How suspects were arrested following dismemberment of Ibadan woman

Victim’s sister seeks justice

Tope (surname withheld), a 45-year-old younger sister to a woman, Kemi, popularly called Iya Dupe, who was murdered at Aba Afaa Community, Olomi-Academy area of Ibadan, Oyo State, has cried out to the Oyo State government to ensure that justice is carried out over the suspected killing of her sister by Mutiu. She said that the suspect should be paid back in his own coin for killing an innocent woman for selfish gains.

After Iya Dupe, aged 53, said goodnight to her nonagerian stepfather whom she lived with on November 10, she was found in her room the following morning, a Tuesday, not only killed, but also dismembered, with her head, feet, palms, breasts, private part and flesh from both thighs already taken away.

Information gathered by Sunday Tribune had it that Iya Dupe and her younger sister were brought to the home of their stepfather at a young age when their mother married him, and since the mother’s death, she had been staying there because of her medical condition.

It was learnt she developed postpartum psychosis after she gave birth through caesarian section to a girl, who sadly died. She was thereafter taken back to her stepfather’s house for care until her mother died.

She lived there and was last seen alive on November 10 when she was sent by her stepfather to go and buy bread. She returned home and went to bed, only to be found dead the next day.

Days before the murder, Mutiu, an ex-prison inmate, who was allegedly fond of stealing goats being reared by community members, had returned to the community where he once lived with his family.

It was also learnt that he was banished alongside his wife after they were caught stealing domestic animals belonging to the community residents. The duo was also among the suspects arrested in connection with the abduction of twins belonging to a popular Islamic scholar in Ibadan a while ago.

As the news of Iya Dupe’s killing and dismemberment broke out, Mutiu became the first suspect and after some preliminary investigation, the suspicion was discovered to be true by security operatives.

When contacted, the Commandant of the Oluyole Security Surveillance Team, Comrade Olusegun Idowu, who, with his vigilante group members, immediately visited the scene and first apprehended the suspect before handing him over to the police, told Sunday Tribune: “The house built by the deceased’s stepfather has two apartments. While the nonagerian lives in one, Iya Dupe lived in the other which was also being used as kindergarten school. She would get out of the apartment after waking up and return in the evening.

“By the time the proprietress of the kindergarten school came in the morning and opened the door, to her utmost shock, she beheld the body of Iya Dupe that had been dismembered. The head, hands, legs, private part, breasts, flesh from the back of both thighs. Immediately, she ran out and raise the alarm.

“When the information reached me at about 8:45a.m., I went there with my personnel. I opened the door and saw the scene. Then, I called Sanyo police station. The Chief Security Officer in charge of Aba Aafa Community, Imam Abdulrasheed Ajisefini, told me that he saw Mutiu at about 5:30a.m., carrying a polythene bag.

“We traced him to his family house which was nearby. Immediately he heard our footsteps, he wanted to run out through the window, but our personnel had already mounted guard round the building. They ordered him back inside.

“He then started saying that he knew nothing about what we were saying. We told him to follow us to our office, as he was the only one suspected to have committed the atrocity by the community residents.

“I called the DPO Sanyo and handed him over to him. The DPO also immediately transferred him to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Iyaganku, Ibadan.”

The younger sister of the deceased, Tope, while speaking with Sunday Tribune, gave a background history of Iya Dupe, saying: “My late sister and I were born by the same parents. She got pregnant after marriage. She had a caesarian section but lost the baby. After the experience, she had postpartum psychosis. She could talk and run errands and sometimes came to her senses, but she usually relapses. She used to obey instructions and sleep at home where she was living with our stepfather. Our mother is late.

“Our stepfather’s house has two apartments. He lives in one while my sister lived in the other, which is also used as kindergarten school. My sister would wake up in the morning, vacate the space and return in the evening. I saw her in the eve of the incident, as I also reside at Aba Aafa with my husband.

“On Tuesday, November 11, someone came to me in the morning, telling me that my sister had been killed, with her body parts removed.”

Weeping profusely as she was talking, Tope expressed deep pain and sense of loss of her only sibling, pleading with the government to ensure justice for her late sister and pay the killer back in his own coin.

Speaking about the suspect, Tope said: “I knew him at Aba Afaa Community where he lives in his late father’s house. In the past, he used to slaughter residents’ goats, rams and sheep in the dead of the night, assisted by his wife. He would skin and cut them into chunks for sale and consumption.

“He was also with others who kidnapped a popular Islamic scholar’s twin children in 2020. His wife was so cruel to the twins. Whenever they asked for cereal, she would beat them mercilessly and offer them cassava flakes (garri). She was the one who stayed with the children in a house where they were held hostage until they regained freedom.

