Posted by by Timothy Ajiboye on
Correspondent Timothy Ajiboye, recalls how a 28-year-old man used pestle to kill his own mother and aunt over alleged witchcraft in Oke-Ere, Yagba West local government area of Kogi State.
West local government area of Kogi State can hardly boast of anything that could attract the attention of a passerby. It is located in a bush which is four hours drive from Lokoja, the state capital and one hour drive from Odo-Ere the only large community in the area.
The major occupation of the people of the village is farming while their women are involved in petty trading during market days in Odo-Ere.
However, the village is now the center of attention for newsmen and the police as the villagers had witnessed a strange happening in their village.
This happening is the recent murder of a 68 year- old woman and her elder sister whose age was put at 70. These two women were not murdered by armed robbers or cultists but by their own blood son.
On Tuesday June 14, 2005, the story of the sleepy village of Oke-Ere changed from a peaceful settlement to that of a village where their own son killed his own mother and aunt for alleged witchcraft which the man claimed to have been used to destroy his life as he cannot achieve success in anymore.
For Mrs Ibiyemi Osagbemi, mother of Mr Ayodele Owoyemi and her aunt Mrs Tomola Osagbemi, Tuesday on the day they were killed was just like any other day in their lives on earth as they prepared to go about their normal duties when death called.
Rather, Mrs Ibiyemi Osagbemi was to be sent on a journey of no return by his son, Ayodele Owoyemi. Sources close to the family informed Saturday Champion that on that fateful day Ayodele Owoyemi left the house in the morning where he stays with his mother and aunt to a nearby bush to smoke Indian hemp which was to influence his mission to commit the violent crime.
The moment he returned from the bush, Saturday Champion was told that Ayodele called his mother to explain to him why she was into witchcraft which had been used to destroy his progress in life, but the mother said she had never been involved in witchcraft before as she was a born-again Christian who believed in Christ.
All explanation made by her mother Mrs Ibiyemi Osagbemi failed to impress the ready charged son, who immediately ran into their mud house and brought out a pestle which he used in hitting his mother. The shout of his mother attracted the attention of his sister Mrs. Tomola Osagbemi who came to separate the fight between mother and child when she was also hit by the pestle, both women died on the spot.
Saturday Champion gathered that the suspect who deals in rat poison business was so unrepentant on his heinous crime, stood over their corpses threatening to kill anybody who came near to him, but he was later apprehended by able bodied men who handed him over to the Police Divisional Headquarters in Odo-Ere from where he was taken to homicide unit in the state CID in Lokoja.
When Saturday Champion visited the community, the villagers were still in mourning mood as those who spoke to our correspondent said they have never experienced such act before in the community. Sources in the community said the suspect's father died many years ago, as he is the only child of her mother, while her elder sister lost her own husband few years ago without any child.
Speaking with Saturday Champion, the royal father of the community, Chief Ojo Ampitan, the Oju of Ere land and Asoju Oba of Oke Ere described the incident as a bad omen for the community.
According to Chief Ampitan, "this ugly incident has brought set-back to our community as you can see (pointing to our correspondent) life has changed here, you can see that the market is empty and all our social activities have been suspended because a man killed two of his relations at the same time.
"The man is a bad omen to our village, he is always involved in rascality and violence and this is due to the fact the he is an Indian hemp smoker which affected his brain," he disclosed.
The royal father urged the Police not to release the suspect as his action was intentional, so therefore the entire community wants justice to be done, and again by the power confirmed on me by traditional council of the community he had been banished from the community.
When our correspondent visited the Homicide unit of the Police CID in Lokoja, the Investigation Police Officer (IPO) Corporal Majin Mohammed explained that the suspect has been charged to court and he is presently in Kotun-Karfe Federal Prison. The IPO noted that the action of the suspect was purely intentional and he was not in anyway under any form of provocation and he is charged under culpable Homicide offence.
Effort by our correspondent to speak with the suspect proved abortive as prison officials disclosed that it is against their law to allow suspect in remand grant an interview.