In what appeared like a barefaced justification for his heinous act, the mastermind in the new year killing of an Abeokuta couple, Kehinde and Bukola Fatinoye, and their only surviving son, Oreoluwa Fatinoye, Lekan Adekanbi, has said that the murder of the couple will serve as a lesson to people with riches and affluence but chose to be unkind to the poor.

Lekan, who had been the driver of the murdered coupled since 2018, said he was employed as a driver with N25,000 salary but household chores were added to his schedule without increase in salary.

Lekan spoke, without remorse, on Friday at the Ogun State Police Headquarters, Elweran, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

Lekan said after two years, he approached the deceased Fatinoye for a loan to be repaid from his salaries, adding that the late Central Bank worker promised to look into his request.

The suspect said after one year when his request was not granted, he approached the wife, Bukola Fatinoye, to brief her on what he discussed with her husband and the need for her to intervene on his behalf.

According to him, the deceased worker of Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, FUNAAB, also promised to intervene on his request, adding that he again reminded his boss on his birthday on June 30, 2022.

After his request was no acceded to, Lekan said further that approached the deceased younger brother, Seyi Fatinoye, to help him with the job, to help look for another job.

According to him, the loan request from his late boss and wife was to invest on a business and be independent, adding that there was no way he could make it in life with the ‘meagre’ salary.

 Seyi, Lekan said, pleaded with him to be patient with his brother.

Lekan while being paraded by the police said, “Foremost, there is no sinless person, may God forgive everybody. The truth I want to say in all of these is that I never intended killing my boss, I never contemplated it, or to cause any untold hardship to anyone in my life.

“But what I want to say is that if you’re an evil doer, and people think you’re doing good, God Almighty will reward you; and if you’re doing goo and people think you’re an evil person, God will judge.

“What happened will serve as a lesson to callous wealthy people and who choose not to be kind to the poor. When I was employed, I was employed as a driver in September, 2018, they were still leaving in Quarry (road) and then, I will wash cars.

“Six months after, they started giving me broom to sweep the compound, and I complied without complaining with N25,000 salary.

“But in 2020, I decided to approach him to my one-year salary upfront. On January 16, 2020 before the COVID-19, I went with my boss to a party in Idumota, Lagos and on the way, I told him I need my salary to be paid upfront for six months or a year for an investment an that I had never achieved anything from him, he promised to look into it. Till the end of that year, he didn’t say anything.

“In 2021, I spoke with his wife on what I discussed with my boss on the need to loan me my salary upfront for six months or one year so that I can assist my family with it. I told her there was no way I could save from the money with the way the salary was being paid. She promised to talk to her husband.

“On June 30, 2022 during his birthday, I also reminded him after the birthday and he told me he hadn’t forgotten. By July 2022, I also met his younger sibling who took me there, Mr Seyi Fatinoye, he also promised to speak with him, but did not hear anything until September.

“By that September, I spoke with My Seyi to help me look for another job since his brother was not helping me, he advised me to be patient.

“This is my boss who bought cars annually with the least one costing 5 – 10 million. I was curious about what my offence was after all I had done for the family. This is a family I washed cloth for, I washed cloths for the wife, cooked food, swept and do everything with the N25, 000 salary.

According to Lekan, what he requested from the family was his entitlement and since he couldn’t get it in a legitimate and lawful way, he decided to employ the service of criminals who could help him get his ‘entitlement’.

“I ruminated on what I could do to get my entitlement from them so that I could also be useful to my family. I reported the case to someone in the community, he is called Olori-Odo, who told me that my employers are stingy and do not want me to make it in life. I asked him to help get someone with a gun, I paid him N40,000.

“It is my entitlement I was seeking from them, they added to my job schedule, they did not increase my salary and they also refused to help me. I was supposed to be a driver and not a houseboy that feeds dog, clean the houses and wash clothes.

“The guy who collected N40,000 from me only deceived me, he did not do anything for weeks. I decided to look for alternatives with people smoking and drinking who could have gun so that I could scare them with that.

“Then, I remembered I had Koffi’s number (Waheed Adeniji, another suspect in the killing) and reaslised he should have connections with thugs, not knowing he had a gun of his own. When I told him, he assured me and promised to assist when I was ready. He also requested for money for bullet.

- The suspected killers of Fatinoye's family and their only surviving son. From right, Lekan Adekanbi a.k.a Koroba, Waheed Adeniji a.k.a Koffi, and Ahmed Odetola a.k.a Akamo

“I was skeptical initially because of the first experience, but I requested to see the gun before paying him and he brought out the gun, I then paid him N4, 500 for three bullets. I also asked him to look for one more person, he promised to bring someone from Delta State.

“On the 31st, he called me to meet him at Abiola Way and I met him at night. He asked me about our target and I told him they went to church, he told me the other guy was already in town and lodged in an hotel,” he said.

On how the deceased were ambushed and killed in their house, the mastermind went further, “I was asked to proceed to the house which I did and hid somewhere before I later called them and they joined me. I opened the gate and I kept the dog inside the security house, I brought them in and reminded them of our mission in the house.

“I told them I wasn’t interested in spilling blood, but to just get some money and invest. I told them I was there for my entitlement. I told Akamo (Ahmed Adetola, the third suspect) to provide his account so that the following day, we can cash and share the money.

“We waited inside the house and not quite long after, the gate was opened and I told them the family was around and we positioned ourselves with our weapons and immediately they entered the house, we apprehended them and I was on a mask and a face cap.

“We lay them on the floor and tied them on their legs and hands. ‘Daddy’ was untied and we supplied the account number for the transfer, but Daddy could not see the ‘Kuda bank’ supplied by Akamo on his application. It was then I decided to use my account and discard same after the operation.

“He transferred N102, 000 into my Access bank account from his GTBank account. He told us that was all he got. We asked the wife to speak to her husband to give us money, she asked him to give us more money.

“We collected his phone and while scrolling, we saw a Union Bank application and when the application was opened, Kofi saw a balance of N9.5million, it was the Kofi slapped him. At that point, another N1million was transferred into my account. We requested for more, but that was the maximum daily transfer limit.

“Akamo took a pen and biro, collected the PIN and application code. At that point, Kofi called me and reminded that with my account and the transfer, I could be traced and apprehended, but I told him we will remove the money the following day. Kofi was angry and pointed the gun at me.

“Me and Akamo were asked to take the woman out and we did. About 30 minutes later, he opened the door and asked us to bring the woman in, as we were bringing the woman in, we say blood on the floor, he had slaughtered Daddy on his own and I shouted, he jumped at Mummy and also slaughtered her.”

HorizonTimes had exclusively reported how Lekan, then a prime suspect, escaped from police custody following his initial arrest, before he was later rearrested.

According to the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, Lekan, after the escape, ran away to Iseyin in Oyo State and destroyed his initial phone number.

Oyeyemi said the suspect was later rearrested after intelligent based investigation.