Confusion as woman accuses driver of ritual killing

There was confusion at Somolu on Saturday when an unidentified woman accused a commercial driver, known simply as Paul, of kidnapping and ritual killing.

The woman was said to have accosted Paul around noon while he was washing his bus outside his home at Sodeke Street, Somolu.

Sources, who requested anonymity, told PUNCH Metro that the woman, on sighting Paul, went back for a closer inspection. She was said to have subsequently raised the alarm and held on to Paul. She insisted that Paul was the driver of a bus that had kidnapped her a while ago.

A source said, “When she screamed and identified Paul as a kidnapper and ritualist; he at first, tried to escape. But the woman held on to him and kept telling curious residents that Paul was the driver of a bus that had kidnapped her and about 10 others a while ago.

“She claimed that she had boarded the bus at Odunlade Street in the evening and immediately became unconscious, along with other passengers who boarded the bus with her. She said that they did not regain consciousness until they got to an unknown destination.

“She said she was released after her captors had used an object to touch her; she was the only one in the bus to regain her freedom. How she was able to find her way home, she could not recall.”

PUNCH Metro gathered that the community development association chairman of the community alerted the Onipanu Police Division of the situation when it became apparent that the woman was not ready to let Paul go.

Paul’s neighbours, dumbfounded by the allegations, were said to have admitted that they had no idea what he did for a living. Although they were aware that he often drove his commercial bus in the evenings.

“Paul would on most mornings go out with his Sport Utility Vehicle, only to return in the evenings and drive out his commercial bus. Sometimes, he would travel for a two or three month stretch on business trips, but no one actually knows what he does for a living,” a source said.

Policemen from the Onipanu Police Division were said to have taken Paul and his alleged victim to the station.

The policemen were said to have later returned to search Paul’s home. He was said to have been later transferred to the Area H Police Command, Ogudu. PUNCH