Femi Ogbonnikan in Abeokuta
Operatives of the Ogun State Police Command have apprehended an apprentice who allegedly hacked down his master and his wife with machetes over failure to settle him with an initial capital to set up his own trade as the tradition demands after serving him for three years.
The incident occurred at Ijako-Ota in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of the state last Sunday night.
It was gathered that trouble started last Sunday when the suspect, Okwudili Okoro, from Ebonyi State, allegedly made up his mind and hired the service of his friend, Kenneth (now at large), to help him “teach†his master who happened to be his elder brother, Azubuike Okoro, who he had served for three years, a good lesson of his life for his promise to give him some money to start his own business but which he allegedly failed to redeem.
Despaired and fed up of the inconsistency of his elder brother, it was learnt Okwudili contacted his friend, Kenneth, and they left their Sapon, Abeokuta, home and headed straight to his master’s home at Ijako-Ota where they met him and his wife eating on the dining table.
It was further gathered that Okwudili and Kenneth did not waste time upon gaining entrance into the building, as they cut the man and his wife, Jacinta Okoro, with machete to death.
According to the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Abimbola Oyeyemi, who confirmed the incident, the suspect was arrested following a report lodged by one Joseph Nwagu who reported the matter at Sango Division that Azuibike and his wife have been hacked to death by the suspect and hid friend who came all came the way from Sapon in Abeokuta to commit the crime.
He said: “Upon the receipt of this report, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in-charge of Sango Division, Mr. Nasirudeen Oyedele, led detectives to the scene where the suspect was arrested, but his accomplice escaped.
“Upon interrogation, the Ebonyi State-born suspect claimed to have served his deceased elder brother for three years, and when it was time for him to be settled, his brother kept on promising without fulfilling. He further stated that when he realized that his brother was not ready to settle him, he contracted one Kenneth who is now on the run and they both bought two cutlasses, sharpened them to the edges and headed straight to his deceased elder brother’s house in Ijako-Ota.
“On getting there, they met the deceased eating with his wife and before he could utter a word, they descended heavily on them with the sharp cutlasses and cut them to death.â€
Oyeyemi, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), said the corpses of the slain couple had been taken to the morgue of Ota General Hospital for post mortem examination.
However, he said the Commissioner of Police (CP), Alhaji Ahmed Iliyasu, had directed the immediate transfer of the suspect to the detectives attached to the homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Eleweran, Abeokuta, for a discreet probe into the matter.
The state PPRO also said the state police commissioner had directed the detectives to go after the fleeing accomplice, Kenneth, with a view to tracking him down and make him face the full wrath of the law.
