Yusuf Hassan, 43, was arrested by police in Ogun State for allegedly setting fire to his ex-lover, Busayo Falola’s rented flat, thereby destroying the entire building.
The suspect was apprehended on Tuesday, April 4, in the state’s Ago Iwoye area.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, told journalists in Abeokuta, that the suspect was arrested following a complaint from the owner of the house, Adejoke Salau.
According to him, the landlady reported to the police that, she heard a noise from one of her buildings within her compound, situated at No. 127, Old Scholar 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 inside.
Oyeyemi said the landlady added that, it was the quick intervention of neighbours that rescued the three tenants, but that the house got burnt completely.
“Upon the report, the DPO, Ago Iwoye, Noah Adekanye, led his men to the scene from where the occupants of the house were invited to the station for interrogation on the possible cause of the inferno.
“On interrogation, one of the tenants, Falola Busayo, informed the police that she saw her ex-lover, Yusuf Hassan, at the back of her window at about 12:30am of the fateful day.
“She explained further that she was scared to see him at that ungodly hour, which made her to scream and run out of her room to the room of another tenant.
“This made other tenants come out in order to check what Yusuf was up to, only for them to discover flame coming out of Busayo’s room.
“Upon the information, Yusuf Hassan was hunted for and was subsequently apprehended.
“He initially denied knowing anything about the incident, but when the DPO ordered detectives to go to his house and find out whether he was at home at the time of the incident, he decided to open up and confessed to being the person who set the house ablaze.
“He confessed further that he intended to burn his ex-lover in her own apartment because he had tried his possible best to reconcile with her but to no avail, and that was the reason why he bought N500 petrol, poured it into her room through the window and set it on fire,” Oyeyemi said.