By Christopher Oji, Lagos
A 43-year-old man, Yusuf Hassan, has been arrested for allegedly attempting to set his lover ablaze for quitting their relationship.
Hassan, who is currently being interrogated by the Ogun State Police Command allegedly confessed that he set his girlfriend’s apartment ablaze with the intention of killing her for calling their relationship a quit.
According to Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, the man was arrested on April 4, for setting the apartment of his ex-lover, Busayo Falola, ablaze, thereby burning down the whole building.
“The suspect was arrested, following a report lodged at Ago Iwoye Divisional Headquarters, by the 62 years old landlady of the house, Adejoke Salau, who reported that she heard a noise from one of her buildings within her compound situated at no 127, Old Schorlar Palace,Igan Road Ago Iwoye, at about 1:15 am, and when she came out, she discovered that the building was on fire while the tenants in the house were trapped in there.
“She stated further that it was the quick intervention of neighbours that rescued the three tenants, but the house got burnt completely.
“Upon the report, the DPO Ago Iwoye, CSP Noah Adekanye, led his men to the scene from where the occupants of the house were invited to the station for interrogation in order to know the possible cause of the inferno.
“On interrogation, one of the tenants, Falola Busayo, informed the police that she saw her ex lover Yusuf Hassan at the back of her window at about 12:30 am of the fateful day.
“She explained further that she was scared to see him at that ungodly hour which made her to scream and ran out of her room to the room of another tenant.
“This made other tenants to come out in order to check what Yusuf was up to, only for them to discover flame coming out from Busayo’s room.
“Upon the information, Yusuf Hassan was hunted for and was subsequently apprehended.
“He initially denied knowing anything about the incident, but when the DPO ordered detectives to go to his house to find out whether he was at home as at the time of the incident, he decided to open up and confessed being the person who set the house ablazed.
“He confessed further, that he intended to burn his ex- lover in her own apartment because he had tried his possible best to reconcile with her, but to no avail, and that was the reason he bought #500 petrol; poured it into her room through the window and set it on fire.”
He said the suspect would soon be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigation and possible prosecution.