Why we beheaded, cut off manhood of Today’s Print’s MD –Pastor’s son

*MD killed seeking money ritual

…head, manhood, hands cut off, sold

Olalekan

L-R:Adesina Muyideen, Alhaji Asimiyu Agboola, Akorede Akeem, Coker Samuel and Ramoni Afolabi

Olalekan

The son of a Celestial Church of Christ pastor, Daniel Coker Osaz, was one of the suspected cultists, arrested for cutting off the head, manhood and hands of Managing Director of Today’s Print Company, Mr. Olalekan Ogunranti, after stabbing him to death.

Osaz 28 said he was hired by a popular and rich herbalist, Alhaji Asimiyu Agboola, to ‘silence’ Ogunranti because he was threatening to report him to the police for defrauding him millions of naira under the guise that he was preparing money ritual for him.

Osaz was arrested by operatives of the Acting Inspector-General-of-Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris’s Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

He was arrested along with Adesina Muyideen 27, Alhaji Asimiyu Agboola 37, a.k.a Ijaya, Akorede Akeem 32, a.k.a Jaruf and Afolabi Ramoni 37.

Incidentally, Ramoni, part of the syndicate that orchestrated and killed Ogunranti, introduced himself as an Islamic cleric (Alfa) and a trado-medical practitioner.

Exactly six weeks after Ogunranti appeared to have disappeared into thin air, the IGP ordered the IRT operatives to take over investigation of the case.

The intervention of the IRT operatives, led to the discovery of the MD’s corpse at the banks of Ibokun River, in Osun State.

According to Osaz, he and another cult member, Biggie, sneaked behind Ogunranti 45, while he was taking a spiritual bath, which he believed would catapult him into wealth, and stabbed him to death.

As Ogunranti collapsed into the water, the men dragged him out, watched him die, then cut off his head, manhood, hands and bagged them.  

Revealing why they had to cut off the deceased’s head, Osaz said: “Ogunranti was bathing when we sneaked behind him. Earlier, Agboola had warned him not to ever glance back while taking the spiritual bath.
I was with a locally made pistol. I tried to shoot him from behind, but the gun suddenly refused to work. While I was still trying to fix the gun, Biggie brought out a knife and stabbed him on the neck. He fell. Biggie brought out a machete and beheaded him.

“He put the head inside a bag and took it to Agboola, just to assure him that Ogunranti truly was dead. He instructed that the head should be dispose, which Biggie did.”
The police however insisted that Osaz was being economical with the truth.

The police said: “The fact is that Osaz stabbed the deceased to death, while Biggie cut off the man’s head, manhood and hands. Agboola sold the head and others parts to other herbalists. Agboola is the overall leader. The hand of the deceased was recovered from one of the suspects. The body parts were sold to two herbalists. The MD had been killed six weeks before the IRT took over the case. It was Osaz who took the operatives to Ibokun River, in Osun State, to recover the corpse.  The headless corpse was snagged to a tree trunk.”

On May 16, 2016, Ogunranti told his family he was travelling to Oshogbo, Osun State, for a business. Around 6pm, his family tried calling him, but his phones were no longer going through. A few hours later, the phone went through, but it was a stranger that picked.

The police source said: “When the family asked to speak with the owner of the phone, the person who picked claimed to have picked the SIM card on the ground at Iragbiji, Osun State. The family immediately alerted Osun State Police Command and Special Investigations Bureau (SIB), Lagos. After six weeks of fruitless search for Ogunranti, the Acting IGP, Idris, ordered the IRT Unit, to assist in further investigation.”

The police source said that the suspects were arrested through advanced intelligence gathering. He said that five suspects, who participated in the kidnap and killing of Ogunranti, were picked up in various hideouts.

The source further said: “They led the police to Ibokun River, where his headless body was recovered. It was also discovered that his manhood and hands had been cut off. Investigation is still ongoing to fish out other fleeing suspects, who are still at large.”

The suspect, who orchestrated the whole macabre murder drama, is Agboola. He described himself as an herbalist. He said he started practicing since 2006, stressing that he inherited his trade from his father.

He said he was well known in Oshogbo, especially when it comes to the cure of diabetes and fibroid. His office is located at No 8 Oloti, Irabegji, Osun State.

