Adebola Baines
Suspected hoodlums and cultists have tortured to death a building construction worker at a site in Ikorodu, Lagos, where he was working.
Already, homicide detectives drawn from Igbogbo police division of the state have been working round the clock to unravel the circumstances that led to the death of the father of two who hailed from Osun State.
It was gathered that the victim of the latest attack, one Mr.Muritala Abiodun Iyiola,had gone to Enelepe area of ikorodu to confer with one of his customers who recently bought a plot of land within the community.
It was said that on sighting the victim from afar, a group of hoodlums and cultists brandishing guns reportedy swooped on him and consequently subjected him to intensive interrogations .
Thereafter, their victim was said to have been seriously beaten by the hoodlums. As the beating reportedly progressed, one of his attackers allegedly told Muritala Abiodun Iyiola, to bail himself out, otherwise, life would be snuffed out of him.
The apparently panicky victim immediately put a call to his brother, one Taofeek Iyiola, who is a surveyor, who in turn reportedly sent the sum of N50,000 into the account of his brother.
โBy then, the bricklayer was already bleeding as his clothes were soaked in his own blood.Then, blood was equally gushing out of his ears and nostrils.โ
His attackers were said to have further commanded the victim to transfer all the money in his account to the account of one Tobi Oseni. Apparently afraid for his life, the victim who had the balance of 2000( two thousand naira) in his account before his brother made the payment, immediately transferred all the money in his account totalling N52,000 (fifty two thousand Naira ) before he was let off the hook.
Checks reveled that the victim wobbled and managed to get home as he had been battered and his body fractured as a result of the merciless beaten from the hoodlums who reportedly claimed to be working for one Sir K. Oluwo, a land grabber, who operates within the Ikorodu and Gberigbe axis.
โAs the victim was receiving treatment at a private clinic, his conditions worsened. Barely 48 hours after the attack, he gave up the ghost.And the matter was reported at Igbogbo police station from where homicide detectives took up the matterโ.
Muritala Abiodun Iyiola,until his death,hailed from Irein Boripe Local Government Area of Osun State.He left behind two children and a pregnant wife.
Meanwhile, in the course of police investigation, the man in whose account a sum of N52,000 was transferred was picked up for questioning . He was said to have mentioned his accomplices in the crime and the person whose interest they were representing.
He was said to have confessed to the police detectives that the money was initially paid into his OPay account before he later transferred same into the account of the Site Manager,one Akeem Musa.
Checks revealed that, the matter took a dramatic turn two weeks ago when a letter emerged from Igbogbo police station that the family of the victim had signified their intention not to seek justice for the dead.
But the family of the deceased has since denied the report, accusing the police of complicity.
Checks by reporter revealed that the family who lay claim to the property has been fragmented and polarized, after all.
One faction of the family claims that the land in question,which is the subject of the matter, had been reportedly sold to one lawyer G.O.K Ajayi and that the wife of the lawyer could attest to it.
It is this same fraction represented by one Chief Ganiyu Omotayo Adekoyejo, that actually brought in Kamoru Lamina a.k.a.Sir K Oluwo, to the land.
The other family faction,on the other hand, has their own representative who monitors the goings on at the troubled siteโ.
At Igbogbo police station this morning, mum was it when our roving Correspondent sought to hear out from the top officers attached to the station
.โWe are police officers.We donโt dabble into land matters,โan officer barked.
It is worthy of mentioning that โno member of the family of Barrister G.O.K Ajayi was in the know of any land belonging to them at Ewelepe village, Ikorodu, a detective who once investigated the matter at the Force Criminal Intelligence Department (FCID) Alagbon, Close, Ikoyi, said.
The source added that none of the family members of Chief Ganiyu Omotayo Adekoyejo could provide any evidence to support their claim that the land which Sir K.Oluwo. and his group have been illegally occupying truly belong to G.O.k Ajayi,as they claim.They also do not have the telephone number of any member of the G.O.K.family nor could they provide the account with which the erudite lawyer paid into. It is all a concorted and bogus narratives after allโ the frontline detective added.