I didn’t kill my lover, cleric tells court

Ikanbi and Raheem

A Muslim cleric who was accused of beating his 57-year-old lover to death in a hotel, today told the Ebute-Metta Magistrates Court, Oyingbo, Lagos State, that he was not guilty of murder.

The accused, Isiaka Ikanbi, 55, said that he and deceased, Mrs. Risikatu Raheem, on October 25, 2014, went to their usual hotel, where they used to meet to have sex, when the woman suddenly became sick and died.

Ikanbi who was arraigned in Court 11, denied beating Raheem to death as Homicide investigators had earlier alleged.

Ikanbi, who was arrested at his home at Saluti street, Ladega in Ajegunle area of Lagos State, was nabbed a day after the death of the woman.

According to Homicide detectives, the accused was having an extra marital affair with the decease and met with her at Aribo hotel at No. 9, Aribo Street, Olodi-Apapa Lagos.

On that fateful day, when Raheem was leaving home, she told her son Abdulai Raheem that she was going to visit her friend Mrs. Raliatu Kareem at Olodi-Apapa.

When she didn’t return, her son had alerted other family members. The family had gone to Kareem’s home to check for Raheem, but the friend said the woman didn’t visit her.

It was the deceased’s son, Abdulai, who noted that his mother might have gone to visit her friend, Mr. Ibrahim Ikanbi otherwise known as called Baba Ahmed or Alfa.

The family went to Ikanbi, pretending they wanted him to use his spiritual to find the missing woman for them. When the heat on him became too much, he attempted to run, allegedly revealing his guilt.

The accused who had been labeled a killer, yesterday said he didn’t kill the woman.

He confessed: “I didn't kill her or beat her either. I only took her to the hotel for our usual fun. On getting to the hotel, she complained of feeling wick and dizzy. When I saw that the pain was becoming severe, I quickly called for a tricycle to help carry her to a nearby hospital. Unfortunately, before we got to the hospital, she was died. “A nurse who came to observe her body confirmed she was dead. The nurse advice I take the corpse to the General Hospital Oshodi. When we got to the Marina Bridge, the tricycle rider said he could not go further. He dropped us at the top of the bridge that night.  I was confused. I didn’t know what next do. I took all her belongings and abandoned her body at the Marina Bridge. In order not to show any sign that she came to my house, I buried all her belongings in a pit I dug at my back yard.”
The case was adjourned to April 15, 2015.