Recollecting how he got involved and planned the murder of Ogunranti, Agboola said: “In March 2016,  Afolabi and Akorede came to my office. They said that they had a customer, who needed my help. Five days later, they came with Ogunranti. After listening to him, I billed him N90, 000, gave him some drugs and he left. I billed him N90, 000 because those that brought him said he was rich.
“I removed N20, 000 from the money, which was the real cost of the drugs, and shared the N70, 000 balance into two. After 20 days, Ogunranti called back; he sounded excited. He said that the drugs I gave him, worked. He said he had improved. He further requested to see me. I said no problem.”
When Ogunranti came, he told Agboola that he wanted ‘something’ that would make him rich.

Agboola said: “I told the people who brought him and they said that Ogunranti would be a good victim to extort. I had to play along. I told him that I could do it; I explained to him that there were two categories of money ritual. The first was to get money and put it inside a bag, and after some important rituals had been carried out, the money would multiply. The second was to construct a big box and keep it in a room. After several days of prayer, he would start picking money from the box forever.”

Agboola said that Ogunranti accepted number one money ritual plan. Two weeks later, Ogunranti called Agboola, explaining that he had gathered N2.5million, which would be put inside the bag for the money ritual.

Agboola took the money, put ordinary papers and other stuffs into a bag and tied it. He warned Ogunranti not to open the bag until he instructed him to do so. He then told Ogunranti to return in four-day time with the bag.

“I told him that he was to bath in a river which would be very close to where he was living. I gave him options and he chose Ijebu area. I also told him to come with N500, 000 to buy more ingredients for the rituals,” recounted Agboola.

The herbalist continued: “Ogunranti brought the money and told me that he couldn’t afford to give me more money because he had run out of cash. I told him not to worry, that he would soon be rich. I told what remains wasn’t much. I told him to go back to Lagos, and that as soon as I got signal from the gods, he call him to open the bag. After 10 days, he called back, threatening to arrest us. I knew it was time to shut him up, so I called the others, Akorede and Afolabi. We all agreed to shut him up.”

Agboola apparently calmed the frayed nerve of Ogunranti and convinced him to come with N150, 000 and a goat for the final money making ritual. He assured Ogunranti that the final ritual meant untold riches and instant use of the money.

While Agboola was trying to lure Ogunranti to Osun State, he was also making plans with hired killers, Osaz and Biggie, to eliminate the man.

Agboola recounted: “I alerted some cultists, Osaz and Biggie. I knew them when they were in school because I had done some charms for them to be powerful. I contracted them to eliminate Ogunranti. They suggested that he should be lured to a remote place where they would ambush and kill him. I gave them N120, 000 to do the job.”

Agboola said that he knew the fastest way to get the dreadful business over with, was to lure Ogunranti, to Ibokun River, for a purported spiritual bath.

He said: “We selected a river in Obokun, Osun State. I asked Ogunranti to go to the river and bath as part of the final ritual. We gave him a charted motorbike rider, to take him to river. We hid in the bush and watched as he arrived. I had earlier told him not to glance back while bathing. The instruction was that if he did, the charm wouldn’t work. He removed his clothes and started bathing. Biggie and Osaz crept up behind and attacked him. They later came to tell me that they killed and cut off his head. When I asked them where the head was, they said they had thrown it away.”

He said that after the incident, he heard that police were looking for him. He went underground. He abandoned his office and started living in a hotel. It was in that same hotel, that operatives of IRT cornered him.

Agboola narrated: “I’m very popular. I have a lot of informants; so it was easy for me to know that police were hunting for me. Initially, I though they had stopped looking for me because my police source told me that those hunting for me, had given up. I was shocked when the operatives stormed into the hotel at Iwo, Osun State and arrested my driver Adesina and me. I’m a legitimate herbal doctor; it’s just that the situation of the country is bad. People no longer have money to buy drugs; that was why I decided to take advantage of the situation to make money. It was when he requested for money ritual that I knew he would be an easy prey for extortion.”

Speaking further on his connection with Agboola, Osaz said he is a graduate of Biology Education, Ondo State University. He graduated in 2010. He was an undergraduate when he embraced cultism and was part of those that unleashed hell in different campuses in different states.

