The Lagos State Police Command has arrested 22-year-old Oluwaropo Tifase, for allegedly killing his father, Moses Tifase, in the Mile 2 area of the state.
Our correspondent learnt that Oluwaropo, who is the fifth child and only son of the family, had had clashes with his parents in the past over financial issues.
According to the police, Oluwaropo, a suspected cultist, was rusticated from a university in Ondo State, a few years ago for some cult-related offences.
Punch Metro gathered that 75-year-old Moses, a retired mechanical engineer, was stabbed to death in the neck with a pair of scissors.
The Tifases, who hail from Imesi Ile, Osun State, were living in an apartment in Block 285, Jakande Estate, Mile 2, Lagos.
It was learnt that Oluwaropo allegedly sneaked into his father’s bedroom to carry out the act on December 6.
In her statement to the police, Oluwaropo’s mother, Funmilayo, said the family and neighbours discovered Moses lying dead in a pool of blood.
The 65-year-old added that Oluwaropo had violent tendencies as he once manhandled her during an argument.
She said,
“Oluwaropo is our last child and son. He has four sisters. He and his immediate elder sister stay with us in the house. The elderly ones have got married and left. He usually slept in my room. On the evening before that incident, I told him to go and lock our door. He did that and we all slept.
“But when I woke up at dawn, I discovered he was no longer in my room. When I came to the sitting room, I did not find him either. After a while, I heard footsteps in the passage, and it was him. He was shocked to find me in the sitting room. I asked him where he was coming from; he said he heard some strange footsteps and went to check who it was, but he found nothing.
“The mistake I made was that I did not check his father’s room at that time. It was in the morning that we discovered that Moses had been killed in his room, and surprisingly, our house was not broken into.”
Our correspondent learnt that the neighbours reported the incident at the FESTAC Police Division. The police arrested the three family members –Funmilayo, Oluwaropo and his sister– for questioning.
PUNCH Metro gathered that preliminary police investigations showed that Moses was killed by his son ─ Oluwaropo. However, it was learnt that the suspect had yet to confess to the crime.
It was learnt that Moses had returned from Nasarawa State, where he worked, to Lagos around July this year.
The family reportedly put pressure on their father to come back to Lagos as his work was not going smoothly over there.
When our correspondent visited the family’s apartment on Monday, the doors were locked and dusty. A neighbour, who craved anonymity, told our correspondent that since the incident, the family had not been seen in the apartment.
She said,
“The boy had always been rude. The way he usually argued with his aged parents was baffling.“Since he was rusticated from school, he had been doing some casual work at a warehouse in Apapa. Then on the fateful day, the shocking incident happened.Since that time, the police arrested all the family. I have not noticed anyone in the apartment ever since.”
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, confirmed the arrest.
He said, “The case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigations Department, Yaba, where further investigation is being carried out.”
