Security operatives on Wednesday foiled an attempt by a murder suspect, Adamu Adamu, to escape from the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) in Akure, where he was being treated for COVID-19 infection.

The patient is one of the suspects in the murder of Olufunke Olakunrin, the daughter of a leader of the Afenifere.

Mr Adamu was recently arraigned along with three others charged with the murder of Mrs Olakunrin, but the Chief Magistrate, while sending them on remand at the Correctional Centre in Owo, ordered that they be tested for COVID-19 before being admitted into custody.

The suspect tested positive after results were returned and was admitted into the IDH for treatment.

The governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, had directed that the suspect be manacled to his bed to prevent any attempt to escape from the hospital.

Mrs Olakurin was gruesomely murdered by a band of armed men in July last year, at Kajola, along the Ore-Ijebu Ode expressway.

Mr Adamu and his gang of kidnappers were said to have been terrorising the Ondo/Edo axis, killing and kidnapping residents for ransom until the police arrested them in April.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the suspect had been deploying various tactics to escape since he was admitted at the hospital.

This became very pronounced on Wednesday, necessitating the deployment of solders to beef security in the facility.

Sources at the hospital confirmed that the suspect, in the effort to sneak out, spent long hours each time he visited the toilet, which aroused the attention of the doctors and nurses at the hospital.

It was learnt that the police were immediately brought in to prevent his “latest attempt to escape.”

Although the Ondo State Police Command is yet to speak on the development, the Commissioner of Health, Wahab Adegbenro, confirmed it to PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday morning.

He said the suspect “made efforts to escape from the IDH, but the security operatives prevented him.”

Mr Wahab also said soldiers had been deployed at the hospital to back up the police operatives to further forestall any breach of the security.

The commissioner disclosed to PREMIUM TIMES that the suspect would be transferred to the Owo Correctional Centre along with the three other suspects in line with the order of the magistrate court.

“He will be taken to prison today, and there will be no further problems,” he said.

He added that the suspect had been fully treated of the disease and fit to be admitted into the correctional centre.