A 43-year-old man, Yusuf Hassan, has confessed to the police in Ogun State, South West Nigeria, why he decided to set his ex-lover’s apartment on fire.
He said his intention was to burn her to death.
Hassan explained to the Police that his ex-lover, Busayo Falola, had turned down all efforts to reconcile them.
He said he felt the next thing to do was to set her room on fire.
Ogun State police spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said Hassan was arrested on April 4 after “the burning down of the whole building.”
“The suspect’s arrest followed a report lodged at Ago Iwoye Divisional Police Headquarters by the owner of the affected building, a 62-year-old woman named Adejoke Salau,” Oyeyemi said.
The woman had reported to the police that “she heard a noise from one of her buildings within her compound situated at 127, old Schorlar Palace, Igan road Ago Iwoye, at about 1:15 am, and when she came out she discovered that the building was on fire while the tenants in the house were trapped therein.”
Oyeyemi quoted the woman as stating further that the quick intervention of neighbours assisted in rescuing the three tenants in the building, which she said: “got burnt completely.”
Upon the report, the DPO of Ago Iwoye, CSP Noah Adekanye, was said to have led his men to the scene, where the occupants of the house were invited to the station for interrogation to know the possible cause of the fire.
The police spokesman said the man “confessed further that he intended to burn his ex-lover in her own apartment because he had tried his best to reconcile with her but to no avail.”
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police in Ogun has directed that the suspect be transfer to the State CID for further investigation and possible prosecution.