Posted by By JULIANA FRANCIS on
A man who was accused of killing his mother-in-law to get his hands on her property has been charged to court.
A man who was accused of killing his mother-in-law to get his hands on her property has been charged to court.
But Felix Olade Ogidan is arguing that his wife had accused him of killing her mother, Juliana Obatola just to put him in trouble.
Detectives are finding it difficult to buy Ogidan's story because it was his wife who had fingered him. They also believe that Ogidan's wife, Olabisi, a bank manager, must have given the matter a lot of thought before handing the father of her four children over to the police.
Early February, the body of Juliana was found on the floor of one of the rooms. She was believed to have been brutally strangled.
Detectives had almost given up hope of nabbing the killers of Juliana when they received a petition from an anonymous pastor. The pastor claimed Ogidan and another yet to be identified man strangled Juliana in her home. Detectives thought it could be a red-herring to get them off the trail of the investigations, but quickly had a re-think when Ogidan's wife walked into the police station to re-affirm the content of the petition. She allegedly told detectives that the decision was not an easy one for her. She was also said to have claimed Ogidan killed her mother because he was anxious to get his hands on the woman's vast wealth as the husband of her daughter.
Though the detectives felt there were too many holes in the story, they also believed the court of law was in the best position to discharge or find Ogidan guilty.
Speaking to Daily Sun at the Ebute-Metta, Oyingbo Magistrate's Court, Ogidan said: 'I was at work when the incident happened. I teach at a school but I was a pastor before. My wife and I had a problem. In fact, we were separated for three years. Our first child is 15 years. It was because of the children that I felt it was better for both of us to reconcile our differences and try to make the marriage work. Now she accused me of killing her mother to collect her money.
How can I do that? In what way? I don't even know if the woman had any property or money. All I know is that the house we are staying right now belongs to the old woman. It is a family house. My wife is just accusing me because she is tired of the marriage. But I would have left if she had told me she was fed up with the marriage."
Ogidan further claimed that the murder of Juliana had gone by for weeks before the latest accusation from his wife.
He claimed they were in the church service one Sunday when he noticed his wife was continuously going out and coming in. Immediately they got home, he had accused her of not having the fear of God.
He said: 'I asked her why she kept going out and coming in while the preaching was going on? I was shocked when she asked me if I wanted to kill her the way I killed her mother. The next day, I saw her with policemen."
Detectives had tried to verify Ogidan's alibi of being at the school premises where he teaches on the day of Juliana's death, but any hope of rescue from that quarter died, when the staff told detectives that all teachers were free to come and go whenever they liked.
Ogidan was remanded in prison pending the Director of Public Prosecution's (DPP) advice.