A 55-year-old Muslim cleric allegedly killed his female client of twenty years, transported her body in a NAPEP tricycle to Marine Bridge and dumped her in the lagoon.
The cleric, Isiaka Akanbi(pictured) was arrested after family became worried about 62-year-old Raliatu Kareem’s whereabouts two days after she left her Agbado-Ijaiye home on October 25, for the cleric’s ‘healing centre’ at Olodi Apapa.
Akanbi who earlier denied setting his eyes on Raliatu (pictured right) on that fateful day, during police interrogation admitted she was in her place but fell unconscious and died on the way to the hospital.
According to him: “On the evening of October 26, it is true that she visited me. We have been very good friends too. On that day, she just collapsed and became unconscious. I quickly rushed her to a nearby hospital, but I was shocked when the nurses told me she had died.
“I got a NAPEP tricycle and took her corpse to the Marine Bridge that same night and abandoned it there. I did not want people to trace her corpse to me. When I got home, I buried her wallet, handset, bangle and ring behind my house.
“I did not kill her. I am an Alfa, I do favour charms for traders. I met Raliatu in 1986. Since then, we have been family friends. She used to come to my place for consultation and I had been to her house too.”
Popularly called Alfa, Akanbi’s failure to produce Raliatu’s remains raised suggestion that the Muslim cleric threw the body in the lagoon.
When our correspondent contacted Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Kenneth Nwosu, he confirmed the arrest of Akanbi.
