A 39-year old man, Dolapo Babalola, has told the Police in Ondo State how he killed his childhood friend, Evangelist Opeyemi Oyelakin, dumped his corpse inside bush and stole his motorcycle which he sold for N130,000.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the suspect, Babalola, made the confession after he was arrested by the Ondo State Police Command over the alleged murder of the deceased in Okeigbo, Ile-Oluji/Okeigbo Local Government area of the state.
He revealed that he used a stone and stick to kill him and covered him with tree branches with the intention to steal his motorcycle, which he sold to a buyer at Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, for the sum of N130.000.
The suspect, Babalola, also confessed that he was a serial motorcycle thief and blamed the killing of Opeyemi Oyelakin, his childhood friend, on the devil.
This was confirmed by the Commissioner of Police, Abayomi Oladipo, who paraded Babalola for allegedly killing Oyelakin in a dastardly manner.
Babalola said: “It is the work of the devil! I can’t explain, he was my close friend.Truly his bike is not the first bike I will ever snatch but I have never killed before. Even those that are not related to me, I snatched bikes from them and I did not even do anything harmful to them but this one is just a coincidence”.
“At least I have snatched about 15 motorcycles but I have never killed before. His own is the first, my buyer is in Ibadan. The nature of the bike at the time of stealing determines how much we are going to sell it. But no matter how clean the bike is, my buyer will buy it for around N200,000.”
“But we sold this one at the rate of N130,000 and we shared the money equally because we are two in the business. When I wanted to collect the bike from him, he dragged it with us and I hit him with a stone. I know his mom and younger brother. I can’t explain why I killed him.”
The Police boss said on 25th March, 2024, a complaint was received from Ondo Town, that a motorcycle with registration number KAK 136 VF was stolen on 15th March, 2024, while the rider, Evangelist Opeyemi Oyelakin, was nowhere to be found.
Consequent to this report, detectives swung into action and arrested one Babalola Dolapo Daniel same date. During interrogation, the suspect confessed that the said Opeyemi Oyelakin ‘deceased’ was his childhood friend, whom they had not seen for a very long time until March 14.
The CP said, “On 15th March, 2024, the suspect and one Sikiru Mutiu a.k.a S.K deceived the said Opeyemi Oyelakin, ‘deceased’ to carry them on motorcycle to where they have farm at Oke-Igbo Area”.
“As soon as they dropped, Sikiru Mutiu a.k.a S.K gripped him from behind while he used a stick and stone to hit him on his head the victim died, and the corpse was dragged to a shallow pit, they covered it with leaves before his motorcycle was stolen.”
CP Oladipo further stated that the suspect took the detectives to the scene of the crime, where they perpetrated the criminal act, and the corpse together with the stick and stone was recovered.
He stated that the suspect will be charged for murder under the Criminal Laws of the State, which attracts life imprisonment if he was tried and found guilty before the Court but that will be after the conclusion of investigations by the Police.