After having lunch in my house, brothers chopped off my son’s head –Grieving mother

Until November 27 2018, residents of Shapati and Igbojiya communities located on the fast developing Ibeju-Lekki axis of Lagos State believed that they lived in a safe neighbourhood.

But unknown to them, their serene abode was also a safe haven for vicious human parts dealers – in fact, an army of young people between the ages 18 and 25 years.

The residents simply went about their daily routine, oblivious of the harsh reality that some of the boys, who grew up before their very eyes, went to the same secondary schools with their own wards, played street football with other children in the community and walked freely on their streets, had become so debased that shedding of innocent blood for pecuniary reward meant nothing to them.

While most had no inclination about the negative traits that was brewing amongst that segment of the community’s youth, there was this quiet, well-behaved Beninoise named Tunde Jack, who had reason to worry about some boys he came into contact with in the community.

Tunde lives with his parents and siblings in Igbojiya. Having completed his secondary school education, he works as a labourer to make ends meet, pending when he would get admission into an institution of higher learning.

 Traces

Tunde explained that he met these two brothers, Ayodeji and Saheed Obadimeji, while working for a popular civil engineering contractor in the community simply called ‘Ojoo’.

“As co-site workers, we became friends, so to say; but soon, I noticed that Ayo and Saheed were violent and troublesome. So, I decided to distance myself from them. They did not like that and sought a reason to beat me up.

“One day, I had an argument with my little brother; the Obadimeji brothers jumped into the matter and threatened to deal with my brother. Knowing their violent nature, I asked them to leave my brother and I to settle our issue. That evening, I received an emissary from Shapati, who came to our house to ask me what I had done to Ayo and Saheed that they were very angry with me.

“While I was trying to explain to him what happened, Ayo and Saheed appeared from nowhere, with planks in their hands and hit me mercilessly. It took my mother’s intervention to save what could have been an unpalatable situation. After that incident, I had become been apprehensive and kept far away from them,” he said.

A resident of Shapati, where the two brothers reside, told our reporter on condition of anonymity that with the slightest of provocations, Ayo had boast    ed he would kill someone and take the person’s kidneys, heart and other body parts.

He quoted Ayo as saying: “I know the position of the kidney and can get it out of someone with ease.”

Finally the bubble busts

Then on Tuesday, November 29, a heart rending occurrence shattered the quietude of Shapati and Igbojiya communities. Every ear that heard the news tingled. There was wailing in the land; tears flowed in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Kayode Makinde; and all roads led to Shapati, where a police patrol team from Epe, had arrested Ayodeji and Saheed Obadimeji for hacking off the head of one Joseph Makinde, in an uncompleted building within the neighbourhood, at about 8 pm on that fateful day.

Mr. Makinde, an amiable wielder in Shapati, had retired to the family’s sitting room after a hard day’s job when a trusted friend of his, Femi, came around and sent Joseph to help him get some money from a nearby Point of Sales (POS) terminal. But Mr. Makinde and Femi became worried when, after 30 minutes, Joseph had not returned.

The horrified father, who was surrounded by sympathisers who had thronged his house on hearing the sad news, said: “I began to look for Joseph. He doesn’t usually stay outside late. My friend and I continued the search, until we ran into a police patrol team, but we never knew that the police patrol had encountered two young men who they caught with a fresh human head that same night.”

On that fateful night, one of the policemen had asked Mr. Makinde what they were searching for at that time of the day; and he replied that his son went to collect money from POS and had not yet returned.

“The Police told me to go and sleep but I told them that I couldn’t sleep because I was looking for my son. They said I should follow them.”

When the distraught father and the police team got to the police post at Shapati junction on Epe Expressway, the leader of the patrol team asked of the age of the boy he was searching for, and he replied 14.

“The leaders of the team informed us that the police ran into some boys. He gave me a number to call; it was the number of the Divisional Police Officer in-Charge of Elemoro Police Division, Bogije, Ibeju-Lekki.

“The DPO told them that the patrol team came from outside the station. When they arrived, they brought the dead body of my child, saying it was unfortunate that the boy was dead,” said a very distraught Mr. Makinde, which brought sympathetic reactions from those in his house.

The police later explained that they had caught the two brothers on Tuesday night and they had confessed that they lured Joseph to an uncompleted building and beheaded him, in the middle of Shapati town.

Following a police raid on Wednesday morning, Joseph’s body was recovered from the uncompleted building while Femi was also arrested for interrogation before he was released because Mr. Makinde insisted that his friend was innocent.

The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), CSP Chike Oti, had since confirmed the incident saying that Ayo allegedly carried out the murder in conjunction with his elder brother, Saheed.

His words: “On the 27th day of November, 2018, at about 5.30 pm, a team of Anti-Kidnapping personnel of the Lagos State Police Command, on routine patrol between Ajah/Epe Expressway, apprehended two brothers, namely Ayodeji Obadimeji, aged 18 years and Saheed Obadimeji, aged 19 years of Tunde Balogun Street, Shapati, Ibeju-Lekki, in possession of a fresh human head.

“On interrogation, they confessed that one Sodiq Abefe contracted them to provide him with a human head at the cost of N200, 000. Hence, they lured the victim by sending him to buy a bottle of Coca-Cola for them and when he brought the drink to them, they held him down and cut off his head with a knife.”