Men of the Ondo State Police Command have
arrested a man over the killing of his friend who was lured from Lagos to
Erusu-Akoko in Akoko North West local Government Area of the state, to appease
the gods. The deceased, Mr. Olufemi Ogunkorode, was said to have been tricked
by three of his childhood friends to the town last Saturday on the pretext that
one of them was going to bury his late mother, but ended being used for
rituals. The suspects include; Chief Babatunde Olumofe, a staff of 7Up Bottling
Company Limited, Ijora, Lagos; Mr. Sunday Akeju and one other simply identified
by his nickname, Eso, who all attended Christ’s School, Ado Ekiti, with the
victim.
It was gathered that trouble started some three years
ago when Ogunkorode was invited by his childhood friends to Erusu when Olumofe
was to be honoured with a chieftaincy title.
National Mirror gathered that Olumofe, who was honoured
with the title and Ogunkorode allegedly carried out certain traditional rites
together which the traditionalists in the town considered sacrilegious.
The source told our correspondent that the
traditionalists had since been mounting pressure on Olumofe to re-invite his
friend for necessary rites to appease certain gods in the town.
Olumofe, however, lured his friend to Erusu on the
pretext that he was burying his mother and was said to have bought a new cloth
for the deceased which he presented as the uniform for the occasion.
Further investigation by our correspondent revealed
that no sooner than they arrived in Erusu-Akoko that the suspects allegedly
handed over the victim to the traditionalists who killed him (Ogunkorode) to
appease the gods.
The victim’s body was said to have been dumped on the
highway while his friends claimed he was killed by armed robbers and the case
was reported to the police at Erusu-Akoko police post.
However, when the case was transferred to the Oke- Agbe
police station, the suspects twisted the story and told the divisional police
officer that the deceased merely slumped and died before help could get to him.
The families of the deceased, not satisfied with the
mystery behind his death, vowed to get to the root of the matter, which was
said to have sparked off a cold-war between the people of Erusu-Akoko and Ilu
Omoba Ekiti, the country home of the deceased.