Community leaders tell court what they saw when the house of a suspected ritual murderer in their community was forced open by the police

Last Friday, the Court 5 of Oyo State High Court, hearing the murder case involving five persons, heard the testimony of the third prosecution witness (PW3), Pastor Abraham Ajayi, the Chairman of Okegbemi Community Landlord?s Association, Zone C. Pastor Ajayi told the story of what led to the discovery of the activities of the first defendant, Adekunle Mohammed, in the murder of community members and others.

Mohammed is standing trial with four others before Justice Akinniyi Ladiran Akintola, for alleged conspiracy, murder and dismemberment of the bodies of victims for sale. The four other accused persons are Muniru Salaudeen, Rashidat Akanji a.k.a Iya Ewe; Ismail Olalekan and Sanmi Obaleye.

Ajayi, a commercial motorcyclist who was led in evidence by the State Senior Counsel, S. A. Osuolale. He said he lives at Seriki Okegbemi area, Olorisaoko, Moniya, and told the court that the first defendant had been known to him in the community since 2016.

Casting his mind back to August 7, 2024, Pastor Ajayi said: ?On that date, we had a naming ceremony in our area, and as the community chairman, it is part of my duties to be there. As I was heading home from Moniya to meet up with the time of ceremony, I met Adekunle Mohammed on a motorcycle going towards Moniya with a male child, while I was heading towards our community. When I got to the ceremony, I stayed there till 9pm before I left for my home.

?I was back in my house when someone walked in and said they had been trying to reach me. I was asked to come to the place we usually hold community meetings. When I got there, I met about five people who said they saw a commercial motorcyclist (Okada) around Mohammed?s house. They said they questioned the okada man on the reason he was there at such a late hour. The man, they said replied that he brought Afaa Mohammed home. Mohammed was seen carrying a tied white sack containing something. I told the community members how I saw Mohammed leaving the community for Moniya, wondering why he was seen at night carrying the sack.

?Other community members came out and asked him what he always came at night and midnight to do in his house. They agreed that we should all go to his house to check it out to know the business they were always doing late at night.

?When we got there, people wanted us to break in but I stopped them. We asked people in the house which shares a fence with him to come out and tell us what they observed about him and his house. They said they had perceived foul smell oozing from Mohammed?s house times without number, and that swarm of flies usually perched on the windows.

?I told the gathering that the matter was beyond us, and that we should inform the police so that the house could be opened for all to see what was inside. I called the general chairman to come to our zone. When he arrived, I briefed him and told him that I would like to involve the police to come and force open Mohammed?s house so that everyone would see what was inside.

?We proceeded to the Amotekun office at Akinyele and got there at about 12 a. m. There, we were directed to go and report at Moniya police station. We gave the Amotekun personnel Mohammed?s phone number. At the station, we were told to come back at daybreak since it was already into the early hours. We also left his phone number with the police.

?In the morning, the executive had a meeting. We were at the meeting when the general chairman called me that Amotekun personnel were on their way to our community. When they arrived, we took them to Adekunle?s house which was full of grasses. We informed the Amotekun that the house had always been full of weed. The officers checked the surroundings and found a deep well covered with planks and roofing sheets. They opened the well, flashed their torches inside it, covered it back and told us to go with them to Moniya police station. When we got there, the Divisional Police Officer advised us to be vigilant, tighten security in the community and not to allow strange faces in it.

?The following day, the general chairman told us to come to the station, as the defendant had been arrested. He said Amotekun said that they saw a human corpse in the well when they came to check Adekunle?s house. We went to the police station and met the police recording the statement of the accused. When asked why he was killing and keeping bodies in the well, he replied that he usually killed thieves and dropped them in it. The police asked him whether he reported to the community or the police that a thief came to his house and he killed him. They said that they didn?t just find one body in the well.

?When asked how he killed the thieves, he replied that he would first hit them with charm. He was detained the police, saying it was due to the search carried out at his house.

?On August 10, 2024, community members informed of the discovery made by the police in Adekunle?s house and we were all asked to report at the police station. We met a lot of security personnel at the station and the media. We all moved to Mohammed?s house. There, his well was opened, a putrid smell oozed out. The police requested that Mohammed should open the door to his house. When he could not do it, the door was broken. When the police officers got in, they saw blood all over the floor and there was foul smell. There were several plastic bottles filled with blood and human body parts.

?When Mohammed was asked what the items were, he confirmed that they were human body parts and blood which he had yet to sell because there were no buyers yet. Then he told the police not to make issue public yet because others were involved and would flee if they got to know that he had been arrested. He called some names of those involved, but I can only remember Afaa Bulala and Afaa Olobe. He also mentioned Kuraisi whose real name is Yakubu. The defendant told the police to make sure these people were also arrested.

?The police called the Oyo State Fire Service and they came and evacuated three bodies from the well in Mohammed?s house. The evacuated ones were without heads, arms and legs. The Fire Service officials said that those were the ones that could be evacuated as other bodies had decomposed. We arranged a vehicle to convey the recovered body to the mortuary.

?The case was transferred to State CID where the investigation continued.?

The statement he wrote at the police station was tendered in evidence, and with no objections from the defence counsels, the statement was admitted and marked as Exhibit P3.

The matter was adjourned till November 6.

Meanwhile, on June 20, the second prosecution witness (PW2), Oladimeji Titilope, elder sister of another victim, Adekola Sodiq, said Mohammed said he knew my late brother and even mentioned my name. ?Then he disclosed that he had killed Sodiq, my brother.? (Saturday Tribune)

Update news