to have been arrested over the issue as an accomplice.



Reacting to the incident, the Lagos state Police Command Public Relations officer, Mr Frank Mba, said the case was one the State Command was much interested in, because it happened in a community where everybody knew each other, and the command was much interested in it because a child was murdered and one could not continue to mortgage the future of the youths. He explained that the investigation was continuing and that some arrests had been made, and the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba had taken over the case from the Owutu police station that started the investigation .



Mr Mba said fingerprints had already been taken, but there were some information which the police had gathered concerning the matter, which it would not want to release to the public because it might prejudice the investigation the police were conducting. “The case is under investigation, I cannot tell you the level it is now, Panti took over the case from Owutu Police station, it is a murder case, the investigation is ongoing , it is a murder case. There are some information we can not release to the public now”, it may prejudice our investigation. "The command is very interested in the case because it happened in a community where everybody knows each other, and we cannot continue to mortgage the future of our youths”, he said.

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