A commercial driver, Olumide Lawal, has narrated how a suspected ritualist, Salawu Omikansola, killed and dismembered his 16-year-old son, Wahab Lawal, for ritual purposes in the Igbile Ijebu area of Ogun State.
Lawal disclosed this in an exclusive interview.
It had earlier been reported that the Ogun State Police Command, in a statement signed by its Public Relations Officer, Omolola Odutola, disclosed that Lawal had reported his son missing on July 21.
Odutola had noted that on July 23, the decomposed body of the boy was found along the expressway with some body parts, including his head, wrists, heart, and genitals, mutilated.
Odutola had also disclosed that police operatives, while acting on credible intelligence, arrested Salawu Omikansola and Serefusi Agemo in connection with the incident.
Speaking with our correspondent, Lawal narrated that his mother had called him to ask if Wahab was at his place because they couldn’t locate his whereabouts.
Lawal noted that upon receiving the call, he drove from Ijebu-Ode to Ijebu Igbile to meet his mother, and they both searched the entire community without any trace of the missing son.
He narrated that he reported the matter immediately to the police, and they continued the search until Wednesday, when some members of the Igbile community told him that they saw his clothes and sandals along the road.
He continued, “On Wednesday, I left home by 4 a.m. because I was uncomfortable, and I continued to search everywhere, but I couldn’t find him. I went home, but at about 2 p.m., when I returned to Igbile, some women came to me and said they saw clothes and sandals that looked like those of my child I was looking for when they were returning from the farm, and they were suspecting that my son had been killed.
“I was surprised — how could he have been killed? And I said they should take me there. The people were scared, so I took a bike and when I got to the scene, I met my son’s corpse. He had been killed. His head, his two wrists, his heart, and his private parts had been chopped off.”
He said he reported the discovery to the police, who instructed that the deceased’s body should be buried.
Following the discovery, Lawal noted that he began to sniff for information in the area and eventually learnt that some vigilantes had accosted a man with bloodstains all over his body on the day his son went missing.
Armed with the information, he began a hunt alongside the police for the suspect, and they eventually arrested him.
Lawal narrated that following the suspect’s arrest, he confessed that he was allegedly instructed by a traditionalist to kill the boy.
He continued, “While I was sniffing around for information, I heard from someone that someone was accosted at about 1 a.m. on Monday by vigilantes, and the person had bloodstains on his clothes and body. But when they asked him where he got the stains, he said he had gone to kill a dog for someone celebrating Ogun Ajobo, which made the vigilantes free him.
“Someone pointed the suspect out to me, and I informed the police, who arrested him and took him to their station. I believe that after he was investigated, he began confessing that he was sent by one Serefusi to kill the boy.
“He gave the police the details of how they killed the boy and dismembered his body, which prompted them to arrest Serefusi. He said he was scared when he was asked to kill the boy, but Serefusi told him not to be afraid. Serefusi is the head of the Agemo worshippers in the community.”
Lawal concluded by appealing to the state government and all relevant institutions to ensure that justice prevailed in the matter.
“My appeal to the government is that they should not let the death of my son be in vain. I want justice for him because I am beginning to hear that Serefusi is influential and has backup that may help him evade justice,” Lawal concluded.
As of the time of filing this report, our correspondent could not obtain comments from the suspects, Omikansola and Serefusi, as they remained in custody.
Credit: punchng.com
