Suspects claim to be musicians with Zealight, J Fresh as stage names
The Police in Lagos have arrested two suspects, Farouk Mohammed and Jamiu Kasali, in connection with the killing of Babatunde Dada, a pastor with the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) on 6th Avenue, FESTAC Town, Lagos.
Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, who confirmed the arrest, said Mohammed was tracked to Ilorin, Kwara State, while his partner in crime, Kasali, was apprehended in FESTAC Town, Lagos.
Odumosu said exhibits used to commit the act have been recovered, stressing that the suspects would be charged to court.
Recall that the suspects stabbed the 46-year-old pastor to death on December 2 and fled the scene with his bag containing some money.
The Guardian learnt that the suspects, who claimed to be upcoming musicians, approached the unsuspecting pastor on the pretext of being strangers in Lagos who had no place to stay.
The deceased was said to have lodged them in a room in the church, which also served as his residence only to be attacked at about 12 noon the next day and abandoned in a pool of his blood to die.
Read Also:
It was gathered that the suspects attended church service the Sunday before the incident, and also came out during an altar call to ‘surrender their lives to Jesus’
One of the suspects, Kasali told newsmen that the pastor gave them money and food on the day we struck. He said: “The Pastor came to Church in the morning, gave us money for food and left. Later, he came in with a bag containing money.
Few hours before then, Farouk got a telephone call from his mother, urging him to come home quickly that she was sick. We were contemplating on how he would get money to take his mother to the hospital when the Pastor walked in with the bag containing money.
“We followed him upstairs, hit him with a plank, before stabbing him with a broken bottle in the neck. He fell down. We grabbed the bag and left the house.”
On his part, Mohammed, 15, said he lied to his parents that he was coming to Lagos for a show, being an upcoming Musician.
He said: “I lied to my mother that I would get at least N200,000 from the show. We are upcoming musicians. We have been in the industry for three years. When things were not going on as planned, we decided to do something else , to invest in our music industry.
“Our mission in Lagos was to look for where to perform. But that plan changed immediately when we saw the pastor with the bag containing money.”
