By Owolola Adebola
A house builder has been beaten to death by hoodlums while working at a site in Ikorodu area of Lagos.
Already, homicide detectives drawn from Igbogbo Police Division of the state have been working round the clock to unravel the circumstances leading to the death of the father of two, who hailed from Osun State.
Information at our disposal has it that, the victim of the latest attack, one Mr. Muritala Abiodun Iyiola, had gone to Ewu-Elepe area of ikorodu to confer with one of his customers, who recently bought a plot of land within the community.
On sighting the victim from afar, a group of gun-toting/cudgel-carrying hoodlums/cultists reportedly swooped on him and consequently subjected him to a barrage of interrogations.
Thereafter, their victim was said to have been beaten black and blue. As the beating reportedly progressed, one of his attackers told Iyiola, to bail himself otherwise, life would be snuffed out of him.
The apparently panicked victim of the attack pronto put a call to his brother, one Taofeek Iyiola, who is a surveyor, who in turn reportedly sent the sum of N50,000 into the account of his brother.
Compass NG learnt that “at this time around, the bricklayer was already bleeding as his clothes were soaked in his own blood. And blood was equally gushing out of his ears and nostrils.”
His attackers further commanded the victim to transfer all the money in his account to the account of one Tobi Oseni. The victim, who had the balance of N2,000 in his account before his brother made the payment, in an apparent panic, transferred all the money in his account totaling N52,000 before he was left off the hook.
Checks reveled that the victim wobbled and managed to get home as he had been badly fractured as a result of the merciless beating from the hoodlums, who reportedly claimed to be working for one Sir K. Oluwo, a land grabber, who operates within the axis of Ikorodu and Gberigbe.
It was further learnt that “as the victim was receiving treatments at a private clinic, his conditions worsened. Barely 48 hours after the attack, he gave up the ghost. And the matter was reported at Igbogbo Police Station from where homicide detectives took up the matter.”
Iyiola hailed from Ire in Boripe Local Government Area of Osun State and left behind two children and a pregnant wife.
Meanwhile, in the course of the police investigation, the man in whose account a sum of N52,000 was transferred to was picked up for questioning. He was said to have mentioned his accomplices in the crime and the person whose interest they were representing.
CompassNG correspondent learnt that “he confessed to the police detectives that the money was initially paid into his OPay account before he later transferred same into the account of the Site Manager, one Akeem Musa.”
Checks revealed that, the matter took a dramatic turn two weeks ago when a letter emerged from Igbogbo police that the family of the victim had signified their intention not to seek justice for the dead.
The family of the deceased has since denied the reports alleging police complicit in sweeping the case under the carpet.
Independent investigation by our dog-eared reporter has it that, the family who lay claim to the property has been fragmented and polarized after all.
One faction of the family claims that the land in question, which is the subject of the matter, had been sold to one lawyer, G.O.K Ajayi and that the wife of the lawyer could attest to it. It is this same faction, represented by one Chief Ganiyu Omotayo Adekoyejo, that actually brought in Kamoru Lamino a.k.a.Sir K Oluwo, to the land.
The other family faction, on the other hand, has their own representative who monitors the goings on at the troubled site.
At Igbogbo police station, mum was it when our roving correspondent sought to hear from the top brass officers attached to the station.
However, an officer who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press said, “We are police officers. We don’t dabble into land matters.”
It is worthy of mentioning that “no member of the family of Barrister G.O.K Ajayi was in the know of any land belonging to them at Ewelepe village, Ikorodu,” according to a detective who once investigated the matter at the Force Criminal Intelligence Department, FCID, Area 10, Sheu Shagari Way, Abuja.
The source added that none of the family members of Chief Ganiyu Omotayo Adekoyejo could provide any evidence to support their claim that the land, which Sir K.Oluwo and his deadly group have been illegally occupying truly belong to G.O.K Ajayi, as they claimed.
“They also do not have the telephone number of any members of the G.O.K. family nor could they provide the account with which the erudite lawyer paid into during the purported purchase. It is all a concocted and bogus narratives after all,” the frontline senior detective disclosed.
