Cleric arrested for murder after mysterious man reported case

Taiwo Jimoh

IGP, Mohammed Adamu

Policemen at Surulere Police Station in Ilorin, Kwara State, have are still frantically trying to locate a mysterious that walked into their station and revealed the murder of a truck driver, identified as Mr. Emmanuel Adegoke.

The stranger, gave a vividly description of where the truck of the deceased was parked and also dropped phone numbers of the family members of the deceased. He also mentioned how the truck driver was killed.

While the police were trying to get their acts together, to take his statement and ask further questions, he stepped out. The policemen, when they were ready for his statement, went round the premises looking for him, but he appeared to have simply disappeared into thin air.

The information, given by the mysterious stranger, led to the discovery of the truck and arrest of Emmanuel’s killer.

Till date, police had not seen the stranger. The policemen initially thought it was a prank, but decided to try the phone numbers. Low and behold, the owners of the phone numbers said that they had been looking for their missing father and husband.

Emmanuel’s family members rushed to Kwara State. Police, working on the information given by the stranger, arrested Alfa Jamiu, alleged killer of Emmanuel. Alfa Jamiu was alleged to have shot his friend to death, abandoned his corpse in the bush and made away with the deceased’s truck. He had concluded plans to move the truck to Niger State, with a buyer waiting, when police arrested him.

After the arrest of Alfa Jamiu and recovery of the truck, the case was transferred to the Lagos State Police Command, which has jurisdiction on the case. Emmanuel was murdered in Agbowa, Ikorodu area of Lagos State.

According to investigation carried out by policemen in Kwara State, 47-year-old Emmanuel was killed by his buddy, Alfa Jamiu, in order to take over his brand new truck. The truck was bought on hire purchase.

Emmanuel, a father of three, was in his village at Adamo, Ikorodu, when Alfa Jamiu called him. He told him that there was a contract for them to supply granite to a customer at Agbowa area.

Emmanuel received the phone call at about 3: am and had immediately dressed up. He was accompanied to the gate of their house by his wife, Grace, who bid him safe trip. The woman didn’t know that would the last time she would see Emmanuel.

The grieving widow, Grace, explained that January 7, 2020, was the last time she saw and spoke with her husband. She said that the day would forever remain etched in her memory as the saddest day of her life.

Grace recalled the event leading to the murder of her husband. She said: “My husband returned home on Friday, which was January 6. He said that he didn’t want to wake up late because he had to be somewhere very early the following day. When he said he was going out on Saturday morning, I told him to stay back and relax, but he insisted that he would go out to do the work. He told me that he needed to pay the seller of the truck which he had just bought. The payment was supposed to be on instalment. He said that he had to go out to work if he hoped to start paying the seller. He told me that whatever money he made on that Saturday, would be added to the money he wanted to give to the seller of the truck.

“He told me before he left home, that his friend, Alfa Jamiu, called and had asked him to join him to supply five trucks of granite. Alfa Jamiu told my husband that he would allow him to supply two, while he would supply three. In fact, we were sleeping when Alfa Jamiu called, asking him to hurry and meet him. Before he stepped out of the house, I asked him who the Alfa was; he replied that I wouldn’t know him. He said that they were colleagues. I accompanied him to the gate. As he was walking away, he glanced back and asked me to pray for his safety. I then bid him farewell, not knowing that was the last time I would see him. I returned to the room to pray for his safety.”

Grace said that she woke up again at about 6:30am and tried to call Emmanuel. She said that she just wanted to check on him and find out if they had supplied the granite.

She recounted: “I tried his phone several times, but it was not going through. When my daughter noticed I was becoming worried, she urged me to relax, that her dad would return home safely. In spite of her assurance, I was still troubled. My daughter and I later went to Baba Aisha’s house, a family friend, to tell him about my worries and the fact that my husband’s phone was not going.  Baba Aisha told me to relax, that it might be network problem.”

Grace said that she waited for some hours, hoping and praying that Emmanuel would call, but he didn’t.

“I then called one of his apprentices, who told me that he also had been waiting for my husband at the bus stop since 5:am. The apprentice said that he had tried to reach him via phone, but couldn’t. At that point, I started crying. I just knew something had happened to him. I didn’t know that he had been murdered,” said Grace.

