We killed OOU student, girlfriend because he refused to give us money, cultists confess

The Ogun State police command has arrested two self-confessed cult members for murdering two students of the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago Iwoye, Ogun State.The suspects, Muritala Babatunde and Taiwo Rasak, who were paraded at the command’s headquarters, Elewe-Eran, Abeokuta, confessed to newsmen that they lured and killed Adebisi Oriade, a 300-level Computer Science student popularly called ‘Oh Dollar’ and his girlfriend, Juliana Imaga, a Law student, before dumping their bodies in a bush.

They confessed to being members of Black Axe Confraternity, popularly known as Aiye cult group and that they killed the victims because Oriade, who is well to do, refused to give them money they demanded from him.The duo were among 20 other suspects paraded by the Commissioner of Police, Ahmed lliyasu, for committing various crimes at different locations within a specific period. lliyasu disclosed that Oriade’s brother, Oriade Adeola had on May 28, reported that his brother left home with his 18-year-old girlfriend, Imaga in his Honda Crosstour with registered number plate FST 350 FA, but did not return.

The police boss said: “The suspects who are strong members of the dreaded Aiye confraternity confessed that they killed Oriade Adebisi and his girlfriend and that the victims were lured to a junction at Oru-Ijebu where they were forcefully dragged to a nearby bush before smashing their heads with planks and gun.”He said their decomposing bodies were later recovered on June 19 and deposited at the State General Hospital in Ijebu Ode, adding that one of the suspects, Babatunde, dropped out of the university in Ago Iwoye where he was initiated into the cult group.

Describing the suspect as ‘Number One Aiye, Ijebu North Axis’, he was said to have had in his possession two locally-made pistols, which he and his gang members had allegedly been using to perpetrate their nefarious acts. “On May 28, at about 11:00p.m. having noticed the said Oriade Adebisi’s movement along Oru-Ijebu junction, whom he had been nursing criminal intents against, he quickly called his gang members (Rasak Taiwo aka Iku and Sodiq) and the said Oriade Adebisi and his girlfriend were kidnapped in Adebisi car and taken to the bush along Ijebu-Ode-Awa-Ibadan expressway where both of them were killed.”

“He confessed further that before Oriade Adebisi was killed, he ordered him to deactivate his password on his iPhone X and he took the iPhone and two pairs of shoes from him before abandoning the car at the expressway, having dumped the bodies of Adebisi and his girlfriend in a bush at the back of an uncompleted building where they were murdered.“He confessed that the victim, whom he said was a Yahoo Boy, was giving money to a rival cult group and was not giving him money and had not recognized him as the overall cult leader in that area”

Babatunde told newsmen: “Adebisi refused to pick my calls and I stopped calling him. On May 28, I got two other men to join me and we abducted Adebisi and his girlfriend. We killed his girlfriend too to cover our tracks.”

Rasaq, on his part, said he was initiated into Aiye Confraternity in 2015. “On May 28, Babatunde called me and one Sodiq (suspected cult member) to meet him at Oru junction. On their arrival, he told us he wanted to kill Oriade who had parted away with his money. Babatunde then called his girlfriend Seun Yetunde who had been monitoring Oriade’s movement and she brought a bag that contained two guns and a cutlass while waiting patiently for Oriade to come.

“A few minutes later, Oriade and his girlfriend arrived in a car. Suddenly, we based him down with the gun. Babatubde took over the steering haven ordered the passengers to the backseat while myself and Sodiq were at the back seat with them. We took them to the bush along the expressway where we killed them with planks and gun”.In a chat with journalists, Adebisi’s father, Adedeji Oriade, said: “My son was never a cultist or an Internet fraudster. Muritala Babatunde was quoted to have said that my late son used to help him with money but suddenly he stopped and became arrogant and that was why he was killed. I want the police to make sure justice prevails by making sure these two suspects do not go unpunished.”

Julia’s mother, Mrs. Olamma Ofor, amid tears, said: “My daughter was a law student. We talked almost everyday but I became restless when I started calling her phone and the line was not available for days. So I decided to call her boyfriend, his own number too wasn’t going. Later I received the news of their death. This is a cold-blooded murder, the suspects must be dealt with accordingly.”

In another development, palpable fear at the weekend gripped residents of Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital and its environs as another cult clash claimed three lives in Odi community, Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of the state.Indigenes of the community told newsmen that they were woken up by series of gunshots and mobilised to the scene after the melee, only to met the lifeless bodies of the victims. The source said the community could only identify one of the victims while the other persons were unknown.

Though the state government had made efforts to reach a truce over the cult war, the renewed clash and killing confirmed that the agreement reached during a meeting with some state government officials, led by the State Volunteer Force, has failed.Though it could not be ascertain which of the cult group was responsible for the Odi incident, indications are that the cultists have returned to war trenches. It was gathered that during the peace meeting initiated without police presence and attended by known cult leaders, it was agreed that cult killings will stop and slots for cultists engagement by the state government would be arranged.

That arrangement is now being threatened by the latest killing. It was gathered yesterday that the latest incident occurred at about 10:00p.m. in the community and claimed an indigene of the community known as James Alex and two others. Though the youths and elders have gone into a closed-door meeting on Sunday, it was gathered that the killing might not be unconnected with the killings recorded during last month’s cult clashes in some parts of the state capital with many seeing the attack a reprisal by another cult group. Others, however, claim the killing might be another tactics employed by another group to instigate crisis in the state. Confirming the killings in Odi, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Asinim Butswat, said three persons were killed adding that the police have commenced investigation.