A night guard, identified as Mohammed Ali, has allegedly killed his friend over a N40,000 unpaid loan in the Oworonshoki area of Lagos.
Ali, who, according to an eyewitness, was working as a night guard at a premises not too far away from where the victim, Funbi Lawal, ran a cosmetics and provisions store, had approached him (Lawal) for a loan to buy a motorcycle for commercial purposes on hire purchase terms.
But unknown to Lawal, his magnanimity and desire to help a friend in need would eventually cost him his life.
Owing to his inability to pay up the remaining part of the loan, Ali allegedly began to plot how he would get himself out of the debt trap.
An eyewitness, who pleaded anonymity, further disclosed that trouble started between the two friends, when Ali could no longer honour and fulfil the loan repayment terms.
Ali, the eyewitness said, had made some payments, but an outstanding payment of N40,000 to clear off the debt dragged on for too long and this was what pitched the suspect against his benefactor and friend in a bitter rivalry and enmity.
Narrating the incident further, he said in his bid to avoid paying off the debt, Ali allegedly hatched a wicked plot by conniving with some of his friends in the area to take Lawal’s life.
Oblivious of the wicked fate that was to befall him that night, and apparently motivated by the prospect of recovering the debt owed him, lawal honoured ali’s invitation, but that was the last time he was seen alive. He had embarked on a journey of no return!
“Ali had reasoned that if he could kill Lawal, there would be no one to ask him for the money owed and the N40,000 would become his,” he said.
The eyewitness added that at about 10:00pm on the said day, Ali put a call across to Lawal, inviting him to his residence, where, unknown to the victim, the other members of the suspect’s gang were waiting.
Oblivious of the wicked fate that was to befall him that night, and apparently motivated by the prospect of recovering the debt owed him, Lawal honoured Ali’s invitation, but that was the last time he was seen alive. He had embarked on a journey of no return!
The moment Fumbi sauntered into the huge, but unoccupied building where Ali worked as a night guard, the suspect’s gang members reportedly pounced on him, tied him up and gave him a thorough beating.
But not satisfied, the suspect’s gang members decided to kill Lawal. They allegedly hacked him to death with machetes and later dumped his corpse by the roadside early the next day.
The eyewitness further said that Ali’s heinous crime was exposed when the blood that drained from Lawal’s corpse was traced to the suspect’s residence. He was also said to be the last person that called the victim before his brutal murder.
Lawal’s death sparked off a protest as youths in the area mobilised themselves and vandalised the building where Ali worked as night guard. The suspect, however, narrowly escaped being lynched by the angry youths as he slipped out before the mob got to him.
Ali was later arrested by policemen from the Oworonshoki Police Division.
