A 25-year-old man has been arrested by operatives of the Ogun State Police Command after allegedly stabbing five people in the early hours of Tuesday, killing two of his victims and leaving three others in critical condition, all over a failed business transaction in the Olambe community of Ifo Local Government Area.
The suspect, identified as Abubakar Musa, was arrested by operatives of the Ajuwon division of the Ogun State Police Command after the deadly attack, which took place at approximately 1:38 a.m. on Tuesday in the Olambe community. The victims, Gbadamasi Ibrahim, aged 25, and a 40-year-old man identified as Mr. Chinedu, were confirmed dead on arrival at hospital. Three other victims, Mohammed Abubakar, 35, and Ashiru Adamu and Paul Lawrence, both aged 25 are in critical condition but responding to treatment.
The Ogun State Police Command spokesperson, DSP Oluseyi Babaseyi, confirmed the incident in a statement issued to journalists on Wednesday in Abeokuta, saying the suspect attacked the victims with a knife after failing in some business deals.
According to Babaseyi, the victims were stabbed while attempting to calm down the angry suspect. The suspect fled the scene immediately after the attack but was subsequently tracked down and arrested by detectives. The swift response by police operatives in apprehending the fleeing suspect prevented him from evading justice.
“On Tuesday, April 7, at about 1.38 a.m., the suspect stabbed five people. Two of them, Gbadamasi Ibrahim ‘M’, aged 25, and Chinedu ‘M’, aged 40, died while being taken to the hospital where a doctor later confirmed their deaths,” Babaseyi stated.
The three surviving victims remain hospitalised and under medical care, with authorities monitoring their recovery.
The incident is one of at least two knife-related fatalities linked to financial disputes in Ogun State within recent days. In a separate incident in the Agbado area of the same Ifo Local Government Area, a 37-year-old man, Opeyemi Olaniyan, was arrested for allegedly stabbing 27-year-old Ayomide Oyekunle to death at a beer parlour over a N25,000 debt. The victim died while receiving treatment at Strong Tower Hospital, Giwa Oke Aro, and the case was transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCIID), Abeokuta, for further investigation and likely prosecution.
The back-to-back incidents in the same local government area have raised fresh concerns about rising interpersonal violence rooted in financial disputes in the densely populated Olambe-Ifo corridor, which sits at the boundary between Ogun and Lagos states and serves as a commercial hub for thousands of residents.
The Ogun State Police Command confirmed that Abubakar Musa is in custody and that investigation into the double murder is ongoing. He is expected to be charged before a court of competent jurisdiction upon conclusion of the inquiry.
Babaseyi reiterated the command’s zero-tolerance stance on violent crimes and urged residents to report any suspicious activity or interpersonal disputes to the nearest police station before they escalate.