Emotions ran high at White Sands area of Isheri-Osun in Lagos yesterday,
following a startling revelation by a teenager of how he lured a
three-year-old child to a Muslim cleric, popularly called Alfa, who
eventually killed him.
The 15yrs old suspect, a primary six pupil, stated that the cleric,
Kazeem Alimson, paid him N500 to lure the child to a designated point,
from where she was taken away to be killed.
Vanguard gathered that the victim’s mother, Chinasa Okereke, was bathing
her children outside her compound on Akogun Street, Tuesday night, but
went inside to get a wrapper with which to strap her youngest child on
her back so she can attend to others. But apprehension set it when
Okereke came out only to discover that her child was nowhere to be
found.
The devastated mother who spoke with Vanguard during a visit to her
house yesterday, “when I asked where he was, his sister said he went
into one of our neighbour’s apartment. But on getting to the apartment,
he was not there. I was informed that he went out with my neighbour’s
nephew.
“But when he came back home, he said he did not know anything about my
son’s whereabouts. He admitted to have seen him earlier, but said that
he only saw him walking towards the opposite direction.”
A search around the vicinity was organised, but the boy was not found.
Policemen from the Isheri-Osun Division, who were contacted the next day
(Wednesday) stormed the area and effected the teenager’s arrest, his
guardians and other occupants of the building. During interrogation, he
opened up, revealing how he took the missing child to Alfa Alimson,
thereby leading to the latter’s arrest.
He then led policemen to an uncompleted building within the area, where
the remains of the missing boy was found - gagged, with his limbs bound.
Explaining how the act was carried out, the teenager who hails from Abia
State, said: “This man (pointing to Alfa) told me to bring the boy.
That night, he gave me N500 and was waiting for us.
“I took the child to him and he drove to the uncompleted building. When
we got to the site, he covered the boy’s mouth with a red cloth, tied
him up and started saying some Juju language (incarnations). Later, he
hit the child’s head three times with a stone.
“He warned me not to tell anybody. He said if I do, he will kill me. He
showed me a juju knife, with which he said he would butcher me if I
revealed what happened to anybody.
“That was why I told everybody that I knew nothing about the boy’s disappearance when I came back home.”
However, Alfa Alimson denied knowing anything about the boy’s murder. He
simply stated that he did not know what the teenager was talking about.
He said: “I was sleeping in my house yesterday, when I heard people
shouting outside. When I came out, I saw some policemen around. I
demanded to know why the policemen were there and was informed that a
dead child was found in the uncompleted building.
“I went back inside. But 30 minutes later, police came back and arrested
me. I don’t know this boy (the teenager) and I have never spoken to
him.”
But at this point, the teenager interjected, saying “He is lying. He was
giving me signs not to talk. I saw when he hit the boy with a stone on
the head three times.”
Angry residents, who called for jungle justice, were prevented by the
policemen from getting close to the suspects. The suspects were then
driven to the station in one of the police vans, with some inquisitive
residents following on motorbikes and on foot.
