Tragic end: Landlord’s son hacks pastor to death

If he had exercised restraint instead of complaining about the smoking of Indian hemp by his landlord’s son and his friends in his rented apartment, perhaps Akinyemi Oguntula’s life would not have ended so tragically. If only he had ignored and endured the inconvenience caused by the smoking of the noxious Indian hemp, he would have been alive today.

But, alas, he had paid dearly for daring to challenge the alleged Indian helmp smokers who turned his rented house to a convergence point to indulge their passion.

Akinyemi, a pastor and a staff of a cement company, met his untimely end penultimate Sunday shortly after an argument with his landlord’son, Bankole Suderu, over the propriety of the latter bringing his friends to his father’s house to smoke the offensive hemp. Pastor, as Akinyemi was more popularly called, was dealt severe machete cuts by his landlord’s son. And the man died.

It was a tragedy that shook Onigbedu, a community in Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun State. Vanguard Metro, VM, reliably gathered that many tenants of the bungalow were discomforted with the nuisance act of their landlord’s heir but, were afraid to confront him.

In fact, it was gathered that, many of them discouraged visits from friends and relations on account of this, preferring instead to host their guests somewhere else.

But, on that fateful day, it was learnt that the deceased confronted his landlord, Mr Sunday Soderu, accusing him of allowing Indian hemp smoking individuals into the house who constitute a nuisance to tenants.

VM further gathered that upon receiving the complaint by the deceased, the landlord reported him to a factional monarch of the community, Oba Michael Ajibulu, who reportedly summoned Akinyemi to his palace.

Few hours after he was summoned by the monarch, the alleged killer stormed the pastor’s room and attacked him.


It was, however, gathered from an eyewitness,Wasiu Adekunle, that the deceased had cried for help when he was being attacked but ,nobody could rescue him from his alleged killer.

“We heard while he was being attacked by his killers, but we could not come out to rescue him. He was shouting help me,please help me, they want to kill me; I am dying. But, after a while, his voice, which initially was loud, faded till we could not hear him again,” the eye-witness said.

However, VM gathered that, apart from his complaints about the smoking habit of his killers, Pastor Akinyemi, whose wife-to-be is a corps member, was killed because he was reportedly seen as a stumbling block in the Obaship tussle in the community.

Two Obas in the village have been at loggerheads over who should exercise authority there. According Wasiu Adekunle, the alleged killers planned to kill Akinyemi so as to intimidate others who are loyal to a rival Oba.

“And after they killed him, they made attempts to sweep the matter under the carpet by hiding the remains of the deceased but, some neighbours who had earlier heard the deceased’s shout for help reportedly frustrated the plan,” he alleged.

The deceased’s body has been deposited at the Ifo General Hospital’s Mortuary.

Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer in the State, Muyiwa Adejobi, said two suspects, who were the landlord and his son, have been arrested.

He, however , disclosed that, the Command has commenced an investigation, saying that, upon the completion of investigation, the suspects would be charged to court.