Help! Ogun police freed land grabber who threatened to kill me – Bizwoman
July 26, 2026 12:00 am
Adisa
A resident of Ogun State, Oluwadamilola Adisa, shares with BIODUN BUSARI the threat to her life over her father’s property 11 years after his death
Could you introduce yourself?
I’m from Osun State but I live in Ogun State. I have a Higher National Diploma in Business Administration. I run a grocery business. Basically, I sell foodstuffs. I’m the second child in a family of four. I have an elder sister and two younger siblings.
You recently made a video that highlighted your dad’s predicament while he was alive. What kind of person was he?
My dad was Mr Alaba Adisa, popularly known as Baba Ruka. We had our house around Ibafo along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Ogun State. My dad was popular and kind. He was a generous and easy-going person in the community. He was also strong and courageous. He was good to everyone.
What was his occupation?
He was a vigilante. My father was among the first set of people guarding our community. He was a very brave man doing that particular job. However, he was a baker before he began working as a vigilante. He had a bakery.
How about your mother?
My mother is also late. She died in 2012. She fell ill and passed away. Her death was painful for the entire family, especially my dad. Since my mother passed, it was my dad who took care of us until he died in 2015.
What killed your father in 2015?
He died on May 3, 2015. He should have been in his mid-forties when he died. It was one of the saddest and most devastating days of my life. He attended a party. I think it was a social function organised by one of my mum’s friends. He got a call from one of the people who used to work for him. We called the man Onoda. My father received a phone call from him. He told me that day that he was going out to meet Onoda at a bus stop.
He took a motorcycle and left home. He even said that we should keep his food for him. Later, he said he had to go somewhere with the man. When it was evening, we tried to reach him on the phone, but he could not be reached. It was unlike him because he usually called to check on us whenever he went out. He had been taking care of us since our mother died. When we couldn’t reach him, I knew something was wrong.
What other effort did you make to know his whereabouts?
I was panicking because I didn’t know what had happened. Then, my siblings and I called my uncle. He used to work with my dad at that time as well. He came to our house and tried to calm the tension. The day ended, and we didn’t hear anything. So, the next morning, my dad was still not back, and people had already started gathering at our place.
The news had spread that he was nowhere to be found. Then, my uncle and my older sister went to the man’s house to find out what had happened. On getting to Onoda’s house, they did not meet him there. They saw his two children leaving the house with their belongings. They asked them about their father and why they were leaving.
They responded in Yoruba that“a ti pa Baba Ruka,” translated as, “We’ve killed Baba Ruka.” The children said their father told them he had collected money, and Baba Ruka had been murdered. So, he left the house and asked his children to leave as well.
How old were the children?
They should have been around 15 or 16 years old at the time.
How about his wife?
We didn’t know his wife. There was a time I came back from school and met him and his children in our house. They were living with us. He and his children were staying in our room. Later, my dad settled them and allowed them to find another place to stay. That was when I came back from school.
Where exactly did you find your father’s corpse?
We discovered my father’s corpse at Makun town. It was along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, not far from Mowe. Those areas were bushy at the time. So, his body was found in a bush. His killers had removed his vigilante uniform. He was naked. We found a sledgehammer and a machete they used to kill him at the crime scene. Also, there was sachet water at the spot. There was a machete wound on his head. His body was taken to a mortuary.
Did the police arrest the suspect?
No, they didn’t arrest him. I think he disappeared into thin air after the act. Nobody has seen him since then. The police arrested the children. After that, we received an anonymous letter stating that we would be killed if those children were not released.
Then, my uncle, who came from Iwo to stay with us, took me and my siblings to Iwo with him. That was the last we knew about the case. We were in Iwo for safety. The case became so serious that the media reported it at the time.
Do you think your father and his suspected killer had a misunderstanding that led to his death?
As I said earlier, my dad was an easy-going and kind person. He was not troublesome. So, I can say that I didn’t know my father had any issue with anybody. There was a time my father said there were conspiracies in our community and that he wanted to unravel them. That might have led to his death.
Why did he say that?
My dad used to confide in us. There was a time he came home and told us about a conspiracy in the area. He just said he wanted to investigate and expose whatever it was. What brought about that was when a man working on his land was beheaded.
As a vigilante, he was trying to figure out what was going on. That issue was very messy at the time. The man who was beheaded was also a vigilante. What my dad told me was that a lot was going on, but I didn’t really know what it was all about. There was something very wrong.
Why did you return to Ogun State after your uncle took you to Iwo?
We had to return to our late dad’s property. He was buried on his land. We felt it would be wrong to abandon his grave there. Besides that, my siblings were still in school at the time. They needed to continue their studies.
