Lagos Herbalist Confesses to Burying Retired Customs Officer, 10-Year-Old Daughter Alive Over N9m Dispute

Shock and outrage gripped the Lagos State Police Command after a 64-year-old herbalist confessed to burying a retired Customs officer and her 10-year-old adopted daughter alive inside his shrine in Ajuwon, Ogun State.

The suspect, identified as Alhaji Olatunji Azeez, admitted to the heinous act during his parade at the command headquarters in Ikeja, saying he killed the victims to avoid refunding ₦9 million paid to him for fertility rituals that failed.

Police Commissioner Umar Manko, who led the briefing, described the act as “one of the most shocking and heartless crimes ever uncovered by the command.”

The deadly deceit

According to the police, the late Mrs Angela Kerry, a 68-year-old retired officer who lived in the New Oko-Oba area of Lagos, had approached Azeez seeking spiritual help for childlessness.

After several failed rituals and herbal concoctions, Kerry reportedly demanded a refund of the ₦9 million she paid the herbalist. Azeez then lured her to his shrine on Wadoye Street, Ajuwon, under the pretext of returning the money.

She arrived with her 10-year-old adopted daughter — unaware that Azeez had dug a shallow grave behind his shrine, disguised as a prayer spot.

“I asked her to stand on the white cloth. The moment she did, she fell into the hole. I covered it with sand and said I had gained victory over my enemy,” the herbalist recounted coldly.

He went on to admit that when he returned later that evening and found the girl alive, he buried her too. The following day, he cemented the spot to conceal the bodies.

The horrifying secret began to unravel after the victims’ family reported them missing at the New Oko-Oba Police Station. Investigators traced Mrs Kerry’s Toyota Camry to a car dealer’s workshop, where two suspects were arrested. Their confessions led detectives straight to Azeez’s shrine.

“We recovered the decomposed remains of the victims and their belongings from the shallow grave,” Commissioner Manko said.

He confirmed that the suspect tried to sell the victim’s car shortly after the murder.

Azeez, who claimed to have three wives and five children, told journalists he acted out of fear that the retired officer would harm him after threatening to use her connections in the force to recover her money.

“She told me she would show me she was in the force. I remembered she once showed me a gun. I felt she would kill me first, so I acted before her,” he said without remorse.

The police have vowed to prosecute Azeez and his accomplices to the fullest extent of the law, calling the case “a grim reminder of the dangers of desperation and deceit in spiritual dealings.”