The police in Lagos have finally got a breakthrough in a brutal murder case that had gone on unsolved since September 2015 with the arrest of two suspects.
Saturday PUNCH learnt that the victim, 35-year-old Tajudeen Raji (AKA Orji), was killed by a gang, who reportedly ripped out his intestines and dumped his corpse in front of the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos.
Two suspects, Saheed Missouri (AKA Militant) and Ogunsemilore Ileri, allegedly played active roles in the murder.
Our correspondent confirmed that they were being held by the Zonal Intervention Squad at the Zone 2 Police Command Headquarters, Onikan, Lagos.
As a result of the new arrests, the police said they had now reopened the investigation on the case.
A source said the case had been abandoned for lack of any lead until it was reopened by the ZIS after fresh information linking Missouri, Ileri and five other suspects to the murder.
The police revealed that they were members of the National Union of Road Workers arrested at the Yaba-Jibowu Branch office of the union.
Two pistols, 20 live cartridges and 30 9mm ammunition and one AK47 magazine were recovered during the raid on the office.
“A member of the union, Tope Ogunkolade, was arrested by ZIS operatives after the raid and he confessed that the arms and ammunition recovered belonged to his boss, an executive member of the union,” our source said.
The information about the 2015 murder reportedly came to light during the interrogation of Ogunkolade.
The police disclosed that during the interrogation, Ogunkolade stated that his boss had a quarrel with the deceased but could not say if his boss had anything to do with Raji’s death.
The police source said, “He said that Orji’s death was cult related and that the deceased had quarrels with some cult members in Abule area in Bariga, Lagos, who killed him.
“He then gave us the names of the boys, who took part in the killing and we have arrested two of them.
“From our intelligence, we learnt that the deceased was with some of his friends on the night of his death but he received a call from someone who told him to come to Abule in Bariga for a peace talk with a man called Femi Jplum, whom we learnt is Ogunkolade’s boss.”
The police said Raji never came back alive while the friend who accompanied him to the meeting was found dead two weeks later.
Raji’s sister, Muyinatu Adisa, said after he was murdered, their family had to flee the neighbourhood.
“We learnt that his killers were coming after his friends and family. We learnt that he was stabbed to death at the peace settlement he went for. All we want now is justice,” she said.
The spokesperson for the Zone 2 Police Command, Dolapo Badmus, who confirmed the arrest, said all suspects arrested in connection would be prosecuted.
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