Thirty-year-old Idowu Abel and Adeniyi Clement recently ended the life of a friend to one of them violently and cut up his body parts for a payment of N200,000 by their accomplice, Abeeb a.k.a Boko who made the request.
Abel, Clement and a pastor, Felix Ajadi, were arrested by detectives from Owode Yewa Divisional Police headquarters in Ogun State Police Command a week ago for abducting and killing a 39-year-old man, Adekunle Muyiwa, after which they dismembered his body for sale to a native doctor.
Saturday Tribune learnt that a report was lodged at the police station on November 14 at about 12 midnight by Muyiwa’s elder brother, Oluwaseyi Adekunle, who told the police that his brother left home since November 10, and had yet to return home.
A tenant (name withheld) in Muyiwa’s late parents’ house where he was residing and in charge, was also said to have witnessed his last outing with Abel when he was picked at home.The report made the Divisional Police Officer, CSP Mohammed Suleiman Baba, to lead his crack detectives to unravel the mystery behind the sudden disappearance of the man.
In the course of their investigation, it was discovered that Abel, after picking Muyiwa from home, took him to a drink joint to take local gin (ogogoro).
This led to the arrest of Abel on November 15, but he was said to have denied any contact with Muyiwa on the day he picked him from home.
However, Abel later confessed that the victim, who happened to be his bosom friend was lured by him and taken to a farm owned by his partner-in-crime, Clement.
He further opened up that his friend was killed on the farm and had his head, heart, hands and feet removed, to be taken to Boko. Abel said that Boko was introduced to him by a Pastor Ajadi, and made a request for the human parts a week after they met, with the promise of N200,000 as payment for the job. To convince Abel that he meant business, Boko paid N80,000 as part payment before the assignment was carried out.
Abel, in his move to get the needed human parts, reportedly approached another native doctor, Clement, and let him into the deal he had with Boko. To convince him that the ‘business’ was not a joke, Abel divided the N80,000 he got from Boko into two equal parts and handed one to Clement.
The two suspects concluded their plans on the abduction and killing of the victim on November 9, before carrying them out the following day. After the conclusion of the plan, Saturday Tribune learnt that Abel asked his friend to follow him to an outing the next day, which Muyiwa obliged to do as they usually used to do.
Unfortunately, the outing turned to be a point of no return as he was killed, with the needed parts severed from his body.
The remains were buried on the farm, as the duo thought that they could never be detected.
Abel gave reason for his initial denial, saying that he was made to swear to an oath not to reveal anything about the killing, with fear created in him that he would die if he dared to do so.
His confession led to the arrest of Clement and Pastor Ajadi, while the herbalist who was simply identified as Abeeb a.k.a Boko has escaped when he got information on Abel’s arrest.
The native doctor, Clement, also confessed to the crime and narrated his involvement, telling the detectives that he buried the victim’s remains in a grave on his farm.
The command’s spokesman, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi who confirmed the story, said that the state Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, had ordered the immediate transfer of the suspects to Homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.
He also directed that the fleeing herbalist must be hunted for and brought to book.
However, a new twist came up when, during further investigation, Clement said he had already removed the remains from the grave when he heard about Abel’s arrest, and threw them into an ancient and abandoned well on the farm.
Police detectives were said to have gone to the crime scene again on Thursday, with Clement pointing at the well he threw the remains in after the body was not found in the shallow grave.
In an interview with Abel who said he hailed from Ajibare at the Yewa side, he described himself as an auxiliary nurse who trained under a ‘doctor’ with a clinic at Ipokia, and secured ‘freedom’ two years ago, enabling him to practise on his own.
He narrated thus: “I’m an auxiliary nurse. I started practising the profession a year ago after training under a man we call Dr. (name withheld) in Ipokia. I know the doctor is not a university graduate but currently attending a course in a school. He has a hospital (name withheld). We used to attend to pregnant women and children. We were treating malaria, typhoid and other simple ailments. I gained freedom from him two years ago. I’m also an NCE graduate. I finished from Yewa Central College of Education, Abeokuta. I studied Economics/Social Studies.”
Why I was arrested
“I took my friend, Muyiwa, to a bush and we killed him and cut his body parts. Someone called Abeeb a.k.a. Boko told me that he needed a human head, hands, heart and legs. He is a native doctor and was introduced to me by Pastor Felix Ajadi. The pastor and I attended the same College of Education, though he is older than me. One day, he told me that he wanted me to know one of his friends.
