Pastor arrested over friend’s ritual murder

 
                                        Late Kamilu Residence 
The police in Ogun have arrested a pastor in the state over his alleged involvement in the death of his friend.
The preacher, simply identified as Abimbola, fell under suspicion for being the last person to see the deceased, 54-year-old Yusuf Kamilu, before his death.
Kamilu is said to have gone to pay Abimbola a visit but he never returned home as he was found at a roadside the next morning with his eyes and tongue removed.

Punch reports:

Our correspondent gathered that the passersby who were shocked to see Kamilu, whose eyes and tongue had been removed, reported the incident to the Ayinla Police Division and the police rushed him to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja where he eventually died on Friday, June 13.

Kamilu, who also had several lacerations on his body when he was found unconscious, had told his wife on Tuesday morning as he left their house that his pastor friend said they were both going to an important, but undisclosed place. He failed to return home by evening as he had promised.

Our correspondent learnt that Abimbola who lives in Adiyan, Ogun State, and Kamilu, a theatre practitioner, had been friends for about 15 years.

Speaking with our correspondent on Friday, Kamilu’s wife, Adijat, explained that when her husband was found half-dead the following morning, the pastor lied to them on the phone that he (pastor) traveled.

She said, “At about 10am when he left the house on Tuesday, Abimbola called him on phone, and my husband replied that he was already about leaving. He promised to come back at about 6pm.

“By 3pm that same day, I called him on phone again. He still answered me and I heard the voices of about four persons laughing in the background. He made me to know that he was still at the pastor’s place.

“Then in the evening, when he did not return as he promised, I called his phone at about 10pm, but his line was switched off. The following morning, at about 6am, two men came to our house to call me that they saw my husband at the junction. Even before leaving the house, I called the pastor’s number, and he said he would be with us in 30 minutes time, but he did not show up. Later, after I had seen Kamilu’s body, and we had rushed him to the hospital, we called him again and he said he had traveled.”

Our correspondent further learnt that Abimbola did not visit LASUTH until the evening, and when he did, he came with some friends and told the family he was rushing back somewhere.

The following day when Kamilu died in the hospital, the pastor was arrested by policemen from the Ayinla Police Division.

A police source said when Abimbola was being interrogated at the police command headquarters in Eleweran, Abeokuta, he was said to have given contradictory answers to the police.

He said when the police went to the pastor’s residence shortly after his arrest, they discovered some fetish things in his compound. In his bedroom, the police were said to have found bathing soaps in calabashes and statutes, among others.

Our correspondent learnt that the police headquarters in Abeokuta had invited Kamilu’s family to come around on Tuesday (tomorrow).

The pastor’s wife was not available as nobody knew her whereabouts since the incident.

The Ogun State Police Command spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi, said, the suspect was still with the police, adding that investigations were ongoing.