The Oyo State Police Command has finally put an end to the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Kafilat Lateef, a 36 year old woman as 5 suspects have been arrested for allegedly killing her for ritual purposes.
The suspects, who were arrested in Oyo town, were Gbenga Taiwo (35), Afeez Kareem (38), Lukman Ganiyu (30), Mohammed Saheed (45) and Adeyemi Adedokun (40).
The Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of State Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku, Ibadan, Mrs Janet Agbede, who conducted newsmen round the scene of the crime, said a family member of the deceased, one Sekinat Lateef, went to Kajorepo police station to report the case of a missing person.
The complainant said her sister went to visit her lover in Oyo on January 21 and did not return. She said calls to Kafilat’s line were not going through, until a few days later, when they received a call from her line that she had an accident in Lagos and was at the General Hospital, also in Lagos.
The police boss said that immediately the family reported the case, the police swung into action and arrested the principal suspect, Taiwo, her lover.
Mrs Agbede said his confessional statement led to the arrest of others and recovery of the remains of the deceased, which had to be exhumed.
Taiwo had reportedly invited her to Oyo and connived with his friends, Kareem and Lukman to lace her drink which made her fall asleep, after which Lukman hit her in the head with a digger.
The suspects had confessed that they dug a shallow grave at the backyard of the house where Lukman was a guard, where they buried the body of the deceased with a kolanut in her mouth.
However, trouble started for the group when they went to the grave the second day and did not find the kolanut.
After the third day, they decided to exhume the corpse, remove the head and burnt other parts, while they buried the charred remains in another grave by a dump site at the back of the house.
Taiwo confessed that the head was given to one Adeyemi Adedokun a.k.a Baba Agbadu, to keep.
When asked by newsmen, Taiwo confessed that he was pushed to commit the crime after he had a discussion with a Muslim cleric, Saheed who had asked him to bring a kolanut which had been put in the mouth of a dead person, promising to make a charm for him.
A herbalist, Adedokun, in whose custody the severed head was allegedly kept, however, denied being given the head, though he admitted that Taiwo brought the head to his house.
It further gathered that Taiwo was a wanted suspect in connection with cases of robbery.
He was said to have abandoned his wife and only child, relocating to Oyo from Ibadan immediately he knew there was a manhunt for him.