Operatives of the Kwara State Police Command have commenced investigations into the murder of AbdulRazaq Ajani, a retired Controller of Works at the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, who was killed on New Year’s Day in Ilorin, the state capital.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the command, Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi, confirmed the incident during a statement to Tribune Online on Thursday.

“Yes, the incident happened. I can confirm to you that there was a report that a retired controller of works was killed in Tanke area yesterday. Police have waded into the incident and have commenced investigation on it”, she said.

The retired controller of Works was assassinated on New Year’s Day in Ilorin, moments after returning home with his wife and children from a trip to his hometown, Offa, in the Offa local government area of the state.

Tribune Online gathered that the incident occurred at about 3 p.m. at Dele Gege Street, off Awolowo Road, in the Tanke Area of Ilorin, the Kwara state capital.

Speaking with journalists at the residence about two hours after the incident, family members described how the assassins casually entered Ajani’s compound moments after he drove in with his immediate family members.

Described as four young men between 18 and 22 years old, it was not clear how they arrived in the area.

However, a review of CCTV camera recordings showed two of them standing beside Ajani’s gate, one of them sipping water from a plastic bottle, while the two others strolled into the compound.

On noticing the young men from one of the two sitting rooms on the ground floor of the one-storey main building, the retired officer reportedly rose to meet them at the main door.

“They appeared to be engaging him in a discussion until he was suddenly lying face down on the ground,” said one of the family members describing what he saw on the CCTV.

The immediate family members reportedly watched in horror as the assassins hacked their father with what looked like small axes.

Their gruesome task accomplished, the assassins swiftly fled the scene before the howling of the family members drew the attention of neighbors’.

It was also gathered that as at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, the police had evacuated the body and left.

A few mourners and some family members sat in the main sitting room, a few metres from the blood-splattered corridor where the senior citizen was hacked to death by the assassins.

A civil engineer, Ajani, retired from the Federal Ministry of Works about four years ago but was said to have accepted a contract appointment at the ministry last year.

Neighbours in the quiet street spoke highly of him and his wife, who owns a popular confectionery, Reo Cakes, in Ilorin.