Date Published: 09/24/09

Ritual Killing: Police informed of intent to procure human blood

At Magistrate Court 19 and before Mrs. Badejo Okunsanya, fresh facts emerged at the resumed hearing of the case of extortion and blackmail instituted by the publisher of Vanguard Newspaper Mr. Sam Amuka – Pemu against Mr. Steve Ogwu Chinuwa and others that suggest that the police were duly informed of Mrs. Oyindamola Amuka’s intent to procure human blood for her deity. Both Mr and Mrs Amuka admitted under cross-examination that Chief Ogwu Chinuwa never demanded nor collected any money over the publication that was first published by pointblanknews.com.

The new development was made possible, because the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) Mr. Hope Fabura a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) corroborated a police report tendered by the 1 st defendant’s lawyer Chief Giwa-Amu, where it was reported that one Ganiyu Ajibola said to be at large, told the Police during their investigation that Mrs. Amuka had approached him and others to procure for her a human being whose blood she intends to use. The blood was to galvanize her deity into striking to death her husband’s second wife and her mother in-law who she alleged encouraged the veteran publisher to marry. Also, Chief Pemu Amuka directly told the court that Ogwu Chinuwa's motivation was to "expose an alleged crime".

 Led in evidence by Police prosecutor Mr. Romanus Unuigbe , Mr. Hope Fabura had narrated how his immediate boss Tony Oyangoro then a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) invited him to his office where he met  the  Divisional Police Officer in-charge of Kirikiri Police Station CSP Christopher Obagunle, an Investigating Police Officer (IPO)and the 1 st  defendant Steve Chinuwa

He told the court, that he was later briefed of what transpired at Vanguard Newspaper premises and how Steve was arrested and detained for seven days after Mr. Sam Amuka had lodged a complaint of conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace. His mandate he said, was to properly investigate the case.

In response to the Police prosecutor’s question if there were additional information he gathered in the cause of his investigation, he told the court that during investigation, Steve Chinuwa told him that some officers attached to State C.I.D Panti Yaba collected four million naira from Mrs. Oyindamola Amuka whom they alleged was caught with the headless body of a young boy.

 He said he immediately reported back to his immediate boss who in turn drew the attention of the then Lagos State Commissioner of Police Mr.M.D. Abubakar now AIG ZONE 2 to the sordid affair. A visibly angry Abubakar he said ordered that all officers so named should be brought before him including the 1st defendant.

At the CP office, Fabura said, SP Babatunde Jonathan, Sgt. Ogadinma Eze, Sgt.Patrick Aranwunmi, W/PC Toyin Omojola confessed to have received four million naira from Mrs. Oyindamola Amuka, and that to everyone present consternation, SP Babatunde also revealed that he had destroyed the case file and other evidential materials after the embattled woman bribed them with four million naira which he shared amongst all parties concerned.

Fagbura further told the Court, that a shocked Abubakar now ordered the arrest and detention of the officers and also ordered a full investigation to further unearth if there are any facts not yet made known.

He said it was in this new capacity that he visited the said shrine in Ikorodu where he discovered that all the apparatus used by the suspects had been dismantled. Prompted by Unuigbe to know if his investigation revealed that any human ritual was actually carried out, he told the Court that when he arrived at the shrine, what he beheld smack of intent to defraud the victim Mrs. Oyindamola.

He said he arrived at the conclusion because he was shown the boy purportedly used for ritual and that at his office at State CID in Panti Yaba, the young lad explained to him in Yoruba language how his father Alhaji Alayande the 2 nd Defendant co-opted him into the sordid deal stressing that the young man was neither killed nor was any ritual purposes ever performed.

However, when defence counsels to the defendants wanted to know why the Police officers who collected four million naira, from Mrs. Amuka were not arraigned before the court, the police officer said he was transferred out of Lagos State mid-way into the investigation and he subsequently handed over the case file to another investigating police officer. Asked if the statement volunteered by the 1 st and 2 nd defendants were countersigned by a legal practitioner as required by law, he said he is not aware that such provisions exist. When again asked if it was not wrong of the police to have charged the 1 st and 2 nd defendants to court for extortion and blackmail when the police report clearly revealed that the said money was handed over to their men at State CID Panti Yaba by Mrs. Oyindamola Amuka, the Police Officer simply was at sea. He also could not tell the court why his men did not charge the 1 st accused to court within the 24 hrs as required by law

Further hearing in the matter has been slated for the 28th of October, 2009.