A native doctor, Alhaji Olatunji Azeez who is in custody of the Lagos State Police Command has confessed to burying a 68 year old retired customs officer and her adopted daughter alive in a shallow grave behind his shrine in Ajuwon, Ogun state.
The herbalist narrated how he had collected N9 million from the retiree in order to prepare a concoction for her that would enable her to run a successful pregnancy.
Azeez, an indigene of Oyo narrated, “I have been a trado-medical doctor for about 30 years, but I knew Angela over five years ago. She initially came to me for protection from family attacks. One of her friends called Lizzy introduced her to me. The relationship began to grow, and she kept patronising me for one thing or the other.
“Then, about three years ago, she mentioned her barreness problem, adding that the daughter that was with her was adopted. I was shocked. But when she told me her age, I told her it was impossible to make her pregnant. But she insisted that prophets in the churches she went had assured her she would get pregnant.”
Azeez added, “I did the normal concoction for her, but it didn’t work because of her age. But I collected the money because I knew if I did not, she would go to where they would collect it. After some months without result, she came to my place to complain. She then demanded a refund, but I told her that I could not repay it. She then began to threaten me. Within a month, I tried to repay N2.5m. On that fateful week, she came back for the remaining N6.5m.
“It was Saturday, May 17. She came with her daughter and insisted that she wanted her balance. She said as a retired customs officer, she could kill me if I didn’t pay back the money. Then I thought, I must kill this woman before she killed me.
“So, I decided to act fast before she tarnished my image. I pacified her to come back next day for the money. When leaving, I told her not to come with the daughter.
“After she left, I told myself I needed to act fast. I went to a building at the back of my shrine where I dug a hole. I spread a mat on the hole and laid a white cloth on it, exactly the way it looks in my shrine.
“When she came next day, I told her to go inside the building that we needed to pray before we talk about the money. She asked if the prayer was for the pregnancy and I told her it was for fortification.
“I warned her not to take her daughter along but she refused. I did not argue any further because I did not want my plan to fail.
“On getting inside the building, I asked her to stand on the white cloth and immediately she did, she fell inside the hole and landed on her buttocks. All I heard when she fell was yeh! When she fell, I said I have seen the end of my enemy and I have gained victory.
“The daughter did not say a word. She just stood watching. I had to cover the hole with over 40 buckets of sand.
“After covering the hole, I asked myself what to do with the little girl. I left the room, locked it from outside. When I came back at about 6.30pm, I met her on the sand. I quickly removed my jacket and poured about 30 bucket of sand to cover her. Next day, I went to get two bricklayers to cement the place.”
Lagos Police Commissioner Umar Manko said, “The woman and her daughter were reported missing on May 10 at the Oko Oba Police Division by the family.
“Azeez was eventually arrested through a tracking device installed on the victim’s Toyota Camry. Azeez, an herbalist, had hypnotized the woman for a long time. He had taken over N200m from her both in cash and property. We discovered he cleverly constructed a well in his house, lured the woman with her daughter into the room, and buried them alive.
“We were able to recover the decomposed bodies of the victims from the well. We also picked their property which was buried along with them. We have finished our investigations, and he will be charged to court for murder. We will leave the rest to be decided by the court.”