Police arraign ‘most wanted hired killer’ in Lagos

The Lagos State Police Command has arraigned a suspected notorious assassin, Wasiu Akinwande, popularly known as Olori Eso, before the Ogba Magistrate Court on 11 counts, including murder, unlawful possession of firearms, and other serious offences.

This was revealed in a statement issued Tuesday by the command’s spokesperson, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, who described the 44-year-old as the “most wanted vicious and notorious hired killer.”

Akinwande was arrested in the Agbado area of Ogun State following a tactical operation code-named Silence, Speed, and Surprise, carried out by the Command’s Tactical Squad. He had reportedly been on the run for years, evading multiple arrest attempts in Lagos, particularly around Mushin, where he was notorious for orchestrating violent attacks.

According to the police, a large cache of weapons was recovered from his hideout, including AK-47 rifles, a K2 assault rifle, pistols, live ammunition, walkie-talkies, and a poisonous dagger. Akinwande allegedly confessed the weapons were used in multiple operations with his gang.

Hundeyin confirmed that the suspect is being prosecuted for multiple crimes, including the alleged murders of Bankole Yusuf and Ramadan Yusuf on July 31, 2024, in Mushin. He is also accused of fatally shooting 10-year-old Aminat Lateef in 2010 while she was running an errand in the Fadeyi area.

One of the charges reads:
“That you, Wasiu Akinwande, alias Olori Eso, and others now at large, on or before July 31, 2024, at Idi-Araba, Lagos, unlawfully killed Ayinla, Ojaja, and three unidentified persons during a clash using AK-47 rifles, and fled to Alagbado, where you were eventually arrested…”

Other charges include attempted murder and causing permanent disability to 58-year-old Awawu Ajalara, who was shot in both legs during an attack in 2011 in the Idi-Araba area.

Akinwande is being prosecuted under various sections of the Lagos State Criminal Law, 2015, and the Firearms Act of the Federation of Nigeria.