From January 16, 2016 when the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba AbdulRasheed Adewale Akanbi received his staff of office from the immediate past Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, he has always been at the forefront of campaign against what he calls ritual killings.
Oba Akanbi was usually unsparing condemning the act and charging government and particularly security operatives to sniff and flush out suspected ritualists in the society.
The past days in the Oluwo’s domain, however, have contrasted his fight against the heinous crime, a situation which has confounded the traditional ruler, who lamented that he did not imagine his town was housing a den where human lives were being wasted by two brothers-Tajudeen Monsuru and Tajudeen Lawal.
The Tabloid.net gathered that the brothers are residents of Yemoja axis. One of them, a vulcanizer while none of them acted in a way suggestive of the crime for which they are now inverted celebrities, except that their late father was an herbalist.
It was learnt that the duo inherited their house located near a stream from which the area derived its Yemoja identity. “I was told that they are truly brothers. That is why I am still wondering how two brothers would be killing people without the public notice in that populated area in the heart of the town,” an Iwo resident, Mr AbdulWaheed Salawudeen told our correspondent.
Before their cup was full last Monday December 7, 2020, they were alleged to have successfully feasted on the innocent souls unhindered as revealed by some dry skulls and decomposing bodies recovered from their rooms. The location of their house was said to have aided them to commit the crime using the stream at the back of the house as a shield of sorts.
“They are wicked persons going by the terrible stench coming out of their house. I followed the people to that place and saw human skulls with my eyes. I know our Kabiyesi himself could not believe such kind of people are living in our town here, a town which is respected as home of Islam and even Christianity,” another resident, Mrs Islamiyah Adio also told our correspondent.
It was also gathered that nemesis caught up with them when a woman, Mutiat Alani was declared missing by her family who had expected her home and made efforts to search for her through friends and relations. The unfortunate woman was said to be a rice seller who innocently walked into the trap of the suspects and never made it back to her house.
A repeated calls to her mobile phone led the investigating team of police from Iwo Divisional Headquarters to a mechanic identified as Monsuru, who, upon, interrogation, revealed how one of the suspects sold the phone to him.
In a jiffy, the team laid ambush for the suspects, an effort which yielded desired result in record time and exposed their long malfeasance. At that point, tension had built up with suspicious public laying a siege in the neighbourhood, awaiting police confirmation. No sooner had the suspects been arrested than the agitated people torched the house while the police promptly guided them to the station.
The gathering mob, it was learnt, had set out to cause more havoc on the property of the entire area alleging complicity by the suspects’ neighbours. But the plan leaked to the Oluwo Palace, and Oba Akanbi quickly rose to the occasion by personally visiting the scene and dissuading the angry people from carrying out their threat with promise to get to the root of the matter and also ensure justice is done to it.
“I have commenced the process to confiscate the den discovered in Iwo. I will approach a competent court of law to give a permit to confiscate land/house and surrounding houses of ritual killers. A powerful security committee will be set up as a liaison between the town and the security to give tip-off information on suspicious ritual murdering.
“Doing so will serve as a deterrent to others and chase ritualists dealing in human parts away from Iwo. The perpetrators must be made to face the full wrath of law. Iwo is known for morality and respect for human lives. Anyone caught dealing in human parts should be treated as criminal and enemy of the society,” he proposed.
Sources revealed that the public respected Oba Akanbi’s intervention but reportedly made a vow to administer jungle justice on any suspect in sight. Their prayers were answered on Thursday December 10, 2020 when two women and a man were caught during their alleged attempt to kidnap a minor.
The provoked people had a field day when they learnt that the Oluwo was out of town. They rebuffed all pleas to take the suspects to the police and threatened to cause further chaos in the town. In the end, they set all the suspects on fire.
Efforts to reach the Osun State Police Command where the suspects were said to have been detained, was unsuccessful. Notwithstanding, the Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs Yemisi Opalola was reported to have confirmed the transfer of the suspects to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Osogbo, the Osun State capital as well as their confession to the allegation that they were into ritual killings for commercial purposes.
“We arrested two ritual killers, Tajudeen Monsuru and Tajudeen Lawal. A woman identified as Mutiat Alani was reported missing. We commenced an investigation. The telephone of the missing woman was found with Monsuru. The suspects have since made statements which will be useful for the ongoing investigation,” she disclosed.
The visibly depressed Oluwo rhetorically asked, “Is it not an irony now that despite the fact that I spent my past five years on the throne waging war against ritual killings, we could find same people here? This is an act against humanity.
“It is a undeclared war which claims innocent lives on daily basis. May be, I should even lead a protest against ritual murderers because Iwo is not an abode for evil doers. We need the cooperation of the security agencies to flush them out and clean our land of human blood.”
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