I hired man to kill my wife for not being sure of pregnancy ownership, her refusing abortion —Suspect

A 35-year-old iron rod trader in Wasiu, who allegedly decided to terminate the life of his pregnant partner, Bolanle, has confessed on how he hired a neighbourhood friend to help get rid of the woman because of her refusal to abort the pregnancy and his thought that the pregnancy might not be his.

Wasiu, a resident of Ogijo Town, Ogun State, was arrested by officers from Ogijo Divisional Headquarters, led by the Divisional Police Officer, CSP Mohammed Suleiman Baba, in the state police command on Saturday, January 1.

Nigerian Tribune learnt that Wasiu engaged the friend, Samuel, who, however, refused to dance to his tune, but collected N5,000 and spent it.

The command’s image-maker, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, who confirmed the arrest, said that Wasiu and the hired man were arrested when the DPO got information from concerned members of public that the two men were having altercation at Oponuwa area of Ogijo.

The PPRO said that the police operatives moved to the scene and arrested the duo.

He further made it known that Samuel opened up and informed the police that Wasiu contracted him to kill his pregnant wife, promising N10,000 for the job, out of which he gave N5,000 as initial payment, with the assurance that he would collect  the balance once the job had been carried out.

Police investigation also revealed that Wasiu and the targeted woman were once together as a couple, but got separated due to irreconcilable differences. Wasiu later got married to other women, with one currently living with him.

Somehow, Wasiu reportedly came across Bolanle again and they started having conjugal relationship which resulted in pregnancy.

“In order not to upset his new wife, Wasiu asked Bolanle to terminate the pregnancy, a suggestion she rejected.

Having tried all he could to abort the pregnancy to no avail, Wasiu decided to eliminate the woman and the pregnancy.

Nigerian Tribune also learnt that before the plan to kill her, Wasiu bought bread for his wife and laced it with rat poison. Fortunately, the lady perceived the odour and did not eat it.

In an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, Wasiu said: “The last time my wife came to me was on the eve of Ileya in July 2021. Since then, we did not have sexual intercourse, we were  just used to calling each other  on phone.

“About a month ago, she called to tell me she was four months pregnant. I asked her why she did not tell me earlier and she said she had used drugs to terminate it. On what she expected us to do, she said she would abide with my decision.

“She came to me and I petted her, telling her that I would go and look for money to do the abortion and also refund all she had spent. I went to look for money and returned in 15 minutes, only for her to say she was no longer interested in abortion.

“I asked her why she initially agreed, and told her that I was not sure I’m the owner of the pregnancy. After she rejected my pleas for the abortion, I told her to leave for her house.

“I used to buy bread for her, so on a day, I bought bread for her again and put poison in it so that she could eat it and get the pregnancy aborted or it would kill her.

I gave her the bread but when she opened it, she perceived the smell of the poison and called me. I went to collect the bread, threw it in a pit and stopped going to her, to make her have a rethink.

“I have a guy in my neighbourhood and went to explain to him. He said he would return to me for discussion, and when he did, he agreed to kill her, asking for N30,000. I told him that I had N10,000. Days later, I got the money and gave her N5,000 for mobilisation in addition to my phone which was to be kept by him to assure him of my willingness to pay the balance.

“Three days later, I noticed that he did not kill my wife, so I told him to return my phone. When I felt he didn’t want to return it, I seized his motorcycle and that was what led to our quarrel.”

The wife, a 29-year-old indigene of Abeokuta, narrated her experience thus: “I’ve been together with Wasiu for almost 13 years. I had a son for him but he is dead. My son was with his father when he died at six.

What caused our separation

“It was the love affair Wasiu  was having with ladies. He has good family members and I was staying with them. They used to take care of me. I didn’t know when a woman moved in with him while I was with his family. He even performed the ceremony of traditional introduction. His family had earlier assured me that the ceremony would be done with me after he must have finished learning a vocation, not knowing that he had other plans.

“That was why I seized the opportunity of going to take care of my mother while she was sick to leave the family house where Wasiu dumped me. I started living with my uncle on my return.

How we reconciled

We first saw on Facebook. His family had been telling me to allow reconciliation, so when he saw me physically, we settled our differences and started moving together in 2021. We used to exchange visits. By then, the lady with him had left with the daughter they had together.

“I went to him at Ileya period, but before then, we had sexual relationships about three times. After Ileya, in October, I noticed that I was pregnant.

“When I told him, he started asking me why I should be pregnant. I replied him that I was his wife, not girlfriend or concubine, and we had a child together.  He said he would want me to abort the pregnancy. I told him I couldn’t abort it, pretending that I tried it and was just stooling. He told me not to worry, that he had a place to take me to abort the pregnancy. He said he would go and look for money, and in no time, he brought money.

“Then I thought within myself that this man must mean business. I stylishly asked him if he had taken a lady there before and he said yes. I told him I was not going. Since then, he stopped talking about it, not knowing he had a hidden motive.

“On Sunday, December 26, 2021, he bought me a loaf of N200 sliced bread.

“After he left, at about 10pm, I went to pick the bread to eat. As I brought out two slices and wanted to stuff them in my mouth, I perceived an odour of a poison. Alarmed, I called my neighbour to sniff the bread. When she did, she screamed and said: ‘don’t eat. It’s sniper poison.’ Another person came to confirm it. He generously poured the poison on the bread.

“I called and told him about my discovery, telling him to come and pick the poison he wanted to kill me with. He told me he bought it at a park and people were begging me not to tell my family as they would report him to the police. He came and took the bread away, not knowing he would plan to hire a killer to snuff life out of me.

“And he brought the man he hired to kill me to my house. I welcomed the man and asked him to take a seat, but he said that I shouldn’t worry. I didn’t know he brought him to study me and know my residence.”

Samuel, aged 27, whom Wasiu hired to kill his wife gave his side of the story: “I’m a bricklayer and commercial motorcyclist.

Wasiu and I live in the same neighbourhood. One day, he called and told me that he wanted me to help him kill someone. I stylishly told him not to worry and went to another neighbourhood brother to intimate him of the strange request.

“Both of us decided that I should just collect money from him and not carry out his request. The brother, who was surprised, said he never knew that Wasiu could think of such a thing. He said I should suggest a high price that would make him jettison the idea.

“I went back to Wasiu and told him to pay N50,000 for the job. He started begging me with N10,000. Since I knew I was not doing the job, and I had confided in someone who  also aligned with me in not engaging in such, I thought of collecting the money to enjoy myself.

“That day, he took me to his wife’s house and I was shocked when I saw that she was even pregnant. He did not open up to me on what transpired between them.

The woman also treated me nicely.

“On our way back home, I asked him questions on what happened between them, but he replied that I should just kill her. About four days after, I went to collect the money and his phone, as the neighbourhood brother advised me to do, so that he would not use it to contact someone else to kill the wife.

“I told Wasiu that I wanted to use the phone to take photo shots after doing the job and he gave me, promising to pay the N5,000 balance later.

As he gave me the money, I used it to buy a tyre for my motorcycle, eat and barb my hair for Yuletide celebration. When I collected the phone, I just went home straight to sleep.

“Wasiu was expecting me to return the phone to confirm that the deed had been done, but was disappointed when I told him that the boy who followed me escaped with the phone when he sighted the police van on the way. I said I only met the boy at a point and did not know where he lives. He got angry and started a quarrel with me. That was when I shouted for all to hear that he was angry because he gave me a job to kill his wife and I didn’t do it.”

The PPRO said that the state Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, had ordered an in-depth investigation into the case, assuring that the suspect would be arraigned in court after conclusion.

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