A hotel owner, an Ifa Priest, and two other suspected ritualists have been arrested by the operatives of Ogun State Police Command.
The four men – Azeez Raimi, 21, Yusuf Shaeed 33, Awodero Michael 27, and Soneye Lateef 39, – were in connection with the sudden disappearance of a 36 years old woman, Adebayo Aminat Keji.
Keji allegedly got missing since September, 16, 2022.
The Command Spokesperson, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, explained that the suspects, Azeez Raimi, Yusuf Shaeed Awodero Michael, and Soneye Lateef, were arrested following a complain lodged at Shagamu Divisional Headquarters by the elder brother of the victim, one Ahmed Adebayo.
Adebayo reported that the victim left home since on the 15th of September, and her whereabout is unknown since then.
“Upon the report, the Commissioner of Police, CP Lanre Bankole, directed the Anti Kidnapping Unit of the State Criminal Investigation Department, to investigate the matter, so as to unravel the mystery behind the sudden disappearance of the woman.
“In compliance with the CP’s directive, the SP Taiwo Opadiran-led team embarked on technical and intelligence based investigation, which led them to one Soneye Lateef an hotelier, whose hotel facility the victim was seen last.
“On interrogation, the hotelier admitted that the missing woman was in his hotel on that day on the invitation of her friend one Bose Fajebe, who came to the hotel with her boyfriend.” He said
According to the police, Bose Fajebe was the one who invited the missing woman to join them at the hotel adding that as soon as she arrived, the hotelier developed romance interest in her and started having a romantic discussions with the woman.
The police spokesman added that while the two of them were discussing, Bose who invited the missing lady, left the hotel with her boyfriend and left the missing lady and the hotel owner.
“The hotelier further explained that the missing woman also left not quite long after her friend had left, and later in the night, he also left the hotel with two of his friends namely Saheed Yusuf and Michael Awodero to meet a herbalist Azeez Raimi who is to carry out an Ifa divination ritual for them, and that they were all at the shrine throughout the night.
“But contrary to his claim that the missing woman was not with them at the shrine, the Ifa priest confirmed that he saw the woman in the vehicle with Soneye Lateef and Yusuf Shaeed outside the shrine and that they later left with the lady in the night to somewhere he didn’t know, only for them to come back early in the morning without the lady.
“He also gave a vivid description of the woman he saw, and when her photograph was shown to him, he confirmed it as the woman he saw with Soneye Lateef and Yusuf Shaeed.
“Awodero Michael also corroborated the herbalist statement that they were all at the shrine throughout the night, but the hotelier and his friend Shaeed who is an internet fraudster left the shrine with the woman in the night and came back in the morning without her.
“Further investigation revealed that the woman must have been used for ritual purpose”, Oyeyemi stated.
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner of Police, CP Lanre Bankole has ordered that the suspects be charged to court without further delay.” The police statement reads.