Akure—The two domestic staff of late
former Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA,
Professor Albert Ilemobade, said yesterday that they strangled him to
death because they wanted to make good money by stealing and selling of his RAV
4 sport utility vehicle, SUV.
Parading the suspects, including the
night guard, Daniel Ita, 24, and driver Olayemi Bamitale, 36, at Ondo State
Police headquarters, ýpolice said they were on the trail of other accomplices.
The parade of the suspects came as
the 73-year-old wife of the deceased made a wish to the state police
Commissioner, Isaac Eke, to allow her have a five minutes chat with the killers
of her husband.
The suspects confessed that the late
78-year-old Professor of Veterinary Medicine was nice to them, but that they
had to kill him because they needed “good money to survive,” by stealing the
RAV 4 SUV.
Bamitale said he was sacked after he
had earlier stolen the car and attempted to ýsell it, but could not do so
because the car had a tracker.
The suspect said he came back after
he was released from police detention on the order of the deceased. He said the
detention annoyed him, so he connived with the guard to finish what he started.
He said he had to kill the professor
to avoid failure for the second time.
The suspect said their plan was to
flee to a neighbouring country after successfully selling off the car.
Meanwhile, Vanguard gathered from a
top police chief that three other suspects were reportedly in police custody,
but were not paraded alongside the two killers.
Vanguard learned that the other suspects include a herbalist, Dr. Okon, the
housemaid and the woman who helped the deceased to recruit the night guard and
driver.
‘I jumped on his chest several
times’
Giving graphic details of how the
heinous crime was hatched, Bamitale said the plan to kill their master was
perfected on a Saturday, while the killing was carried out on Sunday night.
He said: “After I was released from
detention on the order of my master, I went back to make plan another plan. I
asked Daniel the guard if he wants to make good money and he said yes. So I
informed him of my new plan.
“Daniel was the one giving me
information about what is happening in the house after I was sacked. He even
paid for my transportation to Akure, because I have not been working since I
was sent away.
“Daniel lured out Baba (late
professor) by telling him that there was an electrical spark in the house after
I had stationed myself near the kitchen entrance.
“Immediately Baba came out, I strangulated, while Daniel put cloth in his mouth to stop him from shouting.
“Immediately Baba came out, I strangulated, while Daniel put cloth in his mouth to stop him from shouting.
“After a few minutes, Baba was still
struggling. I then jumped on his chest several times and he died. We dragged
him into the generator house and locked him inside the store that Sunday night.
“We left the house and locked the
gate outside so that no one will suspect us. We went inside his bedroom and
took the car key and some other items such as i-Pad, two phones, laptop, two
bags and N7,000, which we used to fuel the car.
“We left Akure and headed to Lagos.
We left with those items so that the car will not be tracked again because Baba
used these gadgets to activate the tracking.”
He said they were stopped by some policemen at the entrance of Ijapo Estate,
adding that the cops recognised Daniel as the security man to the deceased and
were asked to go without further questioning.
Bamitale said they encountered some
challenges after the men of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, booked them
for invalid vehicle particulars and they had to sell the phones and i-Pad for
N3,000 to pay for the release of the vehicle.
“We sold off the phones and laptops
after being booked by FRSC officials. We sold the phones to retrieve the car
from them before heading to Ijebu Ode with the hope of selling the car.”
‘Herbalist warned us against killing
him’
Corroborating the driver, Daniel
said he had earlier visited a herbalist, who warned against the killing of
their boss but said Bamitale insisted that the man must be killed if they
really wanted to make money without being caught by the police.
Daniel said Bamitale told him that
if the professor was not killed, he would track the car again because he was
unable to sell the car in his first attempt because the car was tracked and he
had to return it.
Speaking before parading the
suspects, the Police Commissioner, Isaac Eke, said the killers were arrested
while trying to sell the car at Iloti, Ogun State, to a buyer who became
suspicious because of the ridiculous price tag they put on the SUV.
He said the buyer later alerted
police, who rounded up the suspects where they were lodged.
Eke said the suspects were arrested
with the car, marked GGE589 CF, and brought down to Ondo State Police Command.
He also disclosed that relatives of
the deceased had identified the corpse and deposited it in the morgue.
He assured the public that the suspects
and their accomplices would l be brought to book.
“They will be charged to court for
murder, not kidnapping,” he said.
Adeseni Ilemobade, who is the last
child, said all they wanted was justice. Adeseni asked the killers what their
motive was despite all the family had done for them.
Source: Vanguard
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