Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure

Ondo State Police Command has arrested the 45-year-old man, Deji Adenuga, who burnt his wife and eight other family members to death in Okitipupa, headquarters of Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State.

The suspect who was paraded by the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Undie Adie at the command’s headquarters in Akure, confessed that he set the house where the parent of his wife lived ablaze, thereby killing eight persons.

Adenuga who was one of the ex-convicts that escaped from Olokuta Prison after a jailbreak in 2013, said he had earlier in 2003 killed his first wife after she allegedly made away with a sum of N450,000 belonging to him.

He said he took the decision to burn the family of his wife to death after his wife had aborted his four-month pregnancy and took away some of his personal belongings to her parent’s house.

The suspected arsonist, who hails from Erinje in Okitipupa Local Government Area of the state said he was ready to face the consequences of his action, stressing that “I have no regret killing them because when they did their own nobody punished them.”

He said: “I took the decision to set their house ablaze when it became clear that my wife had moved to her parents’ house with some of my belongings. We had little altercations at home and she moved out of the house. I was the one paying their house rent and I was also responsible for their day-to-day living. I am a palm wine tapper and I always live up to expectation both at home and at my in-law’s house. My wife’s parents always ask for money from me and food stuffs and I always obliged.

“I waited for months thinking that the family will rescind their decision but to no avail. I also reported the matter to the police but the police did not take any action. I, therefore, decided to set their house ablaze, so as for my belongings in their custody to be destroyed, but they were also burnt,” he added.

The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Adie, who assured that the suspect would be charged to court, disclosed that he was arrested in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State where he relocated to after committing the heinous crime.

He said the police would also investigate the case of murder which led to his imprisonment and how he escaped from prison.