Electrician accused of stealing phone kills witness

When students of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Oyo State, resume academic activities in January 2018, 18-year-old Farooq Olusegun, will be missing.

Olusegun, who just got admission to the institution, was reportedly stabbed to death by an electrician, Israel Oluranti.

The suspect was arrested by policemen from the Agbado Police Division, led by the Divisional Police Officer, CSP Omonijo Sunday.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Oluranti and Olusegun had attended a birthday party on Moshood Amao Street, Jafar, Ope-Ilu, Ogun State, with their respective friends on Christmas Eve.

It was learnt that the two groups sat side-by-side at the event.

While the party was on around 1am on Monday, one Lekan, a dancer and Olusegun’s friend, went to the stage to entertain the gathering.

He reportedly hurriedly dropped his mobile phone with somebody while going on stage, but could not recognise the person when he returned to his seat.

As Lekan was searching for his Lenovo phone, Olusegun claimed that he saw Oluranti collect it – an allegation the suspect denied, leading to an altercation between him and the deceased.

The deceased’s close friend, Damilola Rotimi, told our correspondent that he was sleeping when some people from the event knocked on his door around 3am and informed him of the chaos.

He said, “On getting to the party, the phone had been found on him (Oluranti) upon Farooq’s (Olusegun) insistence. As people chided him, he became violent, smashed the bottle of the beer that he was drinking on his own head and attempted to stab Lekan.

 “Lekan dodged the attack, but he stabbed Farooq in the chest and fled with his friends. One of our friends, Tobi, went after him and he was caught. Tobi was injured while trying to apprehend him.
“At the party, we looked for a car or motorcycle to take Farooq to a hospital without success.
“It was the brother of the host that helped us to get a wheelbarrow which we used to take him to a health centre around the venue. The health centre referred him to a private hospital, Osana. When we got there, they said the doctor was not around. We took him to Noble Hospital, where he was confirmed dead on arrival.
“We are childhood friends. He was supposed to resume at The Polytechnic, Ibadan, in January.”

Olusegun’s uncle, Kolawole Abiola, said his graduation from a vocational centre as a photographer was slated for next month. He said the family was devastated by the incident.

“He wanted to study Business Administration at The Polytechnic Ibadan. He was living in a detached apartment in his parents’ compound. Somebody came to wake him up that night to attend the party. The parents were shocked when they were informed us about his death in the morning,” he added.

However, in a chat with our correspondent, 21-year-old Oluranti, an electrician, denied stealing the phone and claimed that it was one, Sunday who killed Olusegun.

The native of Abeokuta, Ogun State, said,

 “I was going to buy food around 11pm on Sunday when I saw Egbon (brother) KB. He said he had been looking for me so we could attend a Christmas Eve party together.
“While we were there with Sunday, Lekan and his friends came and they sat beside us. We drank and had  fun.

 “When Lekan was going on stage to dance, he did not know who he gave his phone to.  He came back and started looking for his phone. I told KB that I wanted to go home and he stood up to see me off.
“Farooq pointed at somebody, accusing him of stealing the phone, but his friends thought he meant KB. I cautioned them as they wanted to attack KB. They beat me up and KB smashed a bottle on the floor. Farooq (Olusegun) also did the same and stabbed me in the head. Sunday stabbed Farooq.
“As his friends tried to attack us, I smashed a bottle. KB and Sunday ran away. I did not know about the stolen phone. The phone was eventually found on a friend of Lekan.”

The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the case had been transferred to the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Eleweran, for further investigation.

Oyeyemi said,

 “Trouble started when an argument ensued over a missing phone and the deceased accused the suspect of being in possession of the phone. This infuriated the suspect consequent upon which he took one of the beer bottles around, broke it and stabbed the deceased in the chest.
“The victim was quickly rushed to a nearby hospital, but gave up the ghost before reaching there. One Kolawole Abiola lodged a complaint at the Agbado Police Division and the suspect was arrested. The Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, has ordered the transfer of the case to the Homicide Section of the SCIID.”