A 51-year-old woman, Mrs Funke Ashaolu has been killed by unknown persons right in front of her husband and children. The incident took place on Thursday at her shop at Elewure area of Sango, Ibadan, Oyo around 9.45p.m.
According to The Tribune, the woman received a call from unknown persons who instructed her to drop N20,000 in front of her shop under a small keg that would be partly filled with a liquid substance, with the threat that she would be killed if she refused to act accordingly.
The deceased, who traded in wine and liquor, was said to have reported the threat to the police at a nearby police station where her statement was taken. A couple of days after she reported the case at the police station, she noticed a keg half-filled with petrol by her shop, which raised her fears that her callers meant business.
She was forced to report the incident to the police the second time which made detectives to follow her to the scene where they took the photograph of the keg. The police officers on duty were said to have drafted a patrol team to the woman’s shop to be stationed there to prevent anything untoward.
But, things changed on Thursday when the patrol team had to leave the spot after 9.00 p.m. as a result of a distress call it got to move to another troubled spot. That was when the assailants challenged the woman for involving the police over the issue of dropping N20,000.
Before the patrol team could get back to the woman’s shop, the assailants have shot her dead in front of the husband and children before zooming off in a motorcycle.
The woman died after she was rushed to Victory Hospital, Sango-Eleyele Road, Ibadan for treatment, Metro learnt that she died while receiving medical attention.
Many have raised suspicion that the murder might have been an assassination by her rivals in the business since the assailants did not take a dime from the woman but shot her dead.
the state Police Public relations Officer, Adekunle Ajisebutu confirmed the killing, saying that the police suspected armed robbery.
“The Commissioner of Police has also directed that the case be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) for discreet investigation,” the PPRO concluded.
