[b]Determined to get rich at all cost, four men connived to rob, kill and dispossessed a businessman of his N10million. The four suspects, Tunde Jimoh 37, Gbenga Babalade 40, Abubakar Agboola, 65, an herbalist and Olatunji Ahmed 42, an herbalist and a Muslim cleric, after killing the victim, Stephen Oyeyemi Akintoye 33, were angry to discover that the money with him was just N100, 000.
Disappointed for not getting their hands on the N10 million, they decided to cut off Akintoye’s head, removed his heart and dismembered other parts of his body for money ritual. One of the suspects, Jimoh said: “I decided to shoot Akintoye in order to rob him of the N10m we believed he had in his bag. Akintoye was Gbenga brother’s friend.
When we checked his bag, we discovered only N100,000 cash, books and clothes instead of N10 million.” The Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mr Abiodun Odude, said that the fall of the suspects started after Akintoye’s wife reported that her husband didn’t return home after leaving for a business transaction with Gbenga’s brother. Police arrested those believed to be connected to the crime.
The suspects were arrested by the Anti- Kidnapping Squad. Akintoye was murdered on February 24, 2017. During investigation, the number of those arrested was whittled down to four.
The police explained: “The deceased came to buy cashew nuts from Gbenga’s brother on a large scale, but was shot by Tunde Jimoh. They wanted to rob him of his N10 million, which they thought he had in his bag. They, however, found only N100, 000.
They were angry and frustrated. Since there was no N10 million, they decided to go back to their initial plan. The initial plan was to become rich through money ritual. They dismembered Akintoye’s corpse; they removed his heart, severed his head, hands and legs and took all the parts to herbalists. The herbalists had earlier promised to prepare a money-making charm for Gbenga to improve his cashew nuts trade.”
Items recovered from the suspects include; one short single barrel gun, one long single barrel gun, two live cartridges, two expended live cartridges, an axe, three knives, the deceased’s car key, hand bag, sandal, belt, one unregistered motorcycle, one bottle of Aromatic Schnapps, N40,000 and different kinds of charms. The content of the Schnapps is alleged to preserve the severed body parts.
Other exhibits recovered are severed heart of the deceased, two severed wrists and a headless body. Jimoh said that the deceased’s head was rejected by the herbalists, who instructed him to throw it into a river.
Jimoh said: “My friend Gbenga informed me that he wanted to do money-making charm, so that the cashew nut business he is doing with his brother would flourish. This took us to Baba Agboola. Baba Agboola took us to Alfa Olatunji. When Alfa told us the charm would require a human heart, I told him I would get it.
“When Akintoye said he was coming to pay Gbenga’s brother N10 million business money, Gbenga informed me. We planned to rob him; if we collect the N10m, there wouldn’t be any need for money ritual.
On sighting Akintoye with his big bag, I told Gbenga that we should kill him and take the money. As I was about to shoot him, he pleaded that I shouldn’t kill him. He said he was ready to part with the money. I shot him and he died there.
I shot him because he would recognise and get us into trouble. “When we finally checked his bag, we found only N100,000 instead of the expected N10 million.
It was that disappointment that led us back to our earlier plan of money ritual. We went back to the bush where we killed Akintoye. We removed his heart and other parts of his body. We took the parts to the herbalists.
They asked us to go and throw away the head. They preserved the parts in a bottle of Aromatic Schnapps.” The commissioner of police said that the suspects would be charged for offences of conspiracy, armed robbery, murder and ritual killing.[/b]
