End Time Confidant

Detectives attached to Ogudu Police Station have arrested a 29-yearold lady, Iretioluwa Biodun, for allegedly cutting off the tongue of her neighbour at Ogudu area of Lagos State. The incident occurred on Tuesday.......

The victim, Babangida Sulyman, was said to be Biodun’s confidant before they became sworn enemies. 

Sulyman (23), it was learnt, used to help Biodun buy food and deliver messages. 

Both the suspect and the victim were said to be living in the same compound. While Sulyman lives with his mother, Biodun squats with her elder sister and her husband. It was also learnt that the duo had enjoyed a mutual relationship for about two years, until sometime in March when Sulyman’s mother warned him to quit the friendship after a disagreement broke out between him and Biodun.



After the warning, Sulyman kept Biodun at arm’s length. But two weeks, Biodun reportedly approached Sulyman for reconciliation however, the latter rejected the offer. The strained relationship, it was learnt, assumed a new dimension about 8p.m. on Tuesday when they met at the shop of a woman who sells drinks in the community. Biodun was said to have rebuked Sulyman, which prompted the drink seller to ask him what went wrong


Sulyman declined to speak with the woman in Biodun’s presence and promised to discuss the issue with her the next day. He had gone to the toilet about 11.30p.m. to urinate when Biodun allegedly sneaked in, gagged his neck and yanked off part of his tongue. The victim’s mother, who is the landlady of the building, Hassanat Ali, said she was asleep when Biodun’s elder sister’s husband, Olumide Agbolade, raised the alarm. She said: “They related with each other like siblings. She used to send him on errands as far as Ikeja and they went out together.



I had warned him to stay away from her six months ago when they had a disagreement and she called him an ingrate. I saw them together three days before the incident happened and I warned him again. “I was sleeping when Agbolade banged on our door, calling Musa, Sulyman’s elder brother, to come and see what Biodun did to Sulyman. By the time we got to the toilet, there was blood everywhere. My son could not talk. I saw the severed tongue and the jewellery Biodun wore that night in a pool of blood.



I exclaimed and asked her what happened, but she did not say anything. “Some neighbours rushed to our building and started beating her. I had to caution them and she was handed over to the police.



Three different hospitals rejected my son before he was eventually admitted to the Lagos State Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja.” One of the Sulyman’s brothers, Yahaya Sulyman, said the Investigating Police Officer in charge of the case visited the victim at the hospital to obtain his statement. He alleged that the IPO later altered the statement and claimed that Biodun injured Sulyman’s while he was kissing her. He said: “I am not living with the family.



Doctors said they could not stitch the tongue. “A policeman came to the hospital to obtain his statement. He could not talk. He gave him a pen and paper and he narrated what happened in writing. We were surprised when we learnt that the IPO was saying he wanted to kiss her.



The victim had yet to regain his speech at the hospital where he was admitted. However, he was said to have managed to babble what transpired between him and the suspect.


New Telegraph