A man, identified simply as Kadiri, has allegedly beaten his neighbour, Mukaila Mustapha, to death with a charm.
Kadiri, who is popularly known as Sanction, reportedly hit Mustapha with a charm during a fight in the Oke-Ijeun area of Abeokuta, Ogun State.
It was gathered that the incident happened last Thursday and the victim was buried the following day according to Islamic rites.
PUNCH Metro gathered that Kadiri hit Mustapha with a charm after his wife reported a misunderstanding between her and the deceased to him.
It was learnt that the 57-year-old Mustapha, who was a commercial motorcyclist, vomited blood after he was beaten by Kadiri.
The daughter of the deceased, Bukola, told PUNCH Metro that her father was hit with a charm by the suspect and he eventually died.
Bukola explained that her father’s misunderstanding with the suspect’s wife, Biola, led to the involvement of Kadiri, who struck Mustapha with a charm.
She said, “One of my sisters called me on Thursday that my dad was dead and that I should start going to Oke-Ijeun, where my father lived. When I got there, I met him sitting on his bike holding the motorcycle’s key.
“He was drenched in a pool of his blood. I called him several times to know what was wrong, but he did not respond.
“I asked the people around to assist in carrying him into his room. There was blood everywhere and his motorcycle was soaked in blood. I was the one, who removed everything on him. There was no movement that day, but I started calling my family members.
“People in the house told me that he was killed. They told me that my father had a misunderstanding with Kadiri’s wife, who was washing clothes outside the building. I was told that my father asked her to clear the way so that he could take his motorcycle inside, but the woman ignored him and started abusing him.
“According to what they told me, the woman later called her husband and when he came, he started beating my father; he punched him in the nose, mouth and stomach and my father started bleeding.
“My father was said to have managed to take his motorcycle inside and passed away while seated on the motorcycle.”
Bukola insisted that Kadiri could not have had the upper hand if he had not hit Mustapha with a charm.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the incident.
Oyeyemi explained that the suspect was on the run and that the police had already launched a manhunt to ensure his arrest.
He said the suspect’s wife had been apprehended, adding that Biola was helping the police to ensure that her husband was arrested.
The PPRO added that the police did not have any evidence that the fight that led to the death of the deceased.
He explained that there was no autopsy to prove that the deceased was actually beaten to death as claimed by the family.
Oyeyemi stated, “It is true, but we have not arrested the suspect. His wife is in our custody and she is assisting the command in locating her husband.
“What we heard was that they fought and it was after the fight that the man died in his room. We cannot categorically say that it was the fight that led to his death or that it was natural.
“We have not seen the suspect and we are still looking out for him.
“The deceased has been buried and that is where the problem is, because the family said the man was a Muslim and they could not hold on without burying him.
“In this type of situation, if you are alleging that somebody beats your person and the person died, there must be an autopsy to ascertain whether what you are saying is true or not. The autopsy will also help to ascertain whether that is the cause of the death.
“But, as soon as the incident happened, the family said they wanted to go and bury him. We can’t stop them from burying their relative if they insist on burying the person.
“Nevertheless, we are still going to carry out our own investigation.”
