- Deceased Corpse Dumped On Disputed Land
By Abiola Olawale
An alleged acid attack that led to the gruesome murder of a youth leader named Kazeem Abegunrin in Oke-Erinja community of Yewa South Local Government Area of Ogun State has continued to spark outrage and pandemonium among residents of the community located in Ogun West.
46-year-old Abegunrin was murdered over a land dispute in the community, seven days after he had been allegedly kidnapped by men described as suspected assassins.
Abegunrin’s elder brother and family head, Alhaji Dauda Ayinde, while narrating the incident to newsmen in Abeokuta claimed Abegunrin was killed with toxic acid, while his body was dumped on the disputed parcel of land.
The horrific picture of his dead body shows severe burn on his face and body parts as a result of the alleged acid attack on him by suspected assassins.
Following his murder, Ayinde said the matter was reported at the Divisional Police Headquarters in Owode Yewa. According to him, a traditional chief in the community, Rasaki Olawunmi who was alleged to have masterminded Abegunrin’s death alongside others was arrested following several death threats he had allegedly issued to the deceased over the disputed land.
The village head and one other person arrested in connection with the incident were later reportedly transfered to Headquarters of the Ogun State Police Command in Eleweran, Abeokuta.
According to Ayinde, the deceased was last seen on the 28th of February, 2021.
He added that the family members got the utter shock of their lives as Abegunrin’s corpse was later dumped on the disputed land in Oke-Erinja community around 4.55 pm on Saturday, 7 March, seven days after he was declared missing.
One family source also disclosed in confidence that following the deceased sudden disappearance, his phone was consistently tracked, adding he might have been taken to a community in a neighbouring LGA–Ipokia before his corpse was discovered on his ancestral land which is now at the heart of a deadly dispute.
Ayinde, while narrating events before his brother’s death said: “On the 28th of February, I was adorned as a Chief, the head of wakili Adeeni Muslims in Oke-Erinja, he is one of the people that used to stand with me, he is the head of youths in that area.
“When we were through with the Cheiftancy title celebration, he told me he was going to rest, he told me he was going and I told him goodbye that he can go, I also came back to Abeokuta where I live. It was after I got to Abeokuta that they called me that he was missing.
“I thought it was a joke until it got to the second day. On the second day I went back to our village and the searching for his whereabouts began by going to lodge a complaint at the Owode Yewa police station.” Ayinde said.
Ayinde further explained that a dispute had arose over some plots of land sold by his late father and uncles.
The family head said what was in the document given to the new land owner contained record of payments for two plots but they claimed they had bought three plots, something the late Kazeem Abegunrin had contested.
The ownership of the land was said to have been transferred to about three different persons in about 20 years, with the latest buyer simply identified as one Alhaji Megoro.
The land dispute was reported at the Owode-Yewa Divisional Police Station. But the Abegunrin’s family said efforts to get Megoro to only claim two plots of the land as against three proved abortive as he allegedly continued to threaten the opposing party involved in the matter with the support of the traditional head of the Community, Rasaki, said to have surveyed the land years back.
The family head who allegedly fingered the traditional chief and Megoro in the alleged acid attack on his junior brother said: “I asked them who they suspected can do this kind of thing, they told me he was fighting over a land and that the other party had threatened to take his life and that of the whole family, I asked them who is the person.
“Our fathers who sold the land, with my uncles have all died for years now, the land is three plots, when they brought the documents they saw two plots and he and the others said that they can take two plots for two plots, the two plots you bought is what you should stand on and they took the matter to the Police station in Owode in the office of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) there and the DPO was able to settle the matter,” Ayinde said.
According to family’s head, Megoro who he claimed to be an assassin had threatened his brothers that “if they don’t allow him build on that land, they would become missing”.
Similarly, “the baale (traditional chief in the Oke-Erinja’s community), who is notorious for sparking land dispute to claim other people’s property in this our community had threatened that Kazeem should be kidnapped or killed if he continues to insist on having one of the three plots of land they’re bought),” a source added.
Megoro is now at large since the victim’s corpse was discovered.
Meanwhile, Abegunrin’s death has triggered pandemonium in the community as the palace of the village head currently cooling off in police custody was said to have been attacked.
It was gathered that the community has almost become a ghost town as residents flee over fear of police indiscrimate arrest.
“All we just want is justice for our son who was murdered with a lot of wickedness. The Baale has been boasting of knowing many powerful people who can negotiate his release by the police. We don’t want Baale, Megoro and all the perpetrators of this crime be left off the hook. We don’t want this matter to be pushed under the carpet,” the family said.
The New Diplomat reached out to Police Public Relations Officer of the Ogun Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi for comment on the incident. However, several calls put to his phone were not answered. Also, text messages sent to his official line were not replied as at the time of this reporting.
