Ogun: Transporter allegedly strangles, butchers retired civil servant

• Police nab murder suspect after joining mourners at victim’s home

He is a popular transporter in Abeokuta, Ogun State. But the police just arrested him for allegedly murdering a retired civil servant, Mrs Adedotun Oluwaseun.

The police stated that after committing the crime, he then returned to the same house to join other sympathisers condoling with the family following the brutal killing of their loved one.

The suspect

The suspect, 49-year-old Saburi Lateef, popularly known as Alhaji Oki Osan, was arrested 10 months after the retired confidential secretary with the State Universal Basic Education Board was brutally murdered in her home at Bode Olude community, Abeokuta.

Ironically, Lateef was said to have been among the most visible mourners who visited the deceased’s residence to commiserate with her family after the murder.

The suspect, who is said to be a well-known transporter in Abeokuta, allegedly confessed to the crime, narrating how he gained access to the woman’s apartment while she was away attending a retirement party organised for a friend around the Rounder area of the town.

His arrest followed investigations by operatives of the Ogun State Police Command, reportedly acting on the directive of the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu.

A source at the Homicide Section of the command, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the police had initially encountered difficulties identifying the killer but that the Commissioner of Police, Olubode Ojajuni, directed operatives to ensure that the perpetrators were brought to justice.

“At the beginning, there was no link to the perpetrator of the crime. But our CP directed that we must do everything possible to unravel the killing,” the source said.

The source disclosed that investigators suspected the murder might have been motivated by the belief that the deceased had recently received her gratuity, which the suspect allegedly wanted to steal.

According to the police source, Lateef allegedly strangled the woman when she returned home and caught him ransacking her apartment. He subsequently inflicted multiple machete cuts on her body.

The suspect reportedly dragged her body to the toilet and placed it on the toilet seat, apparently to confirm that she was dead.

He was said to have spent more than an hour carrying out the gruesome act without attracting the attention of neighbours.

Recounting the incident, the police source said: “When he noticed that the woman was not at home, he gained access to her residence and began ransacking the place. Unfortunately for him, the woman returned and caught him.

“In his bid to prevent her from exposing him, he strangled her. Not satisfied that she was dead, he picked up a cutlass and inflicted multiple cuts on her body.

“He thereafter carried her body to the toilet and placed the body on the toilet closet to confirm whether she was actually dead.”

In his alleged confession, the suspect attributed the murder to a financial disagreement involving N3.45 million, which he claimed he had entrusted to the deceased.

“I don’t know what came over me that day. She was owing me N3,450,000, being the proceeds from my truck, which I sold as scrap,” he said.

He claimed to have known the deceased for about 10 years, explaining that their relationship became closer after she moved into her house.

According to him, his financial troubles began after his truck broke down and he could not afford to repair it.

“I parked it somewhere around my area in Bode Olude. After some time, some people came to buy it.

“I sold the vehicle for N3.5 million, out of which I gave about N50,000 to the people who worked around where the truck was parked.

“Before then, I had told Big Mummy that I needed a loan to buy another truck and she promised to give me. So, when I sold my truck, I handed over the remaining N3.45 million to her, just to let her know that I actually needed the loan she had promised me,” he claimed.

Lateef said he later approached the deceased for the loan but she repeatedly assured him that she would provide it at a later date.

He claimed that when the promised loan did not materialise, he demanded the return of the money he allegedly kept with her, but she refused.

“On that fateful day, I was determined to collect my money. Though I was drunk, that was not the first time or the only time I had taken alcohol. I was just frustrated that I needed my money,” he said.

He further narrated how he allegedly gained entry into the house.

“I gained access into her sitting room after removing the burglary-proof on one of the windows. When she came, we had a serious disagreement and I strangled her.

“After that, I picked a machete in her apartment and inflicted cuts on different parts of her body,” he confessed.

However, the deceased’s family has strongly denied knowing the suspect or having any knowledge of the alleged financial transaction.

The family insisted that the deceased never mentioned Lateef to them, let alone telling them that she was keeping money for him.

They called on the police and the Ogun State government to ensure that justice was served, insisting that their mother must not be allowed to die in vain.

The eldest daughter of the deceased, Mrs Taiwo Atanda, described her mother’s death as a mystery, saying she was with her on the evening she was murdered.

Atanda said her mother had visited her and spent some time with her and her children after attending a friend’s retirement party around the Rounder area of Abeokuta.

“On February 27, she came to my house when she was returning from her friend’s retirement party around Rounder. She spent some hours with me and my children and, when it was getting dark, she went home.

“Usually, she used to wake us every day. She would greet us and talk to my children. The following day, which was a Saturday, we didn’t hear anything from her. I asked my children and they said she had not called. I thought perhaps her phone battery had gone flat,” she said.

She explained that repeated attempts to reach her mother failed, as her telephone remained switched off.

She subsequently contacted an Alhaja who lived around the deceased’s residence and asked her to check on her.

According to her, the woman initially said she had not seen the deceased for about two days because she had been attending prayers at the mosque during Ramadan.

“When Alhaja got to her house, everywhere was dark and there was no light around the house. She went to check at a nearby house where my mother usually played, but the occupants said they had not seen her for about three days.

“The owner of that house, a man, and Alhaja then went to my mother’s house. That was how they discovered her body in the toilet closet, with multiple machete cuts,” she recounted.

Atanda said the family was shocked to learn of the suspect’s alleged involvement, insisting that they had never seen him around their mother.

“We don’t know this man. We have been celebrating Christmas with my mother and have never seen him in her house. My children usually spend their holidays with her, but nobody has ever seen him with her.

“The first time I saw him was the day after my mother was killed. He was one of the mourners who came to her house,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Ogun State Command, DSP Oluseyi Babaseyi, attributed the breakthrough in the case to the persistence, professionalism and commitment of officers and men of the command.

He reiterated the command’s determination to ensure that criminals have no hiding place in the state, assuring residents that anyone found culpable of criminal activities would be made to account for their actions and face the full wrath of the law.

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