Armed men have killed an Akure High Chief, Dada Oyateru, by strangling him at his Oke-Ijebu residence in Akure, Ondo State. The 83-year-old Ayalodi of Akure, according to his junior wife, Mrs. Titilola Oyateru, was attacked by a three-man gang who broke into their house by 1am on Tuesday.
Titilola said the masked men entered the house through Oyateru’s room after cutting the burglary and held them hostage for about four hours. She said: “They pointed gun at Baba and asked for the money which he brought home the previous night.
He told them he didn’t have any money at home and that usually he doesn’t keep money at home. But they refused to listen to him. They threatened to kill us if we didn’t give them money.” Titilola added that the deceased ought to have gone for medical check-up at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owo, on Monday, but couldn’t go because he had no money.
She said: “He begged them not to kill him and urged them to go with his two cars. He also promised to go to the bank the following day to withdraw money from his bank account. Baba begged them to tell him wherever they wanted him to drop the money for them.
But they insisted that they would kill him if he didn’t give them money immediately.” According to her, the bandits tied the deceased with ropes and asked other members of the family to lie down with their faces to the ground.
Thereafter, they pounced on the octogenarian and twisted his neck. She said the gunmen ransacked the whole house, carted away valuables such as laptops, phones, jewellery and N35,000 cash. According to her, they escaped in Oyateru’s red Toyota Camry ‘Muzzle’ car at exactly 4:30am.
