Ibadan ‘serial killer’: How and why I escaped from police custody

Sunday Shodipe, a suspected serial killer in Ibadan, Oyo state capital, says a herbalist mounted pressure on him to escape from police custody.

The 19-year-old disclosed this on Wednesday when he was paraded by Nwachukwu Enwonwu, the state commissioner of police.

Shodipe was arrested alongside two others in June in connection with a series of killings in Akinyele local government area of the state.

He, however, escaped from Mokola station where he was kept on August 11 but was rearrested on Sunday.

Explaining his escape, Shodipe said he fled the police station to carry out rituals in the interest of one Idris Ajani, a 50-year-old herbalist he was arrested with.

He said the herbalist threatened him in custody, saying there would be dire consequences if he did not escape to continue the killings.

He added that he killed another woman while on the run.

“Baba( herbalist) had been telling Officer Funsho to open the gate to allow us to take our bath but the officer did not answer him,” Shodipe said.

“Baba later told the officer that he needed to drink gin as an herbalist to prevent spirits from draining his blood but the officer still did not answer him.

“Baba had been blaming me for telling the police and the public that he was the one that sent me to kill and that I would have been released from the custody if I had been untruthful.

“Baba also told me that something terrible might happen to him if he stayed too long in police custody because of the sacrifices he had not been performing since his arrest.

“So, when the police later allowed me to go and bath in the evening at about 7.pm, I used the opportunity to escape and went to Akinyele to kill another woman.

“Baba sends me out and tells me to kill by reciting his name, Idris Adedokun Yunusa Ajani, in incantations. So, I killed the women to ensure Baba’s safety.”

The suspect added that before he was rearrested, he ran to Bodija to fend for himself by carrying luggage using a cap to conceal his identity.

Enwonwu said Shodipe, who was in police custody due to the congestion at the Nigeria Correctional Service facility in the state, would now be taken to the facility.

“The police officer involved in Shodipe’ s case is paying dearly for it and he is still in police custody facing disciplinary action which has been completed at the level of the command and forwarded to Abuja,” Enwonwu said.