Suspected Ritualist On the Run, Kill Photo Journalist in Kogi.
Deceased
Adebayo Pelumi, a suspect, according to an eyewitness is on the run having hit one Ayo Aiyepeku (deceased) on the head.
According to an eye witness account, Adebayo afterwards butchered the deceased and put his body parts in a freezer.
The eyewitness quietly said the matter was reported to the police and gave him a chase, but the assailant abandoned his vehicle and flee.
They said assailant and the deceased a photographer and who work in an organization called Insider Story, together live in same office and apartment around government house/GRA in Lokoja, Kogi State.
It was gathered that the suspect is married, the wife left and absconded to Abuja over abuses and irrational behaviours
Additional report added that the suspect is also a staff of the Nigeria Correctional Service, a drug addict and alleged ritualist may have mutilated the body parts for the purposes alledged ritual purposes
According to an eye witness who worked with the InsideStory, said he was in the office with the victims doing some video and photo editing when the suspect called the victim to help him out in his poultry farm which is inside the same compound.
”It was around 7:30pm when the suspect called him, but he didn’t know that Ayo was not the only person in the office. Immediately Ayo get out, Adebayo hit him with iron repeatedly and killed him there.”
The eye witness said he saw the suspect lifting the body into a deep freezer before moving the body into his Hilux Van prompting him to raise alarm, “I called some people on the phone who mobilized the vigilante in the area, but before they came, Adebayo has made away with the dead body.
The witness said along with the vigilante, they searched the area but could only see blood stains in the freezer and around the poultry stall.
”While the vigilante were still with us, the suspect drove into the compound with his van and when he saw us, he turned back and refused to stop, but the vigilante chased him and along the line, his car had an accident during the chase which made him jumped out of the vehicle and ran away.”
The witness said the van was also stained with human blood. He said while the body was yet to be recovered, they feared that ritual may be the reason for the murder.
The case was however reported on Wednesday at the State Police Headquarters in Lokoja.