On March 14, 2019, Oluwatosin Olanrewaju, Mayowa Olawuni a.k.a General and Babatunde Idris a.k.a Aloma, allegedly approached money changers in the Ikorodu area of Lagos, tricked them to an undisclosed location, killed them and dumped their bodies in a septic tank.

Police spokesperson in Lagos, DSP Bala Elkana told journalists that “on March 14 at about 5.30p.m., the Lagos State Police Command received a complaint from Ikorodu area that some unidentified persons approached one Alhaji Yakubu Musa and Alhaji Hassan Umaru, both operators of Bureau de Change at Benson area, Ikorodu and informed them that they have a relation who returned from overseas and needed to sell $10,000”.

Elkana says when the Bureau de Change businessmen refused to play ball after they were tricked into the bushes, no one heard from them afterwards.

“They initially requested that payment will be made in a bank at Ikorodu but on getting to the bank, the suspects moved the operators to an unknown destination and started demanding for ransom from their friends and relatives.

“Despite paying the sum of One Million, Six Hundred Thousand Naira (N1,600,000) as ransom, the abductors refused to release the victims and nothing more was heard from them. The victims phones remained switched off”. 

The police boss in Lagos dispatched a team to Ikorodu and this team found four decaying corpses floating in a septic tank. 

A den of killers

Elkana adds that the suspects did confess that they murdered all four persons. 

“The Commissioner of Police Lagos State, CP Zubairu Muazu mni, detailed the Commander, Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), to carry out an in-depth investigation into the matter with a view to rescue the victims and apprehend the suspects.

“Operatives from SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad) Ipakodo base led by SP Godfrey Soriwei arrested three suspects, namely; Oluwatosin Olanrewaju, Mayowa Olawuni a.k.a General and Babatunde Idris a.k.a Aloma.

“The suspects confessed to the commission of the crime and led operatives to their den at Ikorodu where they dumped the corpses in a septic tank.

“Two locally made single barrel guns with five live cartridges, one locally made gun with three ammunition, one locally made revolver pistol with three live ammunition, one cutlass, one axe and some charms were recovered from them.

“Investigation revealed that the suspects had at various times used an abandoned company as their den, where all their targets are killed and dumped in the septic tank,” Elkana adds.

An insecure nation

Nigerian security forces are currently battling a rising wave of insecurity from north to south. Hundreds have been kidnapped and thousands reportedly killed in the first quarter of 2019.

President Muhammadu Buhari held a meeting with security chiefs on Thursday, May 9, 2019 and directed them to do a lot more to check the activities of the bandits and killers.

Chief of Naval Staff, Ibok Ekwe Ibas, said after the meeting that “the president has also given directives that the agencies should do much more to ensure that Nigerians go to bed and wake up feeling healthy and confident that their security is guaranteed.”