An Islamic cleric, Ali Mohammed, who was arrested for allegedly killing a 32-year-old graduate of Business Administration, Olufunbi Lawal has confessed to the crime, saying he committed the act so as not to pay back the debt of N32,000 he was owing the deceased.
Confessing to the crime, the Islamic cleric revealed that he arranged four of his relatives, who killed Lawal on Thursday at Olorunfemi Street, in the Oworonshoki area of Lagos State.
He said, “Olufunbi sold a motorcycle to me for N40, 000 last month and I gave him N8, 000 with a promise to pay up before the end of October. But he kept disturbing me to give him his balance. I delayed in paying because the motorcycle developed some faults that also gulped the money I was to use to pay him.
“On that fateful day, I invited some of my relatives. We killed him in order to stop him from disturbing me.”
Lawal, a graduate of a Lagos polytechnic, on the fateful day was alleged to have left his shop to meet the suspect so as to collect the money Mohammed owed him for a motorcycle he sold to him.
On entering Mohammed’s resident on Thursday night, the deceased was grabbed by a gang of five men led by the suspect; they were said to have tied a rope around his neck before slamming an iron rod on his head, breaking his skull in the process.
Not done, the men chopped off Lawal’s fingers, slashed his neck with a cutlass and dragged his corpse down from the three-storey building before abandoning the remains by the roadside, where it was found on Friday morning.
Speaking on the incident, Funke Nuberu who resides in the area and a friend of the victim revealed that Lawal and Mohammed had been friends for more than four years, adding that when Olufunbi’s landlady started demanding rent, he decided to turn to his friend to offset his debt, but the suspect asked for more time.
She said, “Lawal had a shop where he sold provisions. Mohammed is a security guard on the street; he was employed to guard a renovated building that had been put up for sale by an insurance company.
“Lawal’s shop is adjacent to Mohammed’s house on Olorunfemi Street.
“The deceased usually closed his shop around 10pm. But he got a call around 8pm on that fateful day and asked one of his friends to look after the shop and that he would soon return.
“Around 10pm, he was not back and the landlady wanted to lock the gate, so the person looking after the shop came to inform me that Olufunbi had not returned.”
Nuberu further disclosed that all efforts to communicate with Lawal on his phone proved abortive as it was later discovered that he left his handset in the shop, adding that on checking the phone call log, it was discovered that Mohammed was the last person he spoke with.
According to her, Mohammed was approached but he denied knowing his friend’s whereabouts.
“We challenged him that he was the last person that Olufunbi spoke with on the phone but he said Olufunbi called his old telephone line,” Nuberu added.
Following Mohammed’s denial of the victim’s whereabouts, Lawal family reported the case at the Oworonsoki Police Division.
Confirming the incident, the Lagos State Spokesperson, DSP Joe Offor, said two suspects have been arrested in connection with the murder.
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