Police Nab 29-year-old Man for Attempting to Kill Mother

By Rebecca Ejifoma

The Lagos State Police have arrested one Taiwo Akinola, 29, for brutally attacking his mother, Mrs. Alice Iyabo Akinola, with a plank and pressing iron for money ritual at their Ayobo residence in Lagos.

The sleepy town of Ayobo, on the outskirts of Lagos was on Sunday August 19 greeted with the gory sight of a helpless mother whose face and skull were badly battered by her son in his morbid attempt to upgrade his cyber fraud business (yahoo.com) to the ritual level (yahoo plus).

The Police Spokesman, CSP Chike Oti, on Monday disclosed that the incident took place at 08:30pm at 2 Raji Ajanaku street, Alaja Road, Ayobo, Lagos, inside the flat, where the suspect lived with his mother, Mrs. Alice Iyabo Akinola, and her grandchild, Faruk,14.

In a carefully thought out plan to kill his mother, Taiwo was said to have gone to his mother’s provision store in front of their apartment and told her to meet him inside the house for an important discussion while he sent his nephew, Faruk, to buy a white handkerchief and a stick of cigarette.

Taiwo, who is said to be a staunch member of Aiye confraternity, attacked his mother as soon as she entered the house, smashing her head with a plank, pressing iron and a UPS charger to ensure she didn’t survive the ferocious attack.

Oti added: “When Faruk returned from the errand, he didn’t see his grandmother in the shop. So, he went into the house only to see the poor woman lying in a pool of blood. The little boy raised the alarm which attracted neighbours to the scene.”

According to Oti, the neighbours called the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Ayobo Division who arrived the scene with his team and promptly arrested the suspect.

“The DPO has secured the scene for further investigation by the police forensic experts attached to the Homicide section SCIID, Panti, Yaba”.

Mrs. Alice, who was rushed to an undisclosed hospital for treatment, is hanging on to life, said the PPRO, adding that the doctors are battling to revive her but she is still unconscious.

The Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal, paid the initial hospital bill which enabled the doctors to commence treatment, Oti said.

During interrogation, the suspect was said to have disclosed that he was asked to kill his mother in order to have more money. Oti added that when Taiwo’s room was searched, some exhibits were recovered in it.

Exhibits included: Two calabashes with one containing human skull and the other, a mixture of dark concoction; plank perforated with nails and stained with blood; a pressing iron stained with blood; white handkerchief with which he wanted to scoop the victim’s blood and bottle containing oil and ‘labeled Back to Sender’.

The CP called on Lagosians to rise against all forms of crime and criminality, saying, “The Command defeated the Badoo cult group with the help of people who provided us credible and timely information”.

He, however, added that it was time to root out the street cult groups, adding ,“complacency is not an option in the face of threat to peace and security posed by these nefarious associations”.