Relief as Police Re-arrest Suspected Oyo Serial Killer

The police yesterday announced the re-arrest of a suspected notorious serial killer in Oyo State, Mr. Sunday Shodipe, accused of masterminding the series of ritual killings in Akinyele Local Government Area of the state.

The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Olugbenga Fadeyi, a Superintendent of Police (SP), in a telephone interview yesterday, confirmed the rearrest of the accused, who escaped from custody about two weeks ago.

Shodipe, after confessing to some of the killings in Akinyele, when paraded recently at the police headquarters, in Ibadan, had escaped from the Mokola Police Station, Ibadan, where he was remanded after appearing before an Ibadan Magistrate's Court on August 11.

However, THISDAY learnt he was re-arrested at his grandmother’s place in

Ibadan.

Scores of angry youths had on Wednesday besieged the Eleyele Police Headquarters to protest the escape of the suspected serial killer.

The angry youths displayed placards with various inscriptions querying how the suspect escaped from police custody.

Other groups also threatened that they would lockdown the police station at the Akinyele LGA if the suspect was not re-arrested before September 2.

Shodipe was arrested and paraded in connection with the murder of four women and a10-year-old boy.

But the police in a statement explained that the suspect escaped when he was being led to the bathroom.

The Commissioner of Police, Oyo State Police Command, Nwachukwu Enwonwu, who had ordered the arrest of his men connected with the escape of the suspect, calmed the aggrieved youths and reassured them of his readiness to track down the suspect and bring him to justice.

He described the circumstances that led to the escape of the suspect as not only embarrassing, but saddening.

He added that all the policemen on duty when the suspect escaped were already facing trial and assured the people that none of the culprits would go unpunished.

Following the public outcry, the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, had dispatched an additional investigative team to the state, including crack detectives to track down the serial killer.

Force spokesman, Mr. Frank Mba, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, had in a statement last Wednesday, said detectives from the Intelligence Response Team and the Special Tactical Squad of the Force Intelligence Bureau, Abuja, had been deployed in the state to assist in apprehending the suspect.