Two years after dropping bail in murder case, suspect is back in custody for theft and fraud allegations

SALIU, aka Oluomo (first name withheld), was indicted two years ago for allegedly robbing and killing a Point of Sale (PoS) operator. He was, however, able to escape from prison, as he reportedly waived his bail.

Now the goose is back as the 48-year-old is once again in the police net after a stolen car in Lagos was traced by police to his residence in Ota, Ogun State.

A fraud case is now also on the agenda for him as one of his former mistresses showed up at the police station where he is being held claiming to have been defrauded by the suspect as part of a an international trade agreement worth 8 million naira.

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Spokesperson for the Ogun State Police Command, SP Omolola Odutola, said Saliu was recently arrested by the State Criminal Investigation Department, in Eleweran, Abeokuta, on suspicion to be in possession of a stolen car.

Saturday Tribune has learned that the owner reported the theft of his car to the police, after which the officers took action and followed the vehicle to Saliu's residence in Ota. While still being questioned by law enforcement, his former mistress showed up at the police station and made her own allegation, saying she had been looking for him since he disappeared from prison.

The lady who claimed to be a widow, according to law enforcement sources, explained that she and Saliu met on Facebook and soon struck up conversations about the possibility of a romantic relationship. According to her, Saliu claimed to be based in the United States with his family.

She said that after a while Saliu asked her what she did for a living and she replied that she was selling building materials. She explained that Saliu then persuaded her to buy her shares abroad so that she could make more profits.

She reportedly told police that Saliu persuaded her to send him 4 million naira to buy her first stock overseas, which she did. She said she became worried after not being able to reach him afterwards. She said that when she was able to join Saliu again, he told her that when he entered Nigeria, he had been arrested and thrown in prison on the pretext that he was a member of the agitation group of the Yoruba nation and in solidarity with the popularly known Sunday Adeyemo. like Igboho Sunday.

According to her, she went to the prison where Saliu said he was being held and there he told her that his goods were by sea, bound for Nigeria, and that he would need 4 million extra naira to wrap up prison business. expected goods. She said, however, that was the last time she heard from him after Saliu mysteriously disappeared from prison and his whereabouts are unknown.

The woman said she went to the police station after learning that Saliu was being held there for another crime.

The Murder Case of 2021

It will be recalled that Saliu was arrested in August 2021 for allegedly colluding with three others in the murder and arson of an outlet operator, Abiodun Odebunmi, after luring him for a business transaction and collected 4 million Naira from him. The state command said the syndicate Saliu belonged to also specializes in theft and murder of Uber operators.

The suspects arrested with Saliu included Abiodun Akinola, Johnson Fakeye and Jamiu Akinola. Information collected by Saturday Tribune indicates that a report was filed at the same Onipanu Divisional Headquarters in April 2021 by a certain Aanu Salaudeen, a PoS attendant for the deceased, Abiodun Odebunmi. She told police that her boss had left his office in Aparadija the day before to meet a client with a cash sum of 4 million naira to be used for a transaction at the point of sale, but the boss had not been reviewed since. She added that all calls made to her boss' line were unsuccessful.

She revealed an earlier transaction of 1.5 million Naira with the same person who had invited her boss the day before, and that it was the same person who had called her boss to meet him at Ojuore in the area of Sango Ota to make another 4 million Naira PoS transaction.

Following the report, officers from Onipanu Division opened an investigation into the man's sudden disappearance, and their efforts paid off when the victim's dead and burned body was discovered without a trace in an unfinished building in the Arobieye district of Ota. of his attacker(s).

The case was transferred to the Homicide Section of the National Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Eleweran, Abeokuta,

by order of the then Commissioner of Police, Edward Awolowo Ajogun, who commissioned the team to find the perpetrators.

Homicide efforts led by CSP Femi Olabode...