“Mutiu was banished from the community, but I saw him in his father’s house before the incident. I also saw his wife spreading clothes to dry. He murdered my sister and dismembered her body the same week he returned to the community.”

The CSO of Aba Afaa Community, Imam Ajisefini, also spoke with Sunday Tribune: “With the criminal acts being carried out in our community, those of us in charge of security were at different spots to be on the watch, because those who steal domestic animals usually do so around dawn. I had been moving around since 4:30a.m., until I got to a spot and sat down.

“While there, I saw Mutiu after 5a.m. passing by. He was carrying a black polythene bag. I became suspicious immediately, knowing his past and seeing him at such odd hour. I wondered where he was coming from and what he was carrying, but I couldn’t challenge him because I saw others passing by in ones and twos. I saw him go to his residence which is three houses to where I was.

“At 8:30a.m., I received a call about the discovery of Iya Dupe’s dismembered body. By the time I got there, I met our boss, the OSST Commandant. I told him of how Mutiu arrived in the community late in the night on the day of his return. He called me and four landlords, and we went to Mutiu’s house.

“As we got there, we met him packing his clothes inside a bag. I noticed he was not wearing the clothe he had on when I saw him at dawn. He had removed them and was wearing another. He denied knowing anything about the murder. We went back to the scene of incident where we saw DPO Sanyo. Mutiu was handed over to the police.”

It was discovered that Mutiu had called his human part buyers, Adifala and Afaa Ibrahim, at about 5:46a.m., and delivered the human parts to them promptly, after which he returned home as if nothing happened.

Sunday Tribune learnt that Mutiu’s girlfriend (name withheld), who is two months pregnant, and had come from Ikirun, Osun State, came to Mutiu’s residence on the day the incident occurred.

The OSST Commandant stated: “The young lady told me that Mutiu was the one who took her to Ikirun from Ibadan and left her there. She said that Mutiu stopped picking her calls and was always cursing her anytime he answered the phone.

“She said it was surprising when he called her on November 10, telling her to leave Ikirun in the very early hours of the following day and come to an address he would send to her, which was Aba Aafa. When she told him she had no money to transport herself to Ibadan, he sent her N6,000. However, she overslept and woke up at about 8:42a.m. She said she called and he told her that she would not be able to see him again if she came late. Immediately she arrived the house, we were informed and we went to pick her.

“During interrogation, she confessed that Mutiu used to call one native doctor, Adifala and a Quranic teacher, Afaa Ibrahim. She also spoke about a particular POS operator, known as Hassan at Amuloko area, whom he used to get money from Aafa Ibrahim and the native doctor.

“She said that her boyfriend collected N120,000 mint notes in N200 denomination, and when they got to Ikirun, Mutiu started spending lavishly without doing any job. When she felt concerned, he told her not to worry, as there would always be money to spend anytime he called for it.

She revealed further that Mutiu would sometimes leave for Ibadan and return same day with money. This was about two months ago.”

At that time, Sunday Tribune learnt that Mutiu, who had been transferred to State Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku, Ibadan, for further investigation, was still denying his culpability in the matter.

Commandant Idowu said: “But I confronted him with the facts I had, and he admitted his interaction with the POS operator at Amuloko but said he only collected N50,000.

“I advised him not to hide anything again. That was when he told officers to leave him with me and the officer in charge of Homicide, after which he confessed to the murder of the victim.

“He revealed that he had buyers of the human parts. He mentioned Adifala and Afaa Ibrahim. He said he had taken human parts to the buyers three times between September and October. He said that he did not kill one of those he dismembered, revealing that he saw the body buried by Ariyo river. He said that he went there to exhume it and cut off the parts he needed.

“He also confessed that he killed a security man employed by a block industry on Amuloko Road and removed his body parts. One of the buyers said that he knew Mutiu long time ago while the other one said they met about one and a half years ago. The two suspects had been arrested by police detectives.”

When Adifala was visited in his residence at Muslim area of Ibadan, where he had many clients, he reportedly confessed that Mutiu brought him a human head, two feet, a breast and flesh from one of the thighs to him on November 11.

Afaa Ibrahim was said to have bought the victim’s two palms, the other breast, and flesh from the other thigh which were handed over to him at Pegba area, along Amuloko Road. He had told police and the OSST Commandant that he had been paying between N150,000 and N250,000 for the human parts he bought.

He said that he had burnt the human parts sold to him immediately he got them, showing them a plastic bottle into which he poured the ashes of the burnt parts which he labelled ‘Gbééré adobalesun.’ He said that he put the label to ward off any suspicion or detection.

On his part, Adifala said that immediately Mutiu was apprehended, his wife came to inform him, and he subsequently threw the human parts he had brought to him into the river.

During his confession, Mutiu confessed that he entered the deceased’s room after 12 midnight, adding that the window was only covered with tarpaulin which made him gain easy entry.