21-year-old student kills own father in Ogun

The deceased was Senior Advocate of Nigeria

A 21-year-old university undergraduate, Tolani Ajayi, has killed his father, chopped the body to pieces, before dumping the remains in a bush near their home in Ogun State, police said.

The suspect has since being arrested by the Ogun State Police Command.

A witness told PREMIUM TIMES that the attack occurred Tuesday after an argument between Tolani and his father, Charles Ajayi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN. The late lawyer had reportedly questioned his son over his attitude and refusal to follow Biblical teachings.

The suspect, a 300 level student of the Department of History and International Relations of Redeemer University, RCCG Camp Ogun State, became infuriated when his father slapped him. In retaliation, Tolani stabbed his father with a knife.

He then hacked the body to pieces, packed the mutilated corpse in a box and dumped it in a nearby bush.

The Ogun State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, confirmed the incident, which, he said, occurred at the Redemption Camp along Lagos/Ibadan Expressway.

“The shattered body of Barrister Charles Ajayi, 60, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, was seen and recovered in a nearby bush at Canaanland Street in the RCCG Camp, in a box after he had been killed by his son,” Mr. Adejobi said.

He said the Tolani was arrested at his father’s home after the corpse was discovered.

Mr. Adejobi told PREMIUM TIMES that the Divisional Police Officer of Redemption Camp, Olaiya Martins, had led a team of detectives and some members of the community to where the body was found. The community members had earlier noticed the strange attitude of the suspect while he dumped the box.

Following the drag marks made by the box, police officers traced the suspect to his home.

Mr. Adejobi said upon interrogation, the suspect lied that his father had gone on evangelism. He later confessed to the crime, Mr. Adejobi said.

He said the exhibits, including the knife and cutlass the suspect used in the attack, were recovered by the police while the corpse had been deposited at a morgue in Sagamu.

Mr. Adejobi said the Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye, had sent a team of detectives, led by the officer in charge of Homicide section of the Department of Criminal Investigation, Eleweran Abeokuta, to assess the situation and take over the matter for further investigation and necessary action.

The commissioner also sympathised with the family of the deceased.