By Kayode Sani-Arewa
A 33-year-old woman, Ifeoma Ossai, who was arrested by Ogun State police command for allegedly causing the death of her landlord by pulling his man00d, has denied the allegation, saying that she did nothing of such.
The arrested suspect said that the landlord, Monday Surulere Oladele, aged 50, was making a call when he slumped with his phone in his hand. According to her, before this, she and the landlord's wife had fought, which made him to start calling someone. She said that she had returned to her apartment when someone called her to come and see the landlord lying unconscious.
It was learnt that before the landlord's death, he and the suspect had had a disagreement over lack of water supply which the tenant had complained of.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said that the police at Sango Ota divisional headquarters arrested the suspect when one Olaleye Taiwo reported that his brother, Monday Oladele, had a disagreement with the tenant over the payment of electricity bill, and in the process, the tenant grabbed his manhood and pulled it, causing the landlord to fall and become unconscious.
The PPRO said that the landlord was rushed to the General Hospital, Ota, where the doctor on duty confirmed him dead.
This, according to Oyeyemi, led to the suspect's arrest by the Divisional Police Officer, Sango Ota division, CSP Saleh Dahiru.
“On interrogation, the suspect claimed that the deceased asked her to pay for electricity bill, but she said she would not pay until water is directly connected to her apartment as promised by the landlord before she moved in.
“This led to a scuffle between them, which resulted in the suspect grabbing the manh00d of the deceased and pulling him with it.”
The PPRO said that the corpse had been deposited at the hospital's mortuary for postmortem examination while the state Commissioner of Police, Frank Mba, had ordered the immediate transfer of the suspect to the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.
However in an interview with the suspect, she denied grabbing the landlord's manh00d, saying that she was surprised that such a story could be formulated against her.
Ossai, who said she hails from Ndukwa Local Government Area, Delta State, narrated her story thus: “I left Lagos State and started living in the house where the incident happened in June 2022. It's a family house where four brothers were living in the main building while two of us who are tenants were in the apartments at the back. Their mother owns the house, while the one I had issues with was the eldest and referred to as landlord.
“I paid N230,000 for the one-room apartment I rented. The rented apartment was N110,000 while agency and agreement fees were put at N100,000. However, the agent that brought me to the house was asking for commission which the landlord refused to give, saying that he did not put any agent in charge. I was asked to pay extra N20,000 for the agent, totalling N230,000.
“There was no deep well or borehole that could provide water, and I told the landlord that I couldn't pay that much for a room apartment without water. The landlord promised to provide water with the money tenants paid.
