A 35-year-old-man simply identified as Sunday had allegedly murdered the Onibedo of Ilotin, Ikole Ekiti, Chief Sola Fatunla, in a farm in Ikole Ekiti, headquarters of Ikole Local Government Area of the state after he accused him of snatching his wife.
Fatunla’s corpse was set ablaze by a gang, led by Sunday, a Tiv man.
Sunday, it was further gathered, had accused Chief Fatunla of snatching his wife, Miss Tadeni, with whom he had two children before the marriage collapsed.
But after the man, who is said to be into charcoal business, later found out that Tadeni and the late Fatunla were merely family friends, he apologized to him
He thereafter approached Fatunla to assist him in using his position as a Chief in Ikole Ekiti to plead with some people he claimed seized his charcoal to release the commodity to him.
The Tiv man allegedly connived with others to abduct Chief Fatunla and Tadeni, somewhere around Iyemero Ekiti, while they were accompanying him to where his charcoal was seized last Sunday.
The late Chief Fatunla, according to a source close to the town, was tied to a tree, strangled to death and his corpse set ablaze.
While Tadeni was lucky to have escaped from the assailants, Sunday and his accomplices fled to Patigi area of Kwara State, where they were caught by vigilante men, while trying to escape.
When Sunday and his gangs were accosted by the vigilante men on their mission in the area, especially during the lockdown, Chief Fatunla’s phone that was in Sunday’s pocket rang and he refused to answer the call.
But one of the vigilante men collected the phone and answered the call, only to be told that the owner of the phone was abducted.
It was after this they were handed over to the police in Kwara State.
Chief Fatunla’s body has since been recovered and deposited in the mortuary, while Sunday and his gang are being detained by the police in Ekiti State.
Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer, Ekiti State Command, Sunday Abutu, said they have commenced an investigation into the matter.
Abutu said: “There was a murder case, one of the Chief in Ikole Ekiti was murdered on the farm.
“We are still trying to investigate the matter.
“We are still on the investigation, I will get back to you on the details.”
Leadership.
