No fewer than 18 suspects alleged to have committed various crimes across Oyo State were on Wednesday paraded by the state Police Command at its Eleyele, Ibadan Headquarters.
Addressing journalists before the suspects were paraded, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abiodun Issue also announced the arrest of a 23-year-old final year female undergraduate, Abiodun Olabisi of the Department of Biochemistry, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Ogbomoso, over alleged murder of her boyfriend.
But, the murder suspect, who was arrested by police detectives could not be paraded alongside other suspected criminals because, according to the CP, her case had already been taken to court and was in prison custody, having been remanded.
Mr. Odude explained that the victim of the murder case, identified as Lekan Adegun was a fresh graduate of the same institution,
having completed his undergraduate studies as a graduate of Transport Management and was awaiting mobilisation by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
Both the suspect and the victim were said to be cohabitting in the usual students’ tradition of ‘trial marriage’ or ‘couple’s life’ at Phonix area, Stadium Road, Ogbomoso and in the account of the CP, the incident happened at about 8p.m on November 21, 2018, following a quarrel arising from petty jealousy.
Adegun was said to be stabbed in the chest following which was later rushed to the Bowen University Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, but died before he could be attended to, according to the CP, who disclosed that the kitchen knife used in committing the murderous act was recovered.
Among the 18 suspects paraded was a driver, Solomon Boniface Okon, who allegedly absconded with his master’s Honda CRV sport utility vehicle, in Ibadan, and was later arrested in Akwa-Ibom State.
In his narration, the CP said, “having successfully stolen the car, the suspect escaped with it to Akwa Ibom State, where it was sold to a criminal receiver. Consequent upon the report made to the police by the owner of the stolen car, operatives of the F-SARS, Oyo State Police Command immediately commenced investivation, which led to the arrest of the suspect in his criminal hideout in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State.
“Upon arrest, the suspect led the operatives to a hotel in the same town, where the car was recovered”, Mr. Odude added. It was further gathered that some sensitive materials of one of the leading political parties in Nigeria were found in the SUV when it was recovered.
Speaking with journalists, an elated Mrs.
Olufunke Obaba, the owner of the recovered vehicle explained that Okon was her driver and that she employed him on September 18, 2018, and by October 15th, less than a month, he drove her to University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan for a check-up.
According to her, “we got there around 8:30a.m. He parked and I entered the hospital. About two and half hours later, I came back, my car wasn’t where it was parked. I called his numbers, none was going through. Then, I called my husband and told him to come and pick me, which he did and took me to office.
“I thought he just drove the car out to enjoy himself, that he would bring it back. But between 3pm and 4pm, we just felt we needed to report to the police. So, we went to Yemetu Police Station, Ibadan. We reported to then and they took it up. The following day, the station directed us to the office of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), at Dugbe, Ibadan, with a letter and a policeman. We got there and they started the recovery job”, she added.
Mrs. Obaba, a proprietress of a nursery and primary school in the vicinity of one of the military barracks in Ibadan disclosed that she got the driver through an agent, and that a soldier even stood as a guarantor for Okon, yet, he committed the alleged crime before he could receive his first salary.
On how the vehicle was recovered in far away Akwa-Ibom State, it was disclosed that the day the vehicle was stolen, the trackers showed that Okon was at a time in Ijebu in Ogun State and the last time the vehicle was captured on the tracker was at Igbokoda, before it resurfaced in Akwa Ibom State.
Okon, in a brief chat with journalists confessed to the crime, but appealed to the Nigeria Police to forgive him, stressing that detectives travelled from Ibadan to Akwa Ibom State three times, and they did not see him.
Among other suspects paraded were five men from whom 22 stolen motorcycles were recovered, a bricklayer allegedly robbing hostels of students of LAUTECH in Ogbomoso, a 300-Level student of LAUTECH purportedly using social media to deceive unsuspecting female victims and luring them into his house with promises to register them in an imaginary dancing school and would rape them mercilessly.
There were also five burglars that broke into some shops in Oke-Owode area of Ogbomoso and carted away bags of rice and other items worth over N10m on parade with the police explaining that the suspects confessing to have used the proceeds of the crime to buy five unregistered Golf cars and one Toyota Matrix car which had been recovered.
