"The Devil Did It" -Herbalist who Buried Ex-Customs Officer & her Daughter Alive pleads for Mercy

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Herbalist, who buried ex-Customs officer and her daughter alive is now pleading for mercy. He talked to Saturday Sun and according to him, the devil did it.

Azeez Olatunji had taken police detectives to his personal house in Ire Akari Crescent, Ajuwon Akute, Ogun State where the decomposing bodies of Mrs. Angela Kerry, a 64-year-old retired Customs officer and her daughter, 10-year-old daughter, Obi­aguluman, were found in a well dug in a room inside the suspect’s house.

He confessed to have singlehandedly planned and executed the crime in the hope that his secret will be covered for life. Al­though he claimed that he committed the crime in self-defence, the late Angela’s family insists that their sister was killed over a business deal. They alleged that Alhaji Olatunji, a herbal doc­tor, has other accomplices who are still at large...

The man, Azeez Olatunji
Going down memory lane, Alhaji Olatunji, aged 65, claims that he hails from Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State. With a good command of English, Olatunji said that he had to stop his education at secondary level be­cause of financial constraint. He said he travelled to Mecca in 1982, which explains why he is addressed as Alhaji.

“I was a member of the Ogboni fraternity but I had to denounce them when I travelled to Mecca. I only retained some of the deities like the god of iron which is part of the source of my power.”

Meeting Angela
According to Olatunji, Angela was one of the numerous women that had faith in him and the potency of his medicine.

“She was brought to my clinic by her friend who I assisted in the past. This was six years ago. She was very sick then. She had a spiritual attack also known as ofa in Yoruba. It is sent by evil people, in form of an evil arrow. Her body will turn black and will be itching her ceaselessly. People are very wicked.

Then she had retired from the Customs service. I tried my best and God answered her prayer. She was very excited and decided to make me her spiritual father. She started pa­tronizing me, even if it was common headache. I was also the one who gave her herbs that cured her fibroid completely.”

He claimed that it was her unquenchable de­sire for a biological child that led to her death.
“She was never married and does not have children but along the line, she adopted a girl. This did not satisfy her quest for a child. Four years after we met, she came to me saying she has been unable to bear children. She said that other places she had been told that she can still have children. She was more than 60 years then. I told her that if she had come when she was 50 it would have been easy. I tried to convince her but she insisted that her instincts told her that I am the one that will make her pastors’ prophecy to come to pass.

Around May last year, she started a serious complaint, saying she has spent money on this. I told her that since she has adopted a child that she shouldn’t worry about it. Two months later she came and said her pastor said if she puts effort into it, she will have children. I asked why she is bent on doing that since she is not married. She said she has boyfriends. That she wants her boy­friends to be responsible for the child. She said she had already spent N15 million on it.”

Shocked that Angela could spend up to N15million searching for a child, Alhaji Olatunji decided to exploit the golden op­portunity.

“I knew at that moment that she will spend anything to get her desire and if I do not benefit from this moment, another man will collect the same money from her. I then told her that it will cost her about N10 million to make her wish come true.

The following week she came with N1.7 mil­lion. She paid the money gradually. I started my job. She said she has faith in me. She told me she saw her menstruation. She was around 63 as she said. I told her to wait for the second one and try to meet her man af­ter. She said some of her boyfriends were in London. So, she invited one of them. When he came she told me he has arrived. The man came and left and she wasn’t still preg­nant. Around April this year, she came.

She said she wanted to tell me something. She said she wanted to stop taking the medicine. That time, she had already paid N9 million. I encouraged her to continue for another two years since she has faith in me.”

Gospel according to Al­haji Olatunji
Disappointed that his medicine had failed her, Alhaji Olatunji claimed that Angela de­manded a refund.

“She said she didn’t want to continue. She said she wanted her money back. I told her it’s not possible. She started threatening that she will come. She said she will be back with full force. I thought she was joking. We have never quarreled. I was alarmed because I suspected that other trado medical doctors that she has been visiting could have bewitched her. She came again with her daughter to collect her money and threatened me. I was frightened by the way she was talking. I knew that as a Custom officer, she has a gun. I thought I should let her go to the police. She threatened she would report me. So, I let her go that day. Three days later, she came the same way with her daughter.

“That day, I had to go to my house and gave her N2.5 million. She said by the next day, she will come and she did. She asked for the balance and I told her that she should leave me alone that I have other cases. She warned she will come in two days’ time and that when she does, it would be hell. So, I thought about it and prepared for her. That’s when the evil thought that landed me here came.”

Lamenting, Olatunji said that he had not had any issue with the police before.
“I wanted to report to the police but I knew that if I mentioned about the N6 million left I will be in trouble. I knew it was impos­sible for me to use a knife or gun to kill a human being created by God.

She arrived as promised ranting and threatening hell. I went behind and covered that well with a mat and white cloth. I prayed to God to calm her down so that she will obey me. I came back to the living room and pleaded again that I will surely give her the money the next day. God heard my prayer and she calmed down. I told her to join me and pray at the backyard. She loves praying, so it was very easy to persuade her.

