Dons Eze
NEW YEAR EVE MURDER: OGUN COUPLE, SON YET TO GET JUSTICE TWO YEARS AFTER
It is exactly two years since the family of Kehinde and Bukola Fatinoye were wiped off the surface of the earth, yet justice for them still lingers.
It was the New Year day of 2023, and like many other believers, Kehinde, a former employee of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and Bukola Fatinoye, alongside their only surviving son, Oreoluwa, attended the 2022/2023 crossover service at the Christ Anglican Church Iporo-Ake, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
They went home after the service, reveling in the excitement of the new year, unknown to them that they were being trailed.
The couple who lives at Oba Karunwi Road, a street right behind former Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s residence, in Ibara GRA, Abeokuta, at about 1:30 am were robbed, gruesomely murdered and their house set ablaze.
The suspected assailants, Lekan Adekanbi, Ahmed Odetola, and Waheed Adeniji, tied their son, Oreoluwa and adopted son, Felix, with ropes and threw them into a river along Adigbe-Obada road, where Oreoluwa died.
The major suspect, Lekan, who led the rest of his team into the house, was said to have been Mrs Fatinoye’s driver for almost two years and was well known within the community of the Federal University of Agriculture, FUNAAB, where the deceased woman worked.
I killed my boss because he didn’t increase my salary – Lekan
Lekan, on interrogation, confessed to planning the incident because his request for a salary raise and loan were yet to be met.
The suspect, who had been the couple’s driver since 2018, said he invited the two others, Ahmed Odetola, aka Akamo and Waheed Adeniyi, aka Koffi, to join him in robbing the couple.
He said, “I just wanted to collect money from them. They employed me as a driver, but later they added to my duties, home cleaning, washing clothes and feeding the dog.
“I asked for a raise in my salary after adding to my duties aside from being the driver. I was being paid N25, 000 which is not enough for me to feed myself and my family.
“I also asked him for a loan to be deducted from my salary for a year so as to allow me to raise money for an investment, but he didn’t do anything.
“So, I decided that I would collect my money from them.”
Trial
In February 2023, the suspects, Adekanbi Lekan, Odetola Ahmed, Adeniyi Waheed and their accomplices, Fadairo Temitope and Adekanbi Adenike, were arraigned at the Magistrate Court in Abeokuta on an 11-count charge bordering on conspiracy, murder, felony, arson, setting properties ablaze, stealing, escape from lawful authority, among others.
The Police Counsel, Miss Oluwatosin Jackson moved a motion ex parte pursuant to Section 306 of Administration of Criminal Justice Laws of Ogun State, praying for an order of the court to remand the defendants.
Jackson prayed the court to remand the defendants for 60 days in the first instance at Oba Correctional Centre pending legal advice from the office of the State Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).
The magistrate, Esther Idowu, remanded the suspects for 60 days pending advice from the DPP.
However, the suspected killers, Lekan’s aged mother, his wife and two others who bought the deceased vehicle, appeared back in court after spending months at the correction centre.
The matter was later transferred to the State High Court in Abeokuta, where trial has been concluded.
We also gather from sources within the Correction Centre and the court that the suspects were awaiting judgment on February 3rd, 2025.
