Tragedy struck at Olorunfunmi Street in Oworo area of Lagos, on
Thursday, following the murder of a 32- year-old man, Lawal Afolabi
Kunbi, allegedly by a debtor, in a bid to evade repayment.
Kunbi, a business administration student of Lagos State
Polytechnic, Isolo, reportedly received a telephone call from a private
security guard, identified simply as Aliu, who lives on same street with
him, to come and collect N32,000 owed him.
Sunday Vanguard gathered that the deceased, who owned a provision
store, sold his motorcycle to Aliu, in order to raise money to pay his
school fees, about a month ago.
However , after receiving the call, Kunbi dashed out of his shop to
Aliu’s apartment, adjacent to his shop, obviously optimistic he would
pay his school fees after all.
The unexpected
But, unknown to Kunbi, who was said to be preparing for his wedding
in December, Aliu allegedly had a sinister motive up their sleeves. The
bridegroom to be simply disappeared, forcing members of his family to
conduct a search for him through out Thursday night.
The search party found the lifeless body of Kunbi around 9am on
Friday behind Aliu’s compound, throwing the entire community into
mourning. A source said the victim’s five fingers had been chopped
off, while marks of violence were apparent all over his body. There also
a rope tied round his neck, suggesting that he could have been
strangled. The question on everyone’s lip was, who could have killed
Kumbi?
Suspects arrested
Meanwhile, five suspects have been arrested by the police in connection with the incident. One of the suspects is Aliu.
Early that Friday, Aliu was allegedly seen fetching water from
Kunbi’s compound. The number of times he went to fetch water reportedly
arouse the curiosity of residents, necessitating the brave ones to
ask what he was doing with the unusual volume of water he was fetching.
Not satisfied with his explanation, some of the residents, it was
learnt, forced their way into his apartment,where they allegedly
discovered, to their shock, blood stains all over the place. The suspect
was said to have been using the water to clean up the blood stains in
his apartment, apparently to cover up his track. Also, shattered
louvres were reportedly seen all over the apartment. Consequently, the
residents descended on Aliu.
An eye witness told Sunday Vanguard: “When we searched through
Kunbi’s telephone, which he left while he rushed to answer the call of
death last night (Thursday), we discovered that the last caller was
Aliu. When confronted at first, Aliu denied seeing him, insisting rather
that a search team be raised to look for him.
What gave him away was the blood stain that was trailed, right from
where Kunbi’s body was dumped, to Aliu’s apartment. We also saw a white
cloth stained with blood, on the floor and the key of Kunbi’s shop in
Aliu’s apartment. When he discovered that the game was up, he pleaded
that we should not kill him and disclosed that the plan to kill Kunbi
was hatched by his friends”.
We searched for victim – Landlady
Owner of the building, where Kunbi resided, who also spoke to Sunday Vanguard anonymously, said
‘’I leased out one of my shops to Kunbi two years ago. He was a jolly
good fellow and full of wisdom. That was why I always made out time to
advise him about life. However, one thing about him was that he kept
secrets. Perhaps if he had told one about this, we would have mediated
on the payment.
“That fateful night, I sent my daughter to go and lock the gate,
only for her to come back to say Kunbi’s shop was still opened at that
odd hour. I decided to come down myself to lock the gate and still met
the shop opened. I was surprised because it was very much unlike him .
He never kept late nights nor lived a frivolous life. I decided to go
downstairs to lock the gate myself , with the intention that he would
call when he returned. A boy told me he left the shop at about 8pm and,
when I asked where he went to, he could not provide answer. I decided to
call him on the phone, only to discover it was ringing right in his
shop. Two hours later, I called the boy who said he saw Kunbi going out,
to find out if he was back but he said no. At that moment, I knew
something was wrong and informed my husband.
To my shock, after my morning devotion, I went out only to see a
crowd watching a lifeless body that was covered with nylon. On further
enquiry, it was the body of Kunbi!”.
Mob
At about 1pm, that Friday, some policemen, from Alonge Oworo
Division, arrived the scene with the suspects, who were taken to the
apartment where the heinous crime was allegedly committed. All of a
sudden, a crowd that had gathered descended on the suspects, to the
amazement of the policemen, attempting to carry out a jungle justice.
But the move was stopped by the firing of tear gas by the policemen.
Spokesman for the Lagos State Police Command, Joe Offor, a Deputy
Superintendent of Police, confirmed the incident, adding that
investigation was still ongoing.
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