A 29-year-old man identified as Adeniyi Samuel has recounted to police how one Wasiu Eluyera offered him N10,000 to kill his pregnant wife.
The 35-year-old was allegedly trying to eliminate of the woman in order to keep the pregnancy from his new wife.
Police said the duo were arrested following a distress call received by the DPO of Ogijo divisional headquarters, Ogun State, from concerned members of the public on January 1, 2022.
Ogun Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the police were informed that the two men had engaged each other in serious physical combat at Oponuwa area of Ogijo as residents feared they might get injured.
The DPO of the Ogijo Division, CSP Muhammed Baba, had mobilised his men to the scene, where the two suspects were arrested.
“It was during interrogation to know the cause of the fight that Adeniyi Samuel opened up and informed the police that Eluyera Wasiu contracted him to kill his pregnant wife, one Bola Taiwo.
“He stated further that Eluyera Wasiu promised to give him N10,000 for the job, out of which he had already given him N5,000 to pay the balance on completion of the job,” Oyeyemi said.
According to the PPRO, police preliminary investigation revealed that Wasiu had been married to Bola Taiwo before they got separated.
The said Wasiu later got married to another woman who, it was learnt, now lives with him.
However, the husband reunited with Taiwo, who later got pregnant.
To avoid the announcement of his new wife, Wasiu had requested Taiwo to abort the pregnancy, but the woman refused.
After he failed in his efforts to make the woman terminate the pregnancy, he decided to eliminate the woman and the pregnancy, said Oyeyemi.
“In his confessional statement, he stated that he had twice bought food for Taiwo from one eatery and laced the food with poison, but the lady by providence did not eat the food.
“It was when all his personal efforts to kill her failed that he contracted Adeniyi Samuel to help him eliminate her,” Oyeyemi quoted Wasiu to have written in a statement.
Wasiu was said to have confessed further that he personally took his accomplice to Taiwo’s house, giving him her photo for easy identification.
“But when he didn’t carry out the assignment as agreed, he demanded the refund of the advance payment he made to him, and his refusal led to the fight which led to their arrest,” the police spokesman further explained.
The Commissioner of Police in Ogun, Lanre Bankole, has ordered a full-scale investigation of the case.
