A 45-year-old father, Kolese Womiloju and his 25-year-old son, Taiwo Womiloju have been arrested by the men of the Ogun state police command for allegedly killing a Fulani herdsman, Abubakar Sidi Usman.
The 32-year-old herdsman, according to a statement by the command’s spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi was hacked to death by the suspects on Wednesday, April 22 at Gbagba Elewure village in Odeda local government area of the state.
Oyeyemi explained that the suspects were arrested following a report by one Usman Bello, who reported at Odeda Divisional headquarters that the deceased, his younger brother who has a cattle settlement at Gbagba Elewure village had gone missing. Upon his report, a search party was organised for him.
“Later in the evening, the deceased corpse was found in an abandoned well in the nearby bush where he was thrown into after killing him.
“The DPO Odeda Division, Ajayi Williams led his detectives to the scene where the victim was seen with a deep machete cut all over his body.
“Having confirmed that the deceased was murdered in cold blood, the DPO and his men commenced an intelligence-based investigation into the case which led to the arrest of a father and his son who also live in the same village with the victim.
“On interrogation, they both confessed to the killing of the deceased because they saw him grazing his cows around their farm. They stated further that the deceased was warned to take his cattle away from the area and when he refused, he was beaten with a charmed ring which made him to be unconscious after which he was macheted to death. He was then dragged to an abandoned well about one kilometer to the place and dumped there.”
The state Commissioner of Police, Kenneth Ebrimson had ordered that the suspects be transferred to the homicide section of the state criminal investigation and intelligence department for further investigation and diligent prosecution.
Ebrimson also warned that those who are in the habit of taking laws into their own hands will not find it easy with the command because jungle justice has no place in our laws.
