In Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, the story of the death of evangelist Grace Ajibola still appears like a tragic scene from a movie. Residents of Johnson Awe area of Oluyole Estate, Ibadan, are surprised even as her family members continue to grieve inconsolably over her death.
A young painter, Niyi Abegunde, who came the way of the 69-year-old woman like a helping hand barely two years ago, turned out to be the messenger of death that caused her demise.
The journey to her gruesome killing started in the early hours of Tuesday, March 17. On that day, Ajibola, a woman evangelist with the Christ Apostolic Church, Oke Imole, Agbeni, Ibadan, was hale and hearty. After finishing her usual morning chores, she was home alone after a young child living with her had left for school.
It was gathered that Abegunde visited the woman as usual on that day under the guise of wanting to assist her. But all of a sudden, he pounced on the old, feeble woman and was said to have strangled and clubbed her to death.
The 34-year-old man later went to her victim’s room to take her Automated Teller Machine card and left the house. However, Abegunde, an expectant father, was later traced by the police to his hideout in Akure, Ondo State. As of the time of his arrest, he was said to have withdrawn N120, 000 from the woman’s account.
Police investigation showed that the suspected murderer killed the woman to mop up the money (close to N2m) he saw in her account during one of the withdrawals he went to make for her.
During a visit to the deceased’s residence on Monday, the entire building, comprising four flats, was locked though the three other flats in the block of building were inhabited by tenants. It took several efforts by our correspondent to get the attention of the inhabitants as they were conscious of visitors.
They refused to talk about the incident and initially snubbed entreaties to give the telephone numbers of the deceased’s daughters. When one of the deceased’s daughters eventually spoke with our correspondent on the telephone of one of the tenants, she declined to comment on the matter. She instructed the tenants not to divulge information on the circumstances leading to her mother’s death on the grounds that “we don’t know who is who and nobody can be trusted.”
Saturday PUNCH learnt that until her death, Ajibola lived peaceably in the community since 1975. Those in the neighbourhood were particularly sad over the manner of her death. A commercial motorcyclist, who conveyed our correspondent to the deceased’s house, said she was a pleasant and easygoing woman.
According to reports, the woman engaged the services of the painter in November 2019. They became close as the woman was said to be impressed with the job he did for her. Since then, he became a regular visitor in the house and sometimes attended vigils organised by the woman on the third Monday of every month. It was learnt that the woman sometimes sent the young man on errands with her car.
She was said to have asked him a week earlier to help her withdraw some money from her account in a first generation bank in the Apata area of Ibadan. It was alleged that after withdrawing the money, he checked the woman’s account balance.
Looking morose and regretful, Abegunde, a resident of Apata, said, “I am a painter and I just got married. My wife is pregnant. I had not killed anybody before now. I have no criminal record. I am from Otun-Ekiti in Ekiti State.
“I met the woman when I painted her house. This made her to like me. I have been with her for about a year now; I used to run errands for her such as saving money, buying foodstuff and so on.”
The suspect, who disclosed that his wife, whom he married recently, was heavy with a baby, said, “I knew she was rich. I don’t have parents, I don’t move with bad gangs. I know two of her children. One lives in Ibadan while the other lives in Lagos. She was not the only one I used to run errands for. I run errands for other elderly people because I like them.
“I strangled the woman to death in her home in the morning. The young one who was living with her had gone to school when I perpetrated the act. I don’t know what actually came on me when I killed her.”
During the parade of suspected criminals at the Eleyele Police Command in Ibadan on Monday, three ATM cards belonging to the victim, alongside the club with which he allegedly used to kill his victim, were displayed by the police. The suspect, who said he never had any criminal record before the incident, said, “I cannot explain what led me to this.”
Reacting to the suspect’s claim, the Commissioner of Police, Shina Olukolu, said Abegunde, an errand boy to the victim, was driven by greed and proceeded to carry out the dastardly act because his heart was tailored to do what was evil.
The CP further said, “He attacked the woman with a wooden object, strangulated her and later carted away her Tecno cell phone and her three ATM cards having discovered a huge sum of money (about N2m) in the victim’s account when she sent him to withdraw money for her.
“The suspect was later arrested at his hideout in Akure, the Ondo State capital. Upon interrogation, the suspect confessed to the crime and explained how he withdrew the sum of N120, 000 from the victim’s account.”
Advising members of the public to be wary of people they relate with, Olukolu stated that the suspect would soon be charged to court.

By Wale Oyewale