The Ondo State Police Command has arrested a 39-year-old fruit seller, Dolapo Babalola, for allegedly killing his childhood friend, Evangelist Opeyemi Oyelakin, 34.
Following the killing, Babalola and another suspect, Sikiru Mutiu, who has been declared wanted, stole the motorcycle of the deceased, which he was using for commercial purposes, and sold it in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, for N130,000.
The suspect, who confessed to the crime, stated that on March 15, he deceived the deceased to take him to Oke-Igbo, a few kilometres from Ondo town, to check a piece of land.
According to Babalola, on getting to the land, which was situated inside a bush, Sikiru grabbed the deceased from behind while he struck him to death with a stick and stone.
With the family of the deceased disturbed by the whereabouts of the father of one, a complaint was lodged, after which detectives swung into action and arrested Babalola at his residence in Ondo town, headquarters of the Ondo West Local Council Area of the state, after the tracking of the call logs of the deceased.
“It’s the work of the devil; I can’t explain because this person that we are talking about is my close friend. Truly, his bike is not the first I will ever snatch, but I have never killed one before. Even those that are not related to me, I snatched bikes from them, and I did not even do anything harmful to them.
“At least I have snatched about 15 bikes, but I have never killed before. His own is the first; my buyer is in Ibadan. But we sold this one at the rate of N130,000, and we share the money equally because we are two in the business.
“When we intended to collect the bike from him, he dragged it with us, and I hit him with a stone. I know his mum and younger brother. I can’t really explain why I killed him. I am a trader. I sell oranges, but I don’t have a shop. I do go to villages to buy oranges. I am from Oyo State, Ibadan, precisely. But I reside in Ondo town.”
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Abayomi Oladipo, who led detectives and medical personnel to evacuate the decomposing body of the deceased from the pit where it was dumped in the bush, frowned at the manner in which some farm owners within the area where Oyelakin was killed failed to alert the police despite the heavy stench that engulfed the area for days.
“Through technical intelligence, the suspect was arrested, and upon the interrogation, he confessed to how the rider was engaged from Ondo town to take him and one other to a farm area in Oke-Igbo, and the rider, who incidentally happens to be his friend, brought him to this area where we are.
“On getting to this point, they came down under the pretence that they wanted to inspect their farm.
The other suspect, who is now at large, gripped the okada rider at the back while the arrested suspect hit him with a stone on the head and consistently used wood to batter his head.
“At the moment, we are still investigating to apprehend all other offenders who are on the run,” he said.