In the video you made, you said someone came to claim your dad’s property. How did it happen?
Somebody called us to say that some people were working on my daddy’s land. The person asked if we had sold the property. I responded that we had not sold it. So, there was no reason for any stranger to trespass on it.
Were you not living in the house?
We weren’t living on the property. After we came back from Iwo, we lived there for some years, but we later left for a number of reasons. It was waterlogged and we didn’t have the money to manage the house. It needed to be sand-filled. Whenever it was flooded, we couldn’t sleep. That was the reason we left the property, but we did not sell it.
So, when we got there, we met labourers and thugs trying to lay a foundation on the land. We did not meet the man they described to us, but we questioned the workers and they said the land belonged to him. We started calling people to help us. They had already demolished part of my father’s grave.
Have you met the man before?
I wouldn’t know if I had met him when I was very young. But he was not someone I knew as an adult.
Did you report the matter at a police station?
We ran to a police station in the area for help. When we got there, we explained what happened and they asked us to write a statement. The police assured us that we would get our property back. They promised to arrest the man, but they didn’t immediately do so. A few days later, he was arrested and taken to the police station. This happened in May.
What happened after his arrest?
I think he was arrested on a Thursday. The police told us to return on Monday and that he would be charged to court for trespassing on our property. Right there in our presence, the man was interrogated and he told the police that the land belonged to his family. They asked for his documents but he couldn’t produce any. He threatened that he was ready to go to court.
They even asked him to sign an undertaking not to return to our property, but he refused. I think he was an influential person whom people feared. The police said we should come back on Monday and we went to bed with that promise, but the entire matter changed over the weekend. When we got to the police station on Monday, the man had been released.
We asked why he was released without informing us. They said he was sick and they didn’t want him to die in their custody. We reminded them that we lodged the complaint and should have been informed before his release, but nothing happened. The man threatened to kill us in the presence of the police on Thursday, yet they freed him.
Did they rearrest him and charge him to court?
No. Instead, the police came to our house to arrest me forcefully. The IPO who handled the case initially called me and said he had been instructed to bring us to Owode. When he first called, I was not around. The day I returned, I was at my neighbour’s place when somebody called me and I went downstairs.
The police were at my house. They said it was an invitation, but I told them I wanted to change my clothes. I knew something was wrong from the way they were rushing me. So, I went inside to change. I called someone who could speak to them and handed over the phone.
After he finished speaking with the person, they refused to return my phone. I became scared and started pleading with them. I wondered why they would seize my phone. They insisted on taking me to the police station, but I refused to go with them because they did not tell me my offence.
At what point did they return your phone to you?
As I was shouting, people in my neighbourhood started coming out to intervene. When neighbours stepped in, the officers left without returning my phone. Someone later went to the police station to retrieve it for me.
It was when they came a second time that I posted the video on social media. On that day, they arrived very early while we were still asleep.
They kept banging on our door until it was damaged. The IPO kept saying he must take me to the police station and that he would be in trouble if he failed to do so. I became very scared. It took the intervention of a courageous neighbour who challenged them, saying, “What have these children done to deserve this? You cannot defend them, yet you are still harassing them. What do you police officers want from these orphans?”
Was it the same man who trespassed on your property that threatened to kill you?
Yes. He said we must leave the place because it belonged to them. He said we were carrying fake documents around. We have documents for our property. The man just wanted to make us suffer because we are orphans. He said my father had not bought the land properly.
Did you reach out to your dad’s friends and fellow landowners for help?
Yes, we did, but all efforts were futile. As I said earlier, he was feared. People in the community told us to vacate the property for our own good and for peace to reign. They said they knew my father was the rightful owner of the property and that we, his children, were the rightful heirs, but that we should just leave.
I was shocked to hear that. My aunt also spoke to some of the landowners in the area who bought their properties around the same time my father bought his. They all said we should leave the property to the man.
What do you want the government to do?
Firstly, we want the government to help us investigate our father’s death. Although it has been a long time since he died, we know the government has the capacity to investigate and expose his killers. My dad suffered and died. He was a good man. We want to know who killed him. Those who cut his life short should be brought to justice.
Secondly, the government should help us recover our property. We have documents for the property. It is obvious that everyone fears the man, so we want the authorities to come to our aid.
Biodun Busari is a journalist at Punch Newspapers with five years of experience reporting on human interest, crime, diaspora issues, and feature storytelling. He focuses on producing engaging, informative stories that enlighten the public and provide context on complex topics. Biodun’s work demonstrates hands-on newsroom experience and a strong commitment to accurate, purpose-driven journalism.
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