Taiwo Jimoh
and Abiodun Adesoga
 |
| IGP, Mohammed Adamu |
A 42-year-old
medical doctor, Daniel Ibeaji, has revealed how he and his partners in crime
orchestrated the murder of billionaire businessman and owner of Fireman
Generator, Chief Ignatius Odunukwe.
The victim
was alleged to have been killed in a hotel room by Ibeaji and three others. Odunukwe
was lured to the hotel by the gang members, who pretended that they wanted to
buy a property from him.
Ibeaji was
arrested along with Arinze Igwe (26), who is a hotel worker, Solomon Cletus
(30) and Israel Obigaremu (35), who is an Uber driver.
They were
arrested by detectives from the Zonal Intervention Squared (ZIS) of the Zone 2 Police
Command, Onikan, after painstaking investigation.
Recalling
how the plot to kill Odunukwe started, Ibeaji explained that he went to Abuja
for a function and saw Odunukwe’s property, situate at Katamgbe Estate.
He
approached the security guard, explaining that he was interested in buying it.
The guard, unaware of the doctor’s sinister motives, called the deceased via
phone and introduced Ibeaji to him. Odunukwe and the suspect would later
exchange phone numbers.
When Ibeaji
got to Lagos, he contacted Odunukwe, further explaining his interest in the
property. Both haggled and agreed on N900million for the property.
Ibeaji
recounted: “We met in Lagos State and discussed some modalities. We then fixed
another date for December 1, 2019. Before then, I had already planned what to
do, especially since he promised to come along with the original documents of
the building. On that fateful day, my boys were already within the hotel
premises. I was at Beach Resort when he came to meet me. It was on a Sunday.
There was a lot parties going on in the hotel. Immediately he arrived, I walked
him straight into my room, where he sat on the sofa and we started discussing business.
I dragged out a bag filled with money to show and convinced him that I was
committed to buying the property. As he bowed down to check the content of the
bag, I went behind and hit him with axe twice on the head. He fell down.”
The suspect
further recalled: “Chief fell down and was writhing on the ground. I called
Cletus and we dragged him into the toilet, where we injected him with a
poisonous substance to ensure that he died. We later confirmed that he was dead.
Cletus and I forced his body into a carton, but the carton got tore in the
process. I then sent Cletus to get a Ghana Must Go bag, which we used stuffed
his body. We cello taped the bag. We then thought of either dumping his body in
a bush or expressway.”
Cletus stepped
out of the room where the murder was committed to check out the hotel area and
how to drag out the bag without being seen.
“Fortunately,
one of the hotel workers, Arinze, promised to help. We promised to loan him
N2million if we’re able to successfully move the bag out of the hotel,” said
Ibeaji.
Stating his
own side of the story, Cletus said: “When I saw Arinze, I lied to him that we
have something we wanted to dispose. He didn’t know where to dump it. When
Ibeaji promised to loan him N2million, he agreed to show us where to dump the
bag. We move the remains out of the hotel through the laundry section because
there was s noise at the hotel due to the parties going on. When we got to
Ogombo area, we chopped the body into pieces and then threw the remains into
the swamp. We returned to the hotel and took the original documents of the
property.”
Cletus said
that he met Ibeaji in prison in Abuja, where the latter introduced himself as a
businessman.
“Ibeaji told
me that he wanted me to help him in his business. When I came out of prison in
September, we reconnected through phone. We had a meeting in Lagos, where he
told me about the deal. He promised to loan me N2million to start a business of
my own. I fell for the money because I didn’t have any hope of starting afresh
in life.”
Arinze on his part confessed that it was
Cletus that approached and begged him to assist him in disposing a carton.
Cletus had told him that he didn’t know where to dispose it.
Arinze narrated: “I know Ibeaji because
he used to patronise our hotel. Before the incident, he had told me that
somebody was coming to visit him. He said that he would need my services, but I
didn’t know it was about killing someone. We were able to take chief remains
through the laundry section downstairs. We used his Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV)
to dump him in the swamp. It was because of the N2million he promised to loan
me that made me decide to take them to the site where the remains were dumped.”
Obigaremu, the Uber driver, said he was
at home when he suddenly saw Arinze with a SUV.
When he inquired from Arinze where he
got the car, the latter told him that his boss gave him to park it until the
following morning. Arinze further lied that he had earlier used the car to drop
his boss at the airport.
Obigaremu said: “I didn’t know it was someone
else’s car. My relationship with Daniel was that anytime he’s in town, I drive
him around. I don’t have any other relationship with him. I am innocent of this
crime.”
The Assistant Inspector General of
Police (AIG), in charge of Zone II, Ahmad Illyasu, said he received a petition that
Odunukwe was missing.
The AIG said the deceased left his home
at Ikoyi on December 1, 2019, same day he was killed but didn't return.
Illyasu said: “After the complaint, I
ordered the commander, Zonal Intervention Squad (ZIS), to swing into action and
arrests the suspects. The ring leader, Daniel Ibeaji, claimed to be a medical
doctor. He said that he graduated from Royal College of Surgery and Medicine in
Edinburg, United Kingdom. He has Master in Business Administration from Zurich.
Preliminarily investigation revealed that the suspect had been living on
ill-gotten money through the act for long.
It was also discovered that he had committed similar crimes in Bayelsa
State, where he killed a Commissioner, Honourable Deologa and dumped his body
on the roadside in Abuja. The murder of the Commissioner made his wife to
relocate out of the country, vowing never to return to Nigeria again. His second victim is Jude Efulue, a property developer
in Abuja. I want to warn criminals to stay away from Lagos and Ogun states. The
suspects never thought they would be arrested here. We’re going to charge them
to court after completion of investigation.”
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