Grace soon wiped her tears and decided to embark on amateur investigation herself.  She started by asking the apprentice if he knew Alfa Jamiu. He replied that the man was also a truck driver. The apprentice went to garage where truck drivers used to gather, to alert them that Emmanuel could not be reached on his phone. The elders there immediately called Alfa Jamiu.

Grace recollected: “When Alfa Jamiu was called, he explained that after he and my husband supplied the granite, they went their separate ways. He said that he was on his way to Ilorin, Kwara State, for a function. When another person from the garage called him, he told the person that he was at a wedding party. It was then everybody in the garage knew something was fishy. The chairman of the garage called and ordered Alfa Jamiu to leave everything he was doing and return to Lagos. He didn’t respond; he just switched off his phone. It was then we went to Agbowa Police Station to report the matter.”

The deceased’s daughter, Oyindamola Adegoke, said: “It was God that arrested Alfa Jamiu. The matter was reported at Surulere Police Station in Ilorin, Kwara State by someone nobody knows. When we were contacted by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of the station, he described the case as mysterious because of the man that came to report the case at his station. He explained that a man came to report the matter and then disappeared. They couldn’t find or locate him.”

Oyindamola further said: “The DPO said that the person who came to report the matter gave them a vivid description of where the stolen truck was parked. He also gave the police our phone numbers to reach us. The policemen followed the direction, truck and Alfa Jamiu somewhere in Ilorin on his way to Jebba in Niger State to sell the truck. It was when we got to Ilorin that Alfa Jamiu confessed that he killed my dad. According to him, after my dad rushed out to meet him on that fateful day, they embarked on the journey to supply the supposed granite. On the way, Alfa Jamiu told my dad that he wanted to defecate. My dad also decided to use the opportunity to urinate. Alfa Jamiu said that as my dad was coming out from where he went to urinate, he shot him on his arm. My dad struggled with him, and in the process of the struggle, the second bullet hit him. Alfa Jamiu covered his corpse with leaves in the bush and went away with my dad’s truck. When Alfa Jamiu was asked where he concealed my dad’s corpse, he told us to go to Agbowa. We returned to Lagos and went straight to the area he directed us. We found my dad’s bloated corpse. The corpse was evacuated by policemen from Agbowa Police Station and taken to the mortuary.”

She further disclosed that documents of the truck, were actually found on Alfa Jamiu, which made the police to arrest him. It was when he realised that his game was up, that he started singing like a bird.

Oyindamola further noted: “When the policemen recovered documents of the truck from Alfa Jamiu, they noticed that the name on them didn’t tally with the one on Alfa Jamiu’s identity card. They arrested him. The Police promised to transfer the case to Lagos for further investigation.”

Emmanuel’s sister, Mrs. Toyin Tiamiyu, said that she has lost a friend. She added: “We still have an aged mother, but we have not told her that our brother had been killed. We don’t know how she would react on receiving the news. On the fateful day my brother bought the truck, he called and told me, and I prayed on it. I’m going to miss him dearly.”

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), a Deputy Superintendent of Police, (DSP), Bala Elkana, while confirming the incident, explained that Alfa Jamiu was tracked to Kwara State, where the truck was recovered from him.

Elkana added: “A locally made pistol, used by the suspect to kill the victim was also recovered. The suspect lied to the victim that he had granite, which he wanted to supply. He suggested that they should execute the contract together. While heading to the supposed site to load the granites, the suspect lied to the victim that he wanted to defecate himself. The victim also said he wanted to urinate. Immediately the victim was coming out from where he went to urinate himself, the suspect brought out a gun, shot and killed him. After he confirmed and was satisfied that the victim was dead, he took the victim’s truck and ran to Ilorin, in Kwara State. He was arrested in Ilorin. The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Hakeem Odumosu, has ordered detectives investigating the case to transfer it to Homicide Section in the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba, for further investigation. The victim’s remains have been evacuated and deposited at mortuary for autopsy. After completion of the investigation, the suspect would be charged to court.”