My stepmother’s spell made me rob Governor Akala’s house, cleaner says

The cleaner blames a “spiritual attack from home” for his actions.

A Beninoise cleaner, Francis Kadibuwa, at the Bodija, Ibadan residence of former Oyo State Governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, has blamed “spiritual attack from home” for his decision to burgle his master’s house last week.

Mr. Kadibuwa, who was paraded at the State Police Command, Ibadan on Monday, said one of his three stepmothers cast a spell that would ensure that he makes a blunder at work.

While parading the suspect, the State Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Ndabawa, said the incident was reported to the police by the wife of the ex-governor, Oluwakemi Alao-Akala. According to him, the former Oyo First Lady reported that the suspect broke into her apartment, ransacked it and made away with some of her valuables including jewelry and money. Based on the report, a team of detectives from the state Special Anti-Robbery Squad was charged with unraveling the identity of the people behind the crime.

“After a diligent and painstaking investigation, one Francise Kadibuwa, a Benionise, who is a cleaner at the house, confessed to being the culprit. He claimed he single-handedly planned and executed the burglary by buying house breaking implements like hammer, saw-blade, two chisels and nail removers a week before the burglary which he carried out between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. of 5th May, 2013 when the occupants of the house traveled to Ogbomoso,” Mr. Ndabawa said.

The suspect narrated how he was caught to journalists on Monday.

According to him, soon after the incident, the ex-governor’s wife invited an Islamic cleric who gave him some mixture to drink which forced him to confess.

“I went there last week Friday between 1:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. I broke the window with the implements that I had already bought. I broke the window so that they would not suspect me. I always keep the keys to the house and if I entered through the door, they would suspect me. So, I chose to enter through the window so that they would think that it was the handiwork of an outsider. I stole foreign currency-which I think was pounds sterling, jewelries, shoes and other valuables but returned them after I made confession to the police,” he said.

The police said on Monday that he would soon be charged to court.