Photo: The suspects
Lekan Adekanbi, the prime suspect in the gruesome murder of a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) staff, Mr Kehinde, his wife, Bukola Fatinoye and their only son on New Year Day in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, has confessed to the crime.
Adekanbi, a driver to the family since 2008, who made the confession while being paraded at the Ogun State Police Command Headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta on Friday, said he arranged the killing because the couple refused to increase his salary or give him a loan.
He explained that the New Year robbery attack on the family was to forcefully extract money from them for declining his loan request.
According to him, he enlisted the help of two suspected cultists to kill the couple, and their only son, Oreoluwa, who they bound with rope and threw him into a river at Adigbe area of Abeokuta to drown.
Adekanbi further explained that he invited two others, Ahmed Odetola a.k.a Akamo and Waheed Adeniyi a.k.a Koffi to join him to attack the couple.
“I took the step because the couple refused to increase my salary, and when I approached them for a loan to buy a motorcycle, they didn’t oblige.
“Since that failed, at gunpoint, I gave the deceased my Access Bank account to which the sum of N1,102,000 (One million one hundred and two thousand) was transferred.
“When I realised that my identity had been known through my bank account, I decided to terminate the couple.
“That was when Waheed Adeniyi a.k.a Koffi took a knife from their kitchen and slaughtered the husband, while I used sledge hammer to hit the wife on the head and she died on the spot,” Adekanbi stated.
The suspect said that while the robbery was on, Oreluwa, the only son of the couple, and the couple’s adopted son, Felix Olorunyomi Oreoluwa entered the apartment.
He said that they immediately seized them, beat them up and tied their hands with ropes behind their back, after which they were subsequently driven to Ogun River Bridge at Adigbe and thrown into the river.
Mr Abimbola Oyeyemi, the Police Public Relations Officer, Ogun Command, while briefing newsmen on the incident, said the suspects were arrested after a painstaking intelligence investigation.
He said that Lekan Adekanbi was first arrested based on circumstantial evidence in the course of the investigation.
“The suspect, Lekan Adekanbi suddenly collapsed in the cell on the 2nd of January 2023, and he was rushed to the hospital for medical care.
“But while in the hospital receiving treatment, he suddenly jumped from the bed and escaped through the fence of the hospital.
“His escape further confirmed the police suspicion of his involvement in the intelligence-driven investigation.
“The Commissioner of Police then ordered the State anti-kidnapping unit to join forces with the homicide unit in order to get the escaped driver and his accomplices arrested.
“The two teams, in compliance with the CP’s directive, embarked on a technical and intelligence-driven investigation and traced the movement of the suspect to his elder brother in Iseyin, Oyo State but he had left the place before the arrival of the police.
“The teams further intensified their efforts which yielded positive results when Lekan Adekanbi was apprehended in his hideout somewhere in Abeokuta on the 21st of January 2023.
“Waheed Adeniyi a.k.a Koffi and Ahmed Odetola a.k.a Akamo were apprehended at Ogere on Thursday 9th of February 2023.
“The three suspects who are members of Aiye confraternity have all confessed to their various roles in the gruesome and callous murder of the family,” Oyeyemi added.