He said: “I graduated in 2010 and proceeded for NYSC in 2011. After my NYSC, I couldn’t get a job, so I became a tout. In 2012, I was arrested by SARS, Lagos, for kidnapping an expatriate. We abducted the foreigner at Ijebu-Ode. Unfortunately, we were yet to collect ransom before policemen stormed our place. We were forced to run away. We released the white man. Weeks later, police traced and arrested us. My father, who is a pastor with Celestial Church of Christ, secured my bail.”
Recounting what led to his present arrest for murder, Osaz said: “I travelled with a friend, Biggie, to Osun State, for a festival. It was during that period that Agboola called us. He said that he wanted us to silence a man, whom he had defrauded; he said that the man was threatening to report him to the police. I know Agboola as a successful herbalist. My members and I used to consult him for prayers. We brained stormed on the best way to silence him.

“Agboola told us that the man was already in a hotel in the state. We agreed that he should tell the man to take a bath at Ibokun River as the final money ritual process. We drove to the river and made sure that it was safe enough to kill without anyone sighting us.”
He said that Agboola called Ogunranti and gave him direction on how to locate the river. Meanwhile, Osaz and Biggie laid ambush; while Agboola and his driver, Muyideen, waited in the car.
Osaz said: “In less than 30 minutes, the man came on a motorbike. He removed his clothes and with the sponge and soap given to him, walked to the river. Biggie and I sneaked up behind him.”

After killing Ogunranti, he and Biggie went home, to continue in usual daily routine. He said he had almost forgotten the incident, when operatives of IRT tracked him down and arrested him in Ikorodu, Lagos State.

Revealing the role he played in the deceit and eventual murder of Ogunranti, Akeem, a musician and also trado-medical practitioner said he used to sell herbal products in Ikorodu, using public address system. It was in that process, he met Ogunranti early this year.

Akeem said Ogunranti bought N500 medicine from him. A week later, Ogunranti called him, explaining that the medicine worked. He then asked him for diabetes drugs.

Akeem said: “I told him that I didn’t have such drugs. But I knew people who were specialists in that area. I called Afolabi, who also sells herbal drugs, especially for sexually transmitted diseases. He was the one who referred us to Agboola in Oshogbo. On an agreed date in March, we all travelled to Oshogbo to see Agboola. Agboola gave Ogunranti the diabetes drugs and he paid N90, 000. I got N10, 000 as my share. Later, Ogunranti called me. He told me that the drugs Agboola gave him were good. He requested to see Agboola again; this time, he wanted to see him in private. It was when I finally took him there that I found out the reason he wanted to see Agboola. He told Agboola that he was interested in money ritual. I knew that my interest would be protected, so I told Agboola to pretend he could do it.”

Akeem confessed to have received N700, 000 from the first money the deceased paid. He used his share to buy a car. He said that he became worried after Agboola called some weeks later, to say that Ogunranti was threatening
to report them to the police for fraud.

Akeem said: “We all met at Iragbeji Festival, in a beer palour and agreed that the best way out was to kill Ogunranti. After his death, we agreed to disappear until police stopped looking for Ogunranti. I was in my village when police men came and arrested me.”

Alfa Ramoni said that he knew Akorede in Oshogbo, where he used to come and buy drugs. He said he was also a powerful herbalist, specialised in drugs for women searching for husband. 

He bragged: “With N10, 000, I can produce powder a woman can use to trap any man.”

He said that Agboola is well known in Oshogbo and has several cars. He said he was the person who took Ogunranti to Agboola. He also admitted to knowing about the plan to kill Ogunranti.

Agboola’s driver, Muyideen said: “I’m just a driver, but I was aware of all the dealings of my boss, Agboola. I’m aware they defrauded Ogunranti, because I had driven them to several places. I was there when Ogunranti was killed. I’m not Agboola’s permanent driver, but because I’m trust worthy, he always likes to use me for most of his dealings. He gave me N150, 000 as my share.”

The Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Don Awunah, who confirmed the incident, said: “The late Ogunranti was kidnapped on May 16, 2016, by unknown gunmen in Osun State. The Acting IGP, on assumption of office, ordered the IRT operatives of the IGP’s Monitoring Unit, to take over the matter and ensure the arrest of the culprits in record time. The IRT swung into action, using all the technical resources of the force available to them for the arrest of the five prime suspects. Osaz’s confessions, led IRT operatives to Ibukun River, in Ibukun Local Government Area of Osun State, where the mutilated body of Ogunranti was recovered. The suspects confessed to have killed Ogunranti  in order to stop him from reporting them to the police for defrauding him.”