A couple, James Olaosebikan, aged 72, and Esther Olaosebikan, 68, have been killed by a gang of armed robbers in their home at KM 54, Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Sagamu, Ogun State. The couple was reportedly murdered on June 30, while their suspected killers were arrested on July 12.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, who confirmed the incident to newsmen in Abeokuta yesterday, said the police have arrested four suspects in connection with the murder. The arrested suspects include Uthman, Abdulkareem and Abdulhamid.

Oyeyemi said the assailants accessed the house through the ceiling and used a machete to kill the couple. The PPRO further said the suspects confessed to the police that they were members of an armed robbery gang; and that they decided to kill the couple after they recognized one of them.

He said: “Upon the report, the Commissioner of Police, CP Bashir Makama, instructed the DPO of Sagamu Division, SP Okiki Agunbiade, to fish out the killers within the shortest possible time.

“In compliance with the CP’s directive, the DPO and his men embarked on technical and forensic investigation of the case and their efforts yielded a positive result on July 12, when three members of the gang were apprehended.

“On interrogation, they confessed to being part of a robbery gang and that one of their members, who is now at large, invited them for the purpose of robbing the deceased as well as a nearby shop. But on getting to the house, they discovered that the couple recognized one of them, hence, the decision to kill them.”

Meanwhile, tension is mounting in Abi Local Government Area of Cross River State following the recent beheading of a man and his son in Abi Local Government Area of the state. Already there are threats and counter-threats between the communities of Ebom and Usumutong who are both laying claims to the beheaded bodies.

The people of Ebom had claimed that the man and his son beheaded in the farm in the presence of his wife was their son but in a shock move yesterday, the clan head of Usumutong, Chief Eka Eremi, in a briefing claimed the deceased are their sons and not from Ebom.

He said: “When the incident happened, I called the DPO on phone and told him to send men but before he could get there, the Ebom people quickly took away the bodies of our people they had beheaded to run propaganda that we have beheaded their people, which is not true”