The Abijo Community in Ebijo Development Area, Lagos State is in confusion and sorrow as the son of the Baale of Abijo, Amidu Adamu was found dead alongside a 32-year old man, Hassan Saheed, popularly known as Babaniya.
Their lifeless bodies were found in one of the rooms in the palace of the Baale. Beside them was a bowl of rice which they allegedly ate prior to their death.

The news of their death created a scene as the community wondered why anybody would poison the food served members of the community and especially at the palace of the Baale.

All that was cleared when the police based on information discovered that the rice was actually prepared by a young woman known as Kudirat Shitta.

The police later arrested Kudirat and two others - Mrs. Taiye Taiwo, the owner of the house where the food was prepared and Mary Samuel, her sister. They are currently being detained at the Lagos State Criminal Investigative Department, Panti while a sample of the suspect rice has been sent to forensic experts to determine if the food was actually the cause of the deaths.

I didn’t poison the food
Narrating the incident to Saturday Sun, Kudirat said that she had no cause to poison Babaniya. The 20 year-old lady said she had come to spend some time with her friend, Mary at Abijo. On Sunday, July 22, while she was at her friend’s shop, Babaniya came and requested that she should help him prepare rice. “ He gave me N700 and asked me to cook jollof rice and egg.

He specifically instructed that I should use a black polyethene bag to cook the egg. I bought the normal ingredents which includes maggi, tomatoes, and others to prepare the rice. When the rice was almost ready, I broke the egg, removed the shell and cooked it as instructed. Hours later he came and carried the food. The next day being Monday I was with my friend when the police came and arrested me claiming that Babaniya died after eating the rice that I prepared,” she narrated.

On whether she had any relationship with Babaniyi she said that Babaniya had earlier proposed to marry her but she refused. “ I told him that I did not come to Abijo to marry. I have no reason to kill him. I only prepared rice as instructed,” she further narrated.
Taiye, 37, who happens to be the owner of the shop told Saturday Sun that she had no hand in the death of the deceased.

According to the beer seller, she had been living in Abijo for about four years. On that day she left the shop in the care of her sister, Mary. “ I came back at about 10.00pm on Sunday. The next day police came and arrested me for murder. They said that the food that was cooked in my house was poisoned. They said the food led to the death of one of my customers, Babaniya. I was not there so I do not know what happened. I am only a widow with four children striving to survive in Lagos,” she said.

Mary on the other hand said that she is a trainee nurse at a hospital in Abijo. It was there that she met Kudirat. “ On that day she came visiting. I had left the shop in her custody. When I came back Babaniya was on his way with the rice already prepared. The next day we were arrested by the police. I do not know what happened and I do not know of any reason why Kudirat would decide to poison that food,” she said.

Dead and cold
Saturday Sun visited tha scene of the incident at Abijo village at the palace of the Baale where the family revealed that they saw the lifeless bodies of their brother Amidu and Babaniya.
According to the eldest son of the Baale, Mutiu Mogaji, he ran to the palace when his brother raised an alarm. He got there and noticed that their bodies had turned cold.

“ I felt their body and it was cold. I had to close the door and alarm the police to avoid a scene,” he said. Mutiu said he saw his brother and Babaniya on Saturday before the incident. Babaniyi who just secured a contract in the area decided to stay at the palace which was closer to his place of work. Babaniyi, an in-law to the royal family asked Amidu to stay with him since he had access to the key to one of the rooms.

“He convinced Amidu to go with him to Taiye’s bar where he normally goes to drink. He said that he had given money to Kudirat to prepare rice for him. The next day, my brothers found the two dead,” he said.

Mutiu who felt bitter that Babaniyi had been cheating on his sister by dating Taiye the owner of a drinking bar at Abijo. Asked if there was any relationship betweem Babaniyi and Kudriat, the young men around said that there was none . “ Rather Babaniyi has being dating Taiye for a long time and he is in the habit of asking her to cook for him. It is rather unfortunate that our brother had to die along with him,” they jointly said.
Efforts to meet with the Baale was not fruitless as he was out on an offical assignment as at the time of filling this report.