A herbalist, Asimiyu Agboola, has confessed to the kidnap and killing of the Managing Director, MD, of Todays Prints, Olalekan Ogunranti.
Agboola, who is currently cooling his heels in the custody of the Osun State Police command revealed why he ordered his subordinates to carry out the murder.
Recall that the 45-year-old MD was kidnapped by unknown gunmen on May 16, in the state and his decomposing corpse was discovered by the police about 5 days after.
The deceased’s family had alerted the police when they lost contact with him while he was travelling to Osogbo on a business trip. They said an unknown person picked his call and claimed to have picked the SIM card on the floor at Iragbiji. Thus, they informed the Osun State police command and the Lagos State Investigation Bureau.
Following the discovery, the Intelligence Response Team, IRT, of the Inspector-General of Police, IGP, Ibrahim Idris’ Monitoring Unit had arrested the murderers which included one Alhaji; Asimiyu Agboola; Adesina Meyidan; Ramoni Afolabi; Akeem Akorede and Coker Daniel.
In his confession before newsmen, the herbalist said he used to be a famous herbal doctor, whom some people, both far and near, ran to for help at his shrine at No. 8, Oloti area in Iragbiji, Osun State, since he took over from his father in 2006.
The herbalist said he had already initiated plans to eliminate the MD, as he had alerted and paid two cultists, Daniel and Biggie, to do the job, having helped them in the past.
He said, “I did some incantations for them to become powerful when they were in school.
“I contracted them to eliminate the man. They suggested that he should be lured to a remote place where they would ambush him and kill him. I gave them N120,000 to do the job.
“I knew the fastest way was to lure him to a river to bathe. So, we selected a river in Obokun in Osun State and I asked Olalekan (Ogunranti) to go the river and bathe as part of the final ritual. We assigned a motorcycle rider to take him to the location that we chose, while we were hiding in the bush at a distance.
“I’m a legitimate herbal doctor,” Agboola said, as he blamed the economic situation in the country for his action, saying his patronage had dropped because of the poor economy.
He continued, “It’s just that the situation of the country is very bad. People do not have money to buy drugs again, that is why I decided to take advantage of the situation to make money. It was when he requested for money ritual that I knew that he would be an easy prey.”
Meanwhile, a statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, Don Awunah, on Saturday said the suspects were arrested in Lagos and Ondo States respectively.
The statement added, “All suspects confessed they kidnapped, killed and mutilated the body of the late Olalekan Ogunranti to stop him from disturbing them over the huge sums of money they duped the deceased.
“They led the police to a bush near a river where his headless body was found. It was also discovered that his manhood were cut off. Investigation is ongoing to fish out the remaining suspects who are still at large,” the statement added.
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