I asked her to kneel down on the white cloth… She drew the child, I asked her to leave the child behind. I moved the child back. Before I could stop her she had al­ready moved the girl with her and they knelt on the mat. Then I heard her shout ‘yeeee’ as she fell into the deep well. She was scream­ing, and I had to move quickly and started packing sand into the well.

It was getting late as at that time. I was able to pour in 50 buckets and was tired and terrified. I rushed to the mosque to pray and ask God for for­giveness. When I returned, I discovered that the girl was already on the surface of the sand. There was no way she could climb out because the well was still very deep. I had to silence her or she will tell the world what I did. I threw in heavy blocks till she became silent. I kept pouring sand till the well was filled up. The following day I called some labourers to seal off the place. I had to go to Jankara to see if I can sell the car,” Alhaji Olatunji narrated.

He lamented that what he saw at the SARS detention for those six days made him to open up.
 “In the cell, I met all kinds of hardened criminals who were already re­pentant. They shared their testimonies with me, and advised that the only way God can ensure that I will live again is if I confess to the crime. I realised that my days will be longer here if they were not found. I would have been released at Oko Oba police sta­tion, if not that the family insisted that the case should be transferred to SARS. I felt that since there was no witness to the crime, I will be treated as an innocent man.”

Plea for mercy
He blamed evil spirits sent by his ene­mies as the ones responsible for his ordeal.
I want the family to forgive me. If you see my heart, you will understand. I couldn’t even sleep in the house. This kind of thing has never happened to me before. If you ask anybody around there who I am, they will tell you. My job is to heal. It’s the devil. I didn’t do it with my normal mind.

She saw me as her spiritual father. I also assisted her to sell her house at Omole which we did at the cost of N74 million. She later bought a house at Agege at the price of N8million and also spent about N9 million. Initially, it was bought in my name because she never trusted her family members; she said she wanted to travel to America with her daughter.

The lady, Angela
Her immediate elder brother, Dr Mike Idida Kerry told Saturday Sun that the late Angela was very close to him till her current lifestyle drove her away from the family.

“She is my younger sister and was born in 1948. She is currently 66 years. We are from Abonina in Rivers State. We grew up in the North, then my mother was working at the Local Authority Hospital, Gusau. This was where they were born. After the war, we came down to Enugu till we finally returned to Rivers State.

It was after the war that she enrolled into Customs and rose to the rank of Chief Superintendent of Customs. She retired in 2004, having served the nation for 35 years. She had several relationships that almost re­sulted in a marriage but never did. She had several miscarriages till I was told that she adopted a child.

As soon as we buried our mother 13 years ago, she started staying away from her siblings. I was not comfortable with her lifestyle and that caused a friction between us. In fact, I have not seen her in person again till I was called that she was missing. She started visiting different herbalists in the name of getting protection and eleva­tion while at Customs. It appears that those who are in uniformed organisations result in fetish acts in search of protection and elevation. She was even struck with an ill­ness and was brought home to Rivers State where she was finally cured,” Dr Kerry who is based in Rivers State, narrated.

They silenced her over a business deal, family in­sists
Dr Kerry said that he finds it hard to be­lieve that his sister did all the things that the herbalist said.

“It is his word against hers and my sister is not here to defend herself. However, I gathered that Alhaji Olatunji, one Lizzy and one other Babatunde were involved in an oil block deal that did not turn out well. Part of the deal was that they will build a house for her at Banana Island. It was all fraud, they ended up killing her. The Angela that I knew was not desperate about having children.

The only thing that happened was that the herbal doctors that she had faith in hypnotized her and she for­got her family.”

On the allegation that her family wanted her dead to inherit her wealth, Dr Kerry said:
“If the family wanted her dead, why did they not kill her soon after she left the Customs in 2004.

They knew that if she was close to her family, it will not be easy to ex­tort money from her. She is my blood sister and was close to me. When I heard that she was missing, I thought she had travelled out without anyone’s knowledge, I never knew she was buried alive all this while.

If he was sincere, why did he buy a property for her in his name? The so-called house is a wretched place located by the canal. It will be sold and the money shared among her niece and nephews. I do not know why Alhaji Olatunji has decided to accept the blame alone. I guess that they took an oath not to disclose one another be­cause I am very sure that there was a con­spiracy.

I am a lecturer; I got my Ph.D in 1986. I taught in the same college of education with President Goodluck Jonathan. I do not need her property because I have a far better life than she did. I am an associate professor at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology.

Our main concern is how to bury her in the shortest possible time as the cost of keeping her in a morgue has doubled. They liquidated her resources before killing her and the little girl.”

Also, when informed that Olatunji wants the family to forgive him; Dr Kerry advised that he should ask God for forgiveness.

“God has also said that he who lives by the sword will die by the sword. I have no issue with him; he has to face the wrath of the law guiding the society.”


Collaborating her uncle’s claim, Ange­la’s niece (names withheld) insists that one Lizzy, Babatunde Bristol hired Alhaji Ola­tunji to hypnotize their late sister. She also alleged that there was an oil deal which her aunty invested heavily in.

“I pray that the police would further in­vestigate the matter and invite the others who are still at large”, she added.

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