Umaru Aliyu, a herdsman, was allegedly murdered by some farmers in the Imeko region of Ogun State.
The four farmers also dismembered the herder’s body for ritual purposes, according to Abimbola Oyeyemi, the Ogun State police spokesman, who confirmed the incident on Monday morning.
At Ijagunre village in Ogun State’s Imeko-Afon Local Government Area, the police detained the four.
Akinyele Adebayo, Gbalo Idosu, Abiala Segun, and Kareem Fagbemi Lana were the suspects named by Oyeyemi.
He claimed that they were detained in response to a report made by one Umaru Jakake, who told the police that he and his brother Aliyu were warned by one Ojugbele not to take their cattle close to his farm while they were grazing their cattle in the aforementioned Ijagunre village.
Oyeyemi quoted the complainant as saying that he and the deceased obeyed the warning and took their cattle to the other side of the bush for grazing.
However, Ojugbele was said to have later called two other men, who he said started chasing them about in the bush.
The complainant explained that he managed to escape, but the whereabouts of Aliyu became known since then.
Following the report, the case which was incidented at the Imeko divisional headquarters, was transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Departments in Eleweran, Abeokuta, for discreet investigation, as ordered by the Commissioner of Police.
Oyeyemi said the case was assigned to the SP Kehinde Beyioku-led homicide section, whose investigation led to the arrest of Kareem Fagbemi Lana.
Lana had confessed to the police that it was Ojugbele who called to inform him of the presence of herdsmen near their farms, “and that he should come and join him to chase them away.”
He reportedly confessed further that Ojugbele also called Abiala Segun, who came with his dane gun and the three of them started chasing the herdsmen.
”While chasing them, Kareem Fagbemi Lana collected the dane gun and shot one of the herdsmen Umaru Aliyu to death.
“After killing him, they invited Akinyele Adebayo whose farm is nearby and informed him of the incident.
“It was Akinyele Adebayo who helped them to dismember the body after telling them that he needs the head of the deceased for certain ritual and they all agreed with him to take it,” Oyeyemi stated.
He added that the suspects later took the remaining parts of the body to Tamake town and buried same in front of Gbalo Idosu’s house.
”The confession of Kareem Fagbemi Lana led to the arrest of three others, while Ojugbele is still on the run,” he said, disclosing that the deceased’s head and other body parts were recovered by the policemen.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police in Ogun, Olanrewaju Oladimeji, has ordered that the fleeing Ojugbele be brought to book, directing that the arrested suspects be charged to court as soon as investigation is concluded.
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