The accused murders of Mrs Elizabeth Olaniyan Gbenle, 69, a retired permanent secretary with the Oyo State Government, were paraded by the Oyo State Police Command on Wednesday. Mrs Gbenle was brutally slain at her home in Ibadan, the state capital, by unidentified intruders.
Two alleged ritualists were paraded at the state Police Command Headquarters in Eleyele, Ibadan, together with other suspects for a variety of crimes, including armed robbery, kidnapping for ransom, money ritual, and others. The suspects were accompanied by an excavated human head.
CP Adebola Hamzat, the state commissioner of police, briefed journalists at the command headquarters on items discovered from the suspects. These items included 18 exotic automobiles, a DAF trailer containing commodities valued at millions of naira, pistols, cash, a power generator and phones.
The suspects’ names were revealed by CP Adebola Hamzat in his speech. They were Bello Olalekan, 30, Bisiriyu Olalekan, 32, Simeon Ojei, 38, and Femi Omisore, 43.
“On November 10, 2023, at about 0030hrs, five (5) suspected members of a notorious criminal gang that had been terrorising members of the public at different locations within Ibadan metropolis invaded the house of one late Mrs Olaitan Omotola Gbenle, at Agbede Agbofiati Community, Apata Area, Ibadan,” CP Adebola Hamzat said, describing how the suspects were arrested.
“The suspects who were reportedly armed with sophisticated firearms and other dangerous weapons attacked the Sixty- Eight (68) year old woman at her residence equally dispossessing her of huge sums of money, mobile phones, big generating sets, laptops, and many other valuable items, all of which were carted away in her Toyota Camry Car and a Toyota Corolla cars.”
“As if that was not enough, the suspects eventually murdered the deceased, leaving her in a pool of blood.
In furtherance of the above and upon the receipt of the incident’s petition, the Command was swayed to immediately identify, track and apprehend all the perpetrators of the heinous crime and as recover all the items carted away.”
“Sequel to this, a team of forensic experts and detectives attached to the Command Monitoring Unit immediately swung into action through detailed intelligence gathering and purposeful investigations, the suspected leader of the armed robbery syndicate, one Bello Olalekan and two of his syndicate members identified as Bisiriyu Olalekan and Simeon Ojei were arrested at their various hideouts in connection with the crime.”
“Upon interrogations, the suspects voluntarily confessed to the crime while the leader of the suspected criminal gang explained that the victim was murdered because he realized the deceased saw him during the armed robbery operation.”
“In the same vein, further investigations led to the arrest of a criminal receiver, FEMI OMISORE ‘M’. The two (2) vehicles and a Fireman Generating Set, hitherto carted away from the deceased were later recovered as well. The investigation is still ongoing. Further developments will be communicated later.” CP Adebola said.
Exhibits recovered from the suspects include one Toyota Camry Car, One Toyota Corolla Car, and one fireman Generator.
In a similar situation, the state commissioner of police also confirmed the arrest of two suspected ritualists who were paraded with human heads.
CP Adebola Hamzat while parading the suspected ritualists said, “On 10/1/2024 upon discreet intelligence gathering carried out by a team of Policemen attached to the Saki Division. The criminal activities of a suspected group of hoodlums who specialize in using Human Head and other vital Organs for Ritual Purposes in Saki town, Oyo State was uncovered.”
“Sequel to this discovery, the team of Policemen cracked down on the suspected Ritualists at their hideout in Saki town and the process, two members of the criminal gang who later identified themselves as Salami Abdullahi aged 35, and Adebisi Aliu, aged 30 were arrested in their hideout.”
“One Human Head cut off from a freshly exhumed Corpse and a local pot containing some concoctions were recovered from the possession of the suspected Ritualists.”
“Upon interrogations, the suspects confessed to the crime and explained that the harvested Human Skull was from a corpse at burial ground and was to be used for Money Rituals.
Investigation continues and further developments will be communicated, please.” CP Adebola said.
