A suspect, Dolapo Babalola, said he killed his close friend to be able to snatch his motorcycle and sell it to his regular buyers and use the money for his personal use.
Babalola, a 39-year-old man who said apart from his friend’s motorcycle, he had snatched about 15 motorcycles since he started the nefarious deeds, disclosed that he had never killed before.
Narrating how he and other suspects who are currently at large killed his close friend to journalists in Akure, the Ondo State capital, Babalola disclosed that when they intended to collect the bike from the deceased, he dragged it with them, so they hit him with a stone.
He said, “It is the work of the devil, I can’t explain because this person that we are talking about is my close friend. He is a close friend of mine. Truly his bike is not the first bike I will ever snatch, but I have never killed before.
“Even those that are not related to me I snatched a bike from them and I did not even do anything harmful to them but this one is just a coincidence. It is the work of the devil I can’t explain how it happened. At least I have snatched about 15 bikes but I have never killed before.
“His own is the first, my buyer is in Ibadan. The cleanness of the bike at times determines how much we are going to sell it, but no matter how clean the bike is, my buyer will buy it for around N200,000.
“But we sold this one at the rate of N130,000 and we shared the money equally because we are two in the business. When we intended to collect the bike from him, he dragged it with us and I hit him with a stone. I know his mum and younger brother. I can’t explain why I killed him. I am a trader I sell oranges but I don’t have a shop.
“I do go to villages to buy oranges. I am from Oyo State, Ibadan precisely. But, I reside in Ondo town, I’m yet to marry, and this would be the first time I will come to this area. Of which I had been in the business since 2021/2022.”
Parading the suspect, the State Commissioner of Police, Abayomi Oladipo, said; “Through technical intelligence, the suspect was arrested and upon the interrogation, he confessed to how the rider was engaged from Ondo town to take him and one other to a farm area in Oke-Igbo and the rider who incidentally happens to be his friend and brought him to this area where we are.”
The police boss said, “On getting to this point, they came down under the pretence that they wanted to inspect their farm, the other suspect who is now at large gripped the Okada rider at the back while the arrested suspect hit him with a stone on the head and consistently used wood to battered his head.”
His words: “They carried the dead body into the bush and used leaves to cover him and they left him there. After the interrogation, he left the operatives at this particular location where they put the dead body of the deceased, and that is why we are here to remove the corpse and do the necessary procedure so that the family can give him the burial.
“I want to use this opportunity to alert the members of the public, most especially those who ride Okada to be careful of the passengers that will engage their services to far areas and take them to isolated roads.
“Also, I want to say that the residents of this area, especially those who have farmed here since the 15th of March, when this incident happened till date, kept mute which is not supposed to be. So what we are saying is that if you see something you must say something.
Police said investigations are still ongoing at the moment to apprehend all other offenders who are on the run.
It further said an enlightenment campaign has been embarked upon to sensitize okada riders on the dangers of taking passengers to isolated places.
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