3 men arraigned for killing their childhood friend for rituals

The Ondo State Police Command is investigating three individuals in the state for allegedly killing their childhood friend for ritual.

The suspects are, Chief Babatunde Olumofe; a worker of 7up Bottling Company Limited, Ijora, Lagos State, Mr. Sunday Akeju; and another man identified simply as Eso.

The suspects and the victim, Mr. Olufemi Ogunkorede, were said to have built their personal houses near each other in Ikorodu, Lagos State.


It was learnt that the suspects - Olumofe, Akeju and Eso carried out the act at Erusu Akoko area of Ondo last week. 

They were said to have tricked Ogunkorede (53), an indigene of Ilu Omoba-Ekiti, Ekiti State to the town last Saturday on the pretext that Olumofe was going to bury his late mother. They were said to have bought and given a new cloth to Ogunkorede as the Aso Ebi for the occasion.

It was revealed that as soon as they arrived at Erusu-Akoko, the suspects handed over Ogunkorede to a witch doctor, who allegedly killed him.

The suspects were said to have dumped his corpse along a major highway and claimed he was killed by armed robbers.

They later reported the case to the police at Erusu-Akoko police post.

However, when the case was transferred to the Oke Agbe police station, the Divisional Police Officer was told that the deceased merely slumped and died. The discrepancy made the police to investigate further.

The Public Relations Officer for the state police command, Mr. Aremu Adeniran, confirmed the development. He said one of the perpetrators of the act had been arrested and that a case of murder had been established against him.

However, Ogunkorode family members through their spokesperson, Mr. Gbenga Oluwatuyi, told newsmen that Olumofe and Akeju were in police custody.