Police arrest man, son for allegedly killing herders in Ogun

A farmer in Ogun State, Mr. Kolese Womiloju, 45, of Gbagba Elewure village in Odeda Local Government Area and his son, Taiwo Womiloju, 25, have been arrested by the police for hacking one Abubakar Sidi Usman, a 32-year-old herder, to death.

The father and son were said to have first attacked the herder with a mystic ring laced with charm on April 22, which immobilised him and while he remained unconscious, they used cutlass to inflict many lethal cuts on him. The herdsman died in the process.

The suspects afterwards dragged the body of the herder to an abandoned well near the scene of the attack and dumped them there. It was learnt that the farmer and son had earlier warned the herdsman to pull his herd of cattle out of their area and desist from further grazing on their land but the victim, allegedly, failed to heed to the warning laws

In the ensuing argument, the suspects allegedly struck him with a charming ring and rendered him unconscious before finishing him.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, who made this known yesterday in a statement, said the suspects were arrested by operatives from the Odeda Divisional Police Headquarters.

He stated: “The suspects were arrested following a report by one Usman Bello who reported at Odeda divisional headquarters that the deceased who was his younger brother and has a cattle settlement at Gbagba Elewure village has gone missing. Upon his report, a search party was organised for hilaws

“Later in the evening, the deceased body was found in an abandoned well. The DPO Odeda division, CSP Ajayi Williams, led his detectives to the scene where the victim was seen with a deep matchet cut all over his body.

“Having confirmed that the deceased was murdered in cold blood, the DPO and his men commenced an intelligence-based investigation into the case which led to the arrest of the father and his son who also live in the same village with the victim. On interrogation, they both confessed to the killing of the deceased because they saw him grazing his cows around their farm.

Abimbola said the Police Commissioner, Kenneth Ebrimson, had already directed that the suspects be transferred to the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) for thorough investigation and prosecution.

Ebrimson also warned that those who are in the habit of taking laws into their own hands will not find it easy with the command because jungle justice has no place in our laws.