Shock as man murders friend over N300 in Lagos

IGP, Ibrahim Idris

A 30-year- old man, Ahmed Sosan, has allegedly stabbed his friend to death over N300 eye glasses at Agege area of Lagos State.

The incident happened around 2pm on January 1, at Alla Street, during the New Year celebration in the community.
According to eye witness, Sosan approached the deceased, Yusuf Sani, where he was dancing and ordered him to hand over the glasses to him. According to Sosan, he liked the glasses. The demand, however, annoyed Sani, who refused to hand over the glasses, leading to quarrel.
A resident, Suleiman explained that Sani and Sosan started fighting when Sosan attempted to remove the glasses from the face of Sani.
Suleiman said: "When they were fighting, some of us approached and tried to settle the issue. They both later went their separate ways. While Sani went into a nearby mosque to observe his prayer, Sosan came back around 4pm with the hope that they had settled. To our surprise, Sosan went to where Sani was standing and grabbed and held his clothes. Sosan said they should continue their fight from where they stopped.  
“Sosan slapped Sani and soon, they were fighting again. Before we knew what was happening, Sosan brought out a knife and stabbed Sani on the chest.”  
Another resident, Mr. Abdulahi Aminu, said that Sani initially didn’t know he had been stabbed.
Aminu said: "Immediately, blood started gushing out of his chest. He became unconscious and screamed that we should rush him to a nearby chemist for treatment. He later died on the way to the chemist. He died of blood loss."
Our correspondent gathered that policemen from Alabo Police Station were alerted of the incident. The police arrested Sosan. Some members of the community were said to have hurled stones at the policemen, insisting that Sosan should be allowed to be and that the corpse of Sani should not be moved. According to the community members, it was a family issue.
One of the policemen got injured after a stone landed on his head. Another group of youths pounced on Sosan and almost lynched him. He rescued by policemen who used tear gas to disperse the crowd.
One of Sani’s brothers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “I was called by some residents that my brother, Sani, had been killed. They said I should come and bury him.  When I got to the community, I went to the police station to pick the remains of my brother. I buried him. Sosan and Sani are both my brothers. We are family, Sosan and Sani grew up in the compound. What happened was an act of God. We have accepted our fate.”
Another resident, Mr. Adebowale Abiodun, said: “Government should beam their search light on Agege community. This is because foreigners have infiltrated the community and they are the one causing problem in the community. It was God and quick intervention of some elders in the community that prevented the fight from escalating beyond what we could have handled. The grace was that the suspect and the victim are both Hausa."
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Chike Oti, a superintendent of Police, when contacted on the issue, promised to get back to our correspondent. But as at press time, he was yet to do so.