Yemi Bamitale and Daniel Ita, the two domestic staff of the former Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology (FUTA), Akure, Professor Albert Ilemobade, have confessed that they conspired and killed their boss.

While Bamitale was a disengaged driver of the late professor, Ita was his security guard.

The two suspects, who were paraded by the Ondo State Police Command in Akure monday, said the plot to kill the octogenarian was hatched a day before the unfortunate incident.

The driver, Bamitale, said he had been relieved of his duty by his boss some months before the incident, adding that he had attempted to sell off the Toyota SUV after he absconded with it but could not get a buyer.

He said he later restrategised and co-opted Ita who gave him information on the family’s routine and arranged for his transportation to come down to Akure after all arrangements had been concluded.

Bamitale said: “Daniel lured Baba (Ilemobade) out by telling him that there was an electrical spark in the house after I had stationed myself around the entrance of the kitchen. Immediately Baba came out, I gagged and held him down while Daniel shoved cloth into his mouth to stop him from shouting.

“After some few minutes, the old man gave up and we dragged him into the generator house and locked him inside the store that Sunday night. We left the house and locked the gate outside so that no one will suspect us.

“We went inside and took the car key and some other items like an iPad, two phones, a laptop, two bags and N7,000 which we used to fuel the car. We left Akure and headed to Lagos. We left with those items so that the car will not be tracked, because Baba used these gadgets to activate the tracking.”

Bamitale said the policemen at Ijapo Estate allowed them to pass because they recognised the security man, Ita.

He said they encountered some challenges after the men of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) booked them for driving with invalid vehicle particulars and had to sell the phones and iPad in order to pay for the release of the vehicle.

“We sold off the phones and laptop after being booked by the road safety officials. We sold the phones to retrieve the car from them before heading to Ijebu Ode with the hope of selling the car there,” he said.

Corroborating the confession, Ita said that he had earlier visited a traditional herbalist who warned him against murdering his boss, but added that Bamitale insisted that the man must be killed in order to get the car sold.

Ita said Bamitale believed that if Ilemobade was not killed, he would track the car again because he was unable to sell the car in his first attempt.

However, luck ran out on the two killers after trying to sell the car in Iloti in Ogun State to a buyer who was suspicious because of the ridiculous price the two suspects placed on the car and alerted the police in the area.

Speaking on the arrest, the state Police Commissiner, Isaac Eke, said Ita and Bamitale were arrested with the vehicle belonging to the deceased with registration number LAGOS GGE589 CF in Ogun State by security operatives.

He said: “Detectives from the Ondo State Command later discovered that the night guard and the former driver strangled the aged professor and dumped his body in an isolated store in the compound of the professor.”

Eke confirmed that the suspects confessed to the crime, adding that relatives of the deceased had identified the corpse and deposited it in the morgue.

He promised that the two suspects and their accomplices would be brought to book.

Speaking on the incident, one of the sons of the deceased, Adeseni Ilemobade, said the family was demanding justice over the gruesome murder of their father and wondered the motive behind the killing of the late university don.