Cultists murder Ogun bus driver, wife demands justice

Cultists murder Ogun bus driver, wife demands justice

The family of a 35-year-old commercial bus driver, Oluwaseun Atoyebi, has been thrown into mourning after he was shot dead by suspected cultists at Makogi, in the Magboro area of Ogun State.

It was gathered that Oluwaseun, who resided at Ibafo, was asked by a friend, identified only as Femi, to intervene in a fight involving another friend at Magboro.

He was said to have been shot in the head at the scene of the fight.

His wife, Omowunmi, who spoke to our correspondent, said the incident happened on November 27, 2022.

She said, “On that day, one of my husband’s friends, Femi, called him in the morning that one of their friends, a lady, was being beaten somewhere at Magboro. Femi asked him to come over; my husband told him he was coming. When I heard, I told him not to go, and he listened and said he was going to church instead.

“He sent me on an errand to buy sachet water for him. Before I returned, I didn’t see him and my neighbours told me that he had already gone to church. I also went to church to verify if he was there. When I got there, I saw him.

“At church, he gave me some money to cook. I left for the house because I was not feeling fine. Before I came back from the market, one of the children brought my husband’s bible back home saying he had gone out. He said someone called my husband. I immediately called him and asked his whereabouts and he said he was at a naming ceremony. I believed him because he had informed me of his plan to go for that ceremony after church that same day. I told him I was going to meet him at the event.

“Around noon, a boy from our compound, Segun, told me that he heard that my husband was dead. I was shocked but I didn’t believe him. A friend of mine later came to meet me and we went to the house of one of his friends, AY. On getting there, we learnt that my husband left with him and two other friends.

“After some minutes, I saw a police van with a dead body. I immediately identified that it was my husband’s body. The police said it wasn’t him, but I insisted that it was my husband’s body because I recognised the clothes he wore. His body was taken to a mortuary.”

Omowunmi, who lamented the death of her husband, demanded that the killers be brought to book.

She said, “Since the incident happened, I’ve just been managing myself; I and my nine-month-old daughter have moved in with my parents. Till now, the police have not found anyone culpable. Someone must be brought to justice for his death.

“I suspect his friend, Femi, called him over because the two of them had been fighting all through last year; they only settled their fight this year in August. He called my husband but yet he wasn’t at the fight scene; it was just AY, my husband, and one of their friends who is also a driver that went to the fight scene. AY and his wife have been running; they’ve refused to speak to me. Even the police went to look for AY but they didn’t meet him and his wife at home; they had packed and ran away.”

The victim’s elder brother, Love Mustapha, said the matter was reported at the Ibafo Police Station, adding that a tricycle driver was found battered at the scene of the incident while the perpetrators had fled.

He said, “The matter was reported at the Ibafo Police Station. What I initially heard was that my younger brother was involved in an accident but the police later told me he was involved in a fight and he was shot; the bullet was said to have hit the back of his head.

“The tricycle rider who brought my brother there was badly battered by the suspected cultists and taken by the police.  The information we got was that those guys who perpetrated the act were cultists and Femi, who called my brother to the fight, had absconded.”

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said he would check and get back to our correspondent.

He had yet to do so as of the time this report was filed.