A 49-year-old transporter, Saburi Lateef, has reportedly confessed to strangling a retired civil servant, Mrs Adedotun Oluwaseun, and inflicting multiple machete wounds on her body. The incident occurred at her residence in Bode Olude, Abeokuta, Ogun State. Lateef, popularly known as Alhaji Oki Osan, was arrested more than 10 months after the murder by operatives of the Ogun State Police Command.
According to a police source, the investigation initially yielded no breakthrough until the Commissioner of Police, Bode Ojajuni, directed detectives to intensify efforts to unravel the murder. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the killing was suspected to have been motivated by the belief that the deceased had recently collected her retirement benefits, which the suspect allegedly wanted to steal.
The police source further revealed that Lateef gained access to the woman’s apartment through a window while she was away attending a friend’s retirement party. He was allegedly ransacking the apartment when the woman returned. In a bid to prevent her from raising the alarm, he reportedly strangled her before picking up a cutlass and inflicting multiple wounds on her body.
However, Lateef claimed that the killing followed a financial disagreement involving N3.45m, which he allegedly entrusted to the deceased. He said he had known Oluwaseun for about 10 years and became close to her after she moved into her residence at Bode Olude. According to him, he sold his broken-down truck as scrap for N3.5m and handed the balance of N3.45m to the deceased, whom he claimed had promised to lend him money to purchase another vehicle.
The deceased’s family has dismissed the suspect’s account, insisting that they neither knew him nor had any knowledge of a financial transaction between him and their mother. The eldest daughter, Mrs Taiwo Atanda, said her mother had visited her and spent several hours with her and her children after attending a friend’s retirement party on the day she was murdered.
Atanda expressed shock that the suspect claimed to have been close to her mother, insisting that nobody in the family had ever seen him around the deceased. She said the family became worried the following day when repeated calls to her mother’s telephone failed to connect, and a woman living close to the deceased’s residence discovered the body on the toilet closet with multiple machete wounds.
The Police Public Relations Officer of the Ogun State Command, DSP Oluseyi Babaseyi, confirmed the arrest and attributed the breakthrough to the persistence, professionalism and commitment of officers and men of the command. He assured residents that the police would sustain efforts to rid the state of criminal elements and ensure that anyone found culpable was brought to justice.
Key points
- The suspect, Saburi Lateef, allegedly killed the retired civil servant, Mrs Adedotun Oluwaseun, over a financial disagreement involving N3.45m.
- The investigation was intensified on the directive of the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, and the Commissioner of Police, Bode Ojajuni.
- The police have assured residents that they will continue to work to bring criminals to justice.
