Police said the suspect has confessed to the commission of the crime but blamed it on the devil.
A 46-year-old man, identified as Hassan Azeez, has been arrested by the Ogun State Police Command for setting his wife, Olayinka, ablaze after a minor disagreement.
The incident occurred back in October 2022 when the suspect poured petrol on his wife and set her ablaze for choosing to wash his clothes rather than prepare food for him as he had instructed.
This was contained in a statement issued by the state Police Public Relations Officer, SPAbimbola Egbeyemi,on Friday, February 3, 2023.
The statement noted that the victim’s father had reported the incident at Ibokun police station on October 22, 2022, and officers were quickly deployed to the scene but the suspect had escaped before they arrived.
However, Azeez was eventually arrested in Ogun on January 22, 2023, by police operatives who had been trailing him since the incident.
On interrogation, the suspect told the police that he just returned from Benin Republic where he had fled to since the incident.
He also confessed to the commission of the crime but blamed it on the devil.
The statement partly read:“The suspect was arrested following a report lodged at Ibokun police station by the victim’s father, who reported on 22nd of October 2022, that her daughter, Olayinka Hassan was set ablaze by her husband over a minor disagreement, and that the victim, a mother of one, has been rushed to an hospital in Ibadan.
“Upon the report, the DPO Ibogun division, CSP Samuel Oladele quickly mobilized his men and moved to the scene. But before getting there, the suspect has escaped. Since then, the police operatives have been on his trail until 22nd of January when he was eventually apprehended.
“On interrogation, the suspect who claimed to have run away to Benin Republic confessed to the commission of the crime but blamed it on the devil. According to him, he asked the victim to prepare food for him, but instead of the victim to prepare his food, she was busy washing clothes.
“He stated further that he got annoyed because he was hungry and the annoyance made him to pour petrol on her and set her on fire. When asked whose clothes the woman was washing, he confessed that it was his clothes.”
Egbeyemi added the state Commissioner of Police, CP Lanre Bankole, has directed that the suspect be transferred to the Homicide section of the state Criminal Investigations Department for further investigation and possible prosecution.
