• Parents seek justice as CP orders manhunt for gang members, sponsors
A Lagos Magistrate’s Court sitting in Ogba, Lagos, yesterday, remanded Wasiu Akinwande, also known as Olori Eso, in Kirikiri Correctional Centre, Lagos, until September 4, 2025.
Akinwande was arraigned before Magistrate Mobolaji Tanimola by the Lagos police command on 11 counts. The 44-year-old alleged notorious armed robber, hired killer, head of killers’ gang and secret cult kingpin, who, along with his multiple gangs, terrorised the Mushin area of Lagos and environs, was arrested by the Tactical Squad operatives of the Lagos State Police Command in June 2025 after over a decade of operation.
From 2009 to 2024, Akinwande and his gangs had allegedly terrorised the people and communities, particularly in Mushin. He was reportedly responsible for organising and executing a series of armed robberies, cold blooded murders, kidnappings and cult-related killings. His reign of terror instilled fear and apprehension in residents and posed a dangerous threat to law and order.
Akinwande’s alleged criminal activities left trauma, horror, agony and pain in the families of victims of his numerous high-profile crimes under investigation by the Lagos police.
Despite his escapes from one state of the country to another over the years, the Lagos police command was on his trail. One of the officers in the team that arrested him described him as a dreaded criminal who hardly missed a shot and would always return to the area months after an operation. He reportedly disarmed police officers and killed at will. With weapons more sophisticated that those of the police, the suspect was said to have promised the leader of the team that arrested him N20 million and members of the team N10 million each.
Speaking at the court premises, a mother of one of the victims, Hafsat Abdullahi, said: “Wasiu Olori Eso shot and killed my son on July 31, 2024. I was at home that day when I was called to go the hospital. I got there and I saw my son, Ramada, in a pool of his blood. I called the Itire Police Station that something was happening in our area. Police came to our area and Eso and his gang shot sporadically and left. They went to his house and recovered guns. He left the area after the murder.
She recalled: “Ramadan was my second child, a promising 23-year-old boy, who was trying to rescue Bolakale before he was shot in Idi-Araba, Mushin, Lagos. He was working in Lagos Island as a painter, but his life was cut short.
“All I want is justice because he had got away with crimes many times.”
Also, the father of a nine-year-old girl, who was killed by the suspect, Saheed Oladepo, said: “In December 2010, I sent Aminat Lateef, my daughter, who was supposed to be 10 years old the next day, to get beans at Ewekoro, Fadeyi, Lagos, but we stayed in Tiamiyu. Six minutes after she left, some boys from Mushin led by Wasiu Olori Eso and members of his gang, including Taye Sempe, Iku Monday, Amala, Oyinbo, who are dead now, passed through the area saying “A fe lo ki won oo (we are going to greet them), common things they say when they are going out for their heinous acts. I stepped out to go and look for Aminat immediately I heard that. I saw my daughter approaching and everyone was running. I heard gun shots and I was hastening to catch up with her. I told her to hide, I hid behind a counter while she hid behind a parked car. Olori Eso, who had the pump action, shot and I was hoping my daughter was not touched but getting to her, I saw her in a pool of blood.
“I want justice for my daughter and others killed by him.”
Also, Jokotola Kadri, said: “My son, Bolakale Atanda Yusuf, was murdered by Olori Eso about 11.45pm., on July 31, 2024 at the age of 30. I know the case is no longer mine but that of the government, but I am appealing to everyone that I don’t want anything to happen to my family again. Olori Eso and his accomplice should leave my family alone because Olori Eso’s accomplice went to the house of my son, Quadri, to kill him but I thank God nothing happened to him.
“I want the government to ensure our safety. I know people may be giving them money to jeopardise the case, but if they do, what happened to my son will equally happen to them.”
Lagos State Commissioner of Police (CP), Jimoh Olohundare, ordered that the accomplice and sponsors should be brought to justice. During the hearing, prosecution counsel, Nosa Uhunwangho, who presented nine AK-47 rifles, two pump action guns, two pistols and 13 passports of different nationalities as exhibits, prayed the court to remand the suspect in police custody for further investigation.
However, the defendant’s counsel, Adejare Adekembi, argued that while he was not against the suspect’s detention, he should not be remanded in police custody but in a correctional centre.
Uhunwangho objected that being in police custody would help investigations on the 13 passports with valid visas, but Kembi argued that the passports were not sufficient for the remand in police custody.
After the arguments, the Magistrate remanded the suspect in Kirikiri Correctional Centre until September 4, 2025.
