The people of Egbe village in
Yagba West local government
area of Kogi State are battling to
come to terms with the reality
that a father could killed his son
for ritual purpose in a their
community, something which
has not been witnessed in their
living memory.
The villagers woke up on January
1, 2013 to discover that one of
them, Hosea Folorunso, allegedly
killed his four months old son,
Sunday Folorunso, in mysterious
circumstance.
Daily Trust learnt that the
herbalist allegedly killed the baby
at night, dug a shallow grave in
his compound and buried the
corpse to conceal the crime.
Kogi State commissioner of
police, Alhaji Mohammed Musa
Katsina, confirmed the arrest of
Folorunso, saying that he had
confessed to carrying out the act
in the course of investigation.
Residents of the area were not
willing to speak to journalists,
but one of them who identified
himself as Ajayi Michael said the
news came as a rude shock to
them that a father could kill his
child while others were in the
church praying to witness the
arrival of the New Year.
He said on the fateful day, many
residents of the village went to
Church to usher in the New Year
and returned very late, saying
that at about 5:30 am, they heard
unusual wailing from the
herbalist’s home. When people
rushed to find out what was
happening, he said, they were
told that the herbalist’s four
months old baby had died.
Therefore people were surprised
when police came to arrest him
for allegedly killing his own son.
“We have been neighbours for
about 15 years, but because he is
a herbalist and I am a Christian,
we live miles apart. I don’t really
know much about him and what
happened,” Mr Michale said.
Besides, some other residents
who refused to speak on record
said they believed the man must
have done it for ritual purposes.
Parading the suspect in Lokoja
last Friday, the state police
commissioner, Alhaji Mohammed
Musa Katsina, said the suspect
who is a herbalist in Egbe killed a
four months old baby for rituals
on December 31st, 2012 when
people were at the church
praying to usher in the New Year.
According to him, the suspect
who hails from Egbe in Yagba
west local government area of
Kogi state, at about the hours of
11:55 pm on the fateful day,
quietly took the baby (Sunday
Folorunso) who was deep asleep
with the mother outside the
house and killed him in a
gruesome manner.
“The suspect having killed the
baby dug a shallow grave in his
compound and hurriedly buried
the corpse so that people would
not know that he killed his own
son,” the commissioner said.
Katsina said the suspect was
arrested by the police squad in
Egbe following intelligence
report and brought to the police
headquarters for interrogation.
He said after investigation, the
suspect confessed to have
committed the acts.
Katsina added that the suspect
led the police to where he buried
the corpse and exhumed it. He
said an autopsy was being
carried out by a renown
pathologist at the Federal Medical
Centre to ascertain the cause of
the death, and that the suspect
would be charged to court after
investigations are concluded.
“I can only describe the situation
as a season of madness because
the baby is an innocent and
defenceless human being who
can neither hurt nor provoke
anybody,” he said.
Katsina called on members of the
public not to hoard information
from the police as they are
determined to get to the root of
the gruesome mother of the
baby by his father.
The suspect, Folorunso, who
spoke to journalists at the police
headquarters in Lokoja gave
unbelievable account of how his
son died.
He said: “I asked my wife to
prepare food before I return to
the house and she told me she
was going out to buy something
with the eldest son. When I came
back, I met her sitting down with
our daughter so I said ‘you are
sitting there when I asked you to
go and cook for me?’ So I picked
up a broom and wanted to beat
her.
“The woman took to her heels
with the girl and I got annoyed
and took the four months old
baby and asked her to come and
pick him since she was running
away. As I held the baby, he
turned into a cat and I
immediately threw the cat on the
ground and it turned to the baby
again and when I went there to
carry the baby, I discovered that
the baby was dead.”
When the baby was exhumed
our reporter observed that red
ribbons were tied round his
hand.
Meanwhile, the liaison officer 1
of Yagba West local government
area, Mr Tunji Aro who spoke to
journalists wondered why a
father could kill his child for
whatever reason.
Aro assured the community that
adequate security measures
were being put in place to
forestall a re-occurrence of such
crime and urged them to be law
abiding and always pursue
legitimate means of livelihood.
He called on the people to be
prayerful and always report to
the police any unpleasant
behaviour, saying that if useful
information had not been given
to the police, the herbalist could
not have been arrested for such
action.