Forty-eight-year-old butcher, Segun Taiwo, who was arrested by detectives in Ogun State Police Command over the death and dumping of the corpse of his lover, Abimbola Olusola, has recounted on how the relationship between them sprouted and what led to his act.
The state police spokesman, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, who disclosed the arrest of Taiwo,accused him of dumping the corpse of his lover, whose cause of death was unknown, by the roadside at Aro area of Abeokuta.
According to Nigerian Tribune, before the suspect’s arrest, policemen at Lafenwa Division in Abeokuta town had received information that a woman’s corpse was seen lying on the road side at Aro area of Abeokuta.
They had reportedly gone to the scene, from where the corpse was recovered and deposited at the mortuary.
Meanwhile, the children of the deceased had been expecting their mother’s return from her lover, as she had informed them of her destination when leaving home.
As they waited in vain, they decided to visit their mother’s lover boy, but he denied seeing her, saying, that the last time he spoke with her on phone was three days before she was said to have left home for his place.
When they could not get a convincing response from the suspect, the children were said to have gone to report their missing mother at Obada Oko Division.
This, it was said, led the police to Taiwo’s residence where he was picked up.
However, during interrogation, he vehemently denied seeing his lover, saying that he did not set his eyes on her, and that they only spoke on phone.
This prompted his transfer to the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.
Also, when the case of the corpse found at Aro area was transferred to the State CID, detectives, led by CSP Femi Olabode from homicide section embarked on technical and intelligence-based investigation.
At the State CID, according to the police public relations Officer, the suspect still maintained his denial, but when the evidence linking him with the deceased, which had been at the disposal of the policemen before his arrest, was presented to him, he opened up on what he claimed happened that led to his lover’s death.
Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune in an interview, Taiwo, an Abeokuta indigene living at Itoko area of the town and a father of four, narrated how his relationship with the deceased started and how she died.
He recounted to him, “I started dating the woman in 2020. We met at Obada Oko where she was working as a barmaid in a hotel close to my stall.”
“She was a widow and used to come to where I was trading to buy meat. We went on with our relationship until she became sick and left Obada Oko. I didn’t see or hear from her again. Several calls to her were not going through.”
“This year, around April, she came to me. She even said I was not calling her but I told her I did several times but her line was not available.”
“After then, we would call each other on phone. She had relocated to Sagamu where her family was.”
“On Thursday, October 28, she called me that she was coming to me. Meanwhile, my wife and I had a misunderstanding and she had left the home for about two weeks.”
“My lover came on Sunday, October 31 while I was in church. She didn’t know the direction to my house, so I picked her at Itoku with a commercial bike to my house at Itoko. We got home and she ate the remnant of the food I had.”
“We made love thereafter, took our bath and went to lay on the bed. I was already dozing when I heard her coughing.”
“With concern, I asked her what was wrong with her, since she told me she was already okay health wise. She replied that she didn’t know why she was coughing, saying that she had already taken water to ease it.”
“At a stage, she asked if there was a clinic nearby and I replied that there was none. This was about 3 am. I took her in a car and was on the way to General Hospital when I noticed she was dead.”
“There was no one to call and I couldn’t get myself together. I decided to take her to a hospital close to Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, since I knew someone there, with the mind that she would be checked.”
“But as I almost got near the gate, I noticed soldiers at a roadblock. Then, I thought that if they should see her with me, they would beat me to stupor, so I decided to dump her body by the side of the road.”
“Her children who knew me later came to me to ask of their mother about four days after. The body had been picked by the police on the day I dumped it there.”
“I denied seeing her to her children. I told them that the last time she called me was on Thursday, and that I did not see her. They went to report at Obada Oko Police Station and I was picked. Initially, I also denied seeing her but I confessed when I got to the State CID when I was transferred there.”
When asked the reason for his initial denial, knowing that everything could eventually be traced, Taiwo said he was so scared because he had never been in a police station and had never encountered such a problem.
“People had been blaming me for dumping her, but I didn’t know what to do again. I was so scared,” he said.
The PPRO said that the state Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole had directed that the suspect be charged to court as soon as investigation had been concluded, just as he commended his men for the professional manner they carried out the investigation.
