Nigeria Police
Eko Hot Blog reports that the suspect in the gruesome killing of a couple, Kehinde and Bukola Fatinoye, in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, has escaped from police custody.
Mr and Mrs Fatinoye were murdered on January 1 after returning home from a midnight church service to welcome a new year.
Their killers also abducted the son of the couple and their housemaid. The body of the son, Oreoluwa, was later recovered from a river in the Ogun State capital.
The abducted housemaid is currently receiving treatment in a hospital.
The suspect simply identified as Lekan, a driver of the late Mrs Fatinoye, had been identified by the surviving victim as one of the attackers.
The police subsequently took him into custody on Tuesday.
However, the suspect has escaped from custody at Ibara Police Divisional Headquarters in Abeokuta, according to Premium Times.
The news outlet quoted an anonymous police source narrating how Lekan’s escape embarrassed the police, which has prompted the police hierarchy to treat the situation in secrecy.
The slain couple
The source claimed that suspect 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.
“The suspect pretended to be sick while the police were trying to take a statement from him. He fell and pretended to have fainted,” Premium Times quoted the source as saying.
“He was quickly rushed to a police clinic at Zone II not far from the secretariat of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Iwe-Iroyin, in order to ‘rescue’ him so as to help the police in its investigation.”
After he was revived by nurses, the source said, Lekan requested to ease himself, but he escaped.
The suspect reportedly escaped into the Ogun Deputy Governor’s Lodge from where he scaled the fence to the house of the late Head of Interim Government, Ernest Shonekan.
The source further said efforts by officers at the scene to re-arrest the suspect were futile.
The police spokesperson in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, did not respond to inquiries as of the time of filling this report.
Meanwhile, the police have launched a manhunt for the escaped suspect, with a ‘wanted’ message carrying Lekan’s picture already in circulation.
“Wanted! Wanted!! Wanted!!! This is the guy suspected to have been part of the culprits that murdered a couple in Abeokuta on the New Year’s Eve. His name is Lekan. He is currently at large and has been declared wanted by the Police. Anyone who knows or sees him should contact the nearest police station. Kindly share,” the message reads.
Another police source told Premium Times that the officers under whose charge the suspect escaped were being questioned by the police authorities.
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