Undergraduate Hacked To Death Two Months To Wedding.

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

 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 at

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.

Source: Vanguard