“About a week after I met Boko, he told me he needed the body parts. I told him that I would find a means of getting them. I didn’t know where he was living but just knew his office. I went to discuss with another native doctor, Adeniyi Clement, popularly known as Baba Christiana.
“I had a friend called Muyiwa. We used to call on ourselves to go to places together. We also used to go to drink joints to take alcohol.
“On the fateful day, I went with a bike man to pick Muyiwa at home and went to a drink joint at about 8am and took local gin (ogogoro). After we were done, the bike man left us. Muyiwa said he wanted to eat and I bought food for him. After that, i told him I was going to buy something and he said he would follow me.
“We boarded a bike and Baba Christiana was waiting for us in his farm at Alapoti Community. By then, Muyiwa was so drunk. When we got to Baba Chritiana’s place in the farm, Muyiwa saw a bottle of alcohol and started drinking. After about one hour, he slept. I used a cutlass to cut his head and when I couldn’t do it well, Baba finished the job. He also cut other needed parts and we put them in a sack and took them to Boko.
“Boko promised N200,000 for the job and had made an initial payment of N80,000, promising to give the balance of N120,000 when the job had been done! When we took the body parts to him, he promised to give us the balance in one or two days, but we didn’t get it until we were arrested.
“Baba buried the remains in a shallow grave he dug on his farm. The family started looking for Muyiwa and I heard about it. Six days after, policemen came to our house to arrest me. Initially, I denied knowing about Muyiwa’s whereabouts because of the oath we took and the consequence if I should reveal what happened. We have been looking for Boko because he disappeared from the town.”
The second suspect, Clement, who is in his 40s and also an indigene of Owode town, in the interview , told Saturday Tribune that he learnt carpentry but became a native doctor when the vocation was not yielding well for him. He said he got knowledge of being a native doctor from his late father.
On what led to the killing of Muyiwa, the native doctor opened up: “I have a friend called Abel. He used to visit me frequently. We became close when he gave me injections during an illness, and he did not collect any money from me. That was what made me develop a likeness for him. I became close to him.
“He told me he had a friend who asked him to get some body parts for him. He added that the person requesting for the body parts would give us money for the assignment. Thereafter, Abel brought N80,000 from the man, and we shared it equally.
“However, when we didn’t get the job done quickly, Boko thought Abel wanted to swindle him, so he mounted pressure on him. Abel then told me he had a friend who used to get drunk with local gin (ogogoro) and behaved like someone with mental illness. He said the friend would be used to pay back the money given us and help us to get the balance to be paid. He told me further that he knew how to get the friend. He said he would bring him to me in my farm. He didn’t tell me who the friend was until he brought him the following day.
“I was in my farm gathering sticks when they came. The man was staggering, an evidence that he was drunk. He fell down and Abel said that we should kill him quickly and remove the body parts but I told him I didn’t want any trouble in the farm because he might raise an alarm. Abel started mocking me, asking if I was so afraid.
He took the bottle of gin he met in my hut and served Muyiwa. The man finished everything. He started exhibiting discomfort and was foaming in the mouth. I asked Abel what was wrong with the man and he said we should discountenance that and finish the job.
“The next thing was that Abel lifted Muyiwa and held him across his shoulder. Suddenly, he threw him heavily on the ground and he died instantly. Abel picked a cutlass and started cutting his head from the neck. I was the one who removed his heart and his two hands. We took his remains to a spot on my farm, dug the ground and buried them.
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“We took the removed body parts to Boko. When we got to the town, I was on a bike when Abel crossed the road and went to deliver the parts to the man who requested for it. However, he did not pay the balance before we were arrested.”
The native doctor denied taking an oath with Abel and Boko, saying all that he (Abel) said with assurance was that nobody would ask after the man they killed, after which they told themselves not to let the secret out.
He swore that he had never done such a thing before, pleading with the government to have mercy on him and pardon him.
Found in his house were charms, bones, two candles moulded in human forms (male and female) and tied with a string, with a comb (ilarun) wedged between them and a locked padlock was wrapped with a string
Pastor Ajadi, aged 55, who brought the runaway suspect in contact with Abel, said that he was not privy to the plans they later had together.
“I’m from Ifonyintedo and a pastor. I knew Boko when I was sick. He came to take care of me with herbs. Abel and Boko used to come to me for prayers and when they met at my place, I introduced them to each other and told them to be friends.
“I was surprised when I heard the story of the killing of a man by Abel and the native doctor.”
However, a search in the pastor’s house revealed assorted charms, which he said he was using personally.