Two families in Osun State spent weeks not knowing what had happened to their sons. Police now say the answer came from a cultist in custody, and that his account has also dragged a sitting member of the House of Representatives into the case.
The Osun State Police Command paraded three suspects on Friday: Olabode Owoeye, 32, Mukaila Lateef, 45, and David Samuel, 26. They face allegations of murder, kidnapping, armed robbery and cultism. The Command’s spokesperson, Mrs. Yemisi Opalola, was joined at the briefing by SP Moses Lohor, the officer in charge of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad. She said the arrests followed rigorous surveillance and several earlier arrests since February 2024.
The case began on February 9, 2024, when two families reported at the Iperindo Police Station that their sons, Kelechi Agha and Tega Robinson, had left for their mining sites the day before and never returned. The case was passed to the Anti-Kidnapping Squad. Police said intelligence pointed to members of the Aye confraternity moving about with dangerous weapons that day. A search of the cultists’ hideouts turned up a locally made Beretta pistol and a black mask.
Detectives then arrested Owoeye, also known as “Bode Itaapa,” who was already on the Command’s wanted list. Police said he told them fellow members of his group abducted and killed the two young men in the bush. He also allegedly said the group worked as political thugs for Hon. Sanya Omirin, the member representing Ijesa South Federal Constituency, taking instructions through another wanted cultist, Adefioye Solomon, alias “Solo Iwara.”
Police said Owoeye further claimed the group shot Hon. Ayodeji Olaolu in the head and chest at a party secretariat during the 2023 House of Representatives election. He allegedly said the confraternity had over 30 pump-action rifles, most bought before that election.
A second thread came from Samuel. Police said he admitted involvement in the killing of Ibrahim Taiwo, known as “Omo-Alhaja,” at an APC rally on February 21, 2023. He allegedly led detectives to a village called Oke-Eta, where a pump-action gun was recovered. Owoeye told police he bought the gun from Lateef, whom he described as his arms dealer.
Exhibits shown to journalists included an unregistered motorcycle, a locally made Beretta pistol with three live cartridges, a single-barrel gun, a pump-action gun, a black Toyota Highlander, face masks and charms. Police said efforts continue to arrest members of the group who are on the run, and the suspects will be charged to court once investigations end.
The claims against Omirin come from the suspects’ alleged confessions as relayed by police. He has not been charged, and the police account carries no response from him. Supporters have pushed back on earlier claims of this kind. A group calling itself the Ijesa South Patriots accused the opposition APC of colluding with police to implicate Omirin and called it a political vendetta.
The case also touches a long-running political dispute. The state’s main opposition APC has repeatedly alleged that 25 of its members were killed in the Ijesa South constituency during the 2022 governorship and 2023 national elections.
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