The Lagos State Police Command has arrested two minors, who claimed to be up-and-coming artistes, for allegedly stabbing a Redeemed Christian Church of God’s pastor, Babatunde Dada, to death.

The suspects, Farouk, 15, and Jamiu, 17, were paraded on Friday by the state Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu.

The minors were said to have attempted to dispossess the pastor of his valuables when they attacked him on the church premises in the Festac area of the state.

Odumosu said the suspects, after allegedly perpetrating the crime, fled to an unknown destination, adding that they were arrested in their hideouts in Ilorin, Kwara State, and Festac area.

He said, “The duo of Farouk, 15 and Jamiu, stabbed and killed one Babatunde Dada, 46, inside a church where he worshipped. The deceased/victim, until his death, was a pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Festac.

“The suspects, after committing the murderous act, absconded to unknown places. However, following intensive and discreet investigation, the two culprits were arrested in their hideouts. The suspects during interrogation confessed to have killed the victim with a bottle and a stick. The exhibits used in perpetuating the dastardly act were recovered.”

Also, Odumosu confirmed the arrest of a suspected ritualist, Kolawole Sikiru, 41, who reportedly broke into the Sabo Cemetery along the Igbogbo Road, Ikorodu. After gaining entry, Sikiru was said to have dug a grave and removed the body parts of a corpse.

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The CP said Sikiru confessed to the crime during interrogation, adding that the body parts, a knife and a stick were recovered from him.

He added, “On December 7, 2021, around 11.30am, a suspected ritualist, Kolawole Sikiru, 41, was arrested with fresh human parts which he severed from a dead body at a cemetery. He further confessed that it was a yet-to-be-identified alfa who asked him to bring the body parts00 – wrists, heart and flesh – for ritual purposes. The body parts, a knife and a stick were recovered from the suspect.”

The CP also paraded two members of an Illegal security outfit, Citizens for Peace and First Aid Mission of Nigeria, for allegedly torturing a suspected armed robber to death in the Ikorodu area of the state.

The suspects, Israel Okon, 42, and Joe Charles, 35, including other fleeing accomplices, after allegedly killing the victim, reportedly dismembered his corpse and buried his skull in a shallow grave.

But Okon said the person whose skull was recovered was a suspected armed robber he arrested while working as a security guard at a company in Ikorodu.

He said, “I arrested the man whose head was chopped off. The man was an armed robber that robbed the hotel where I worked as a security guard. I arrested him around 1pm and the owner of the hotel called my commander who took him to our office but I don’t know how he died.

“After he died, I could not leave because the commander locked me inside and said we should bury the corpse. After we buried the corpse, they came back a week later, chopped off the head of the corpse and took it to a native doctor.”

Punch