Posted by Kenny Ashaka, Kaduna on
For a man who admitted killing his friend over a loan to now turn round to pick bones with the police for according to him, accusing him of also taking the deceased's money sounds silly as defense.
For a man who admitted killing his friend over a loan to now turn round to pick bones with the police for according to him, accusing him of also taking the deceased's money sounds silly as defense.
But that is how a student of Kaduna Polytechnics finds proper to defend himself in a murder case. Maybe, he dreams that such defense would exculpate him of the heavy load of murder charge.
However, he needs to say more and likely conjure extra magic to wriggle out of this jam he has found himself in, according to the information he volunteered to the police.
The next twist of the sad story is that another friend of the accused murderer also admitted that he assisted his good friend to dispose of the body of the victim in a ‘safe' place just for the fear of being implicated by the murderer. They thought blood could be shed without a trace. But they were woefully wrong. Now, the Kaduna police already have them singing and soon they will face the music in the court for murder.
Partners in ‘crime'
Yunusa Isiyaka, a Higher National Diploma One student at the Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna in particular wondered at the police station why a fellow student and friend, Suleiman Yusuf Oyibo would want to involve him in a heinous crime. On his part, Suleiman, in self reproach blamed the crime on the devil.
Suleiman, a 100-level Chemical Engineering student at the Kaduna Polytechnic had stabbed his friend of many years to death over a N30,000 loan the deceased, Mallam Yahaya Ali, a Higher Executive Officer with the Kaduna State Water Board, secured for him (Suleiman).
For the duo, the dream of the proverbial golden fleece has suddenly become an illusion, a dream frittered away by the tall ambition of Suleiman who wants to become a businessman.
Killed over loan
Yahaya, the deceased did not know he was courting death when he drove in his car to Suleiman's house to deliver the N30,000 loan he had secured for his friend Suleiman who is Ebira from Kogi State. The deceased had driven to his friend's house, confident that he was going to be part of the success story of Suleiman's struggles to make it in life.
A deal had earlier been struck that the loan he (the deceased) secured for Suleiman must be accompanied by a collateral which must be a refrigerator.
But things fell apart between the two friends when the deceased, having arrived Suleiman's house with the N30,000 loan insisted on the completion of the agreement with a neutral witness appending his signature before money and refrigerator could exchange hands.
The deceased was reportedly attempting to walk out of his friend's house following a deadlock in the mode of releasing the N30,000 when he was seized by the suspect and stabbed several times. He slumped and died.
‘Disposable item'
A day later, the attention of the police and relations who had organized a search party for the deceased was called to a corpse near a primary school in Kawo area of the metropolis. Truly, it was Yahaya Ali's body dumped face down in a wheel barrow with a couple of items stacked on his back.
A close examination showed blood stains all over his body at the points the suspect dealt deadly cuts on him with a knife. Police suspected he must have been thoroughly stabbed, judging from the marks on his body.
Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Ernest Ibhaze told Saturday Sun that on further investigation, 'his close friend, Suleiman Yusuf Oyibo, a student of Kaduna Polytechnic was arrested and found with the deceased Water Board and National Identity Cards.
I killed my friend
'The suspect confessed that he single handedly killed the deceased in his room when he visited him and thereafter called on one Yunusa Isiyaka, a fellow student who came and assisted him to convey the corpse in the deceased vehicle to the primary school premises where it was dumped.
'The suspect later called one Abdulkarim Imran, a motor mechanic who removed the vehicle, a Honda Civic from the scene to Tudun-Wada with the intention to dispose of it"; he explained.
Ibhaze said the suspects have all been arrested and would be charged before a court for culpable homicide.
I didn't collect his money
Suleiman, however, told Saturday Sun that he was merely being accused of murdering his friend after collecting N30,000 'whereby I did not collect the money from him", he said
On the other hand, he said, 'the thing that happened is just the devil that made it happen when he came over", adding 'I did not kill him.
'When he came we were just gisting whereby he said he wanted to take the fridge and before I knew it, he brought out a knife from his body and at the end of the day he got injured", he said.
How I dumoed his corpse
But Yunusa Isiyaka, Suleiman's friend told Saturday Sun in an interview that his friend (Suleiman) was being economical with the truth. He said Suleiman confessed to him that he killed Yahaya and called on him for assistance when he was confused as to how to dispose of the corpse.
'My friend killed his friend and involved me. We are both students of Kaduna Polytechnic. We used to call each other if we have not seen for sometime. I am a HND One Textile Technology student. So, when I called him, he said I should come right now to his house. I started wondering what the problem is. I asked him what the problem is. He said we should just come; me and one of my friends called MT. I later met my friend MT. I told him I do not know what is wrong with my friend. He said we should come. He sounded very frantic on phone. I told him that my friend brought a bike to the school the other time. Maybe it is troubling him now, I do not know.
'We met him at Kawo Primary School field. I asked him what the problem was. He told me there was no problem but that one of his friends wants to sell a car to him at the rate of N170,000. So, he has called us to help him take the car to Tudun Wada. He said he would meet us the following day so that we can discuss. I do not know how to drive. But my friend can drive. We then walked towards the front of his house because the car was parked there. The car is a red Honda Civic. When we got to the front of his house, we did not enter his room. He gave the key of the car to my friend. My friend tried to start the car. It refused to start. My friend now asked how a man can just drop a car and say he wants to sell it for N170,000.
Suleiman now called a mechanic. He later told us that the mechanic said he cannot come right away because he is busy. I offered to call a mechanic. When the mechanic came, he started the vehicle and drove us to Tudun Wada.
'When we got to his garage in Tudun Wada, he parked the car there. It was the next day he came to me and narrated what happened. He said since we have already assisted in taking the car away, if we do not help him to remove the corpse, he would implicate all of us. I thought of myself, my friend who is a family man and the mechanic. How do I involve all these people. If on the other hand I report this incident to the police, they will hold me. So, I started crying. He told me to compult myself. I should just do what he has asked me to do. I stood up and went to the mechanic and asked him to find a place to dump the car where they can't trace the car. I did not tell the mechanic this is what happened. The mechanic didn't know the owner has been killed.
Intimidated into complicity
'I went back to Suleiman. As he saw me, he went and collected a Wheelbarrow from the son of his landlady. We entered his room. After that, he asked me to push the wheelbarrow carrying the corpse out and that he wants to lock his door and join me. When I got to a distance, I didn't see him again. So, I now said to myself that this Suleiman wants to involve me in a problem. What have I done to this boy now. Just to come and help, he wants to involve me in this problem. That is how I left the wheelbarrow and the corpse there. He said we should just take it out. He didn't tell me where to take the corpse to. The time then was around past seven o'clock in the evening. I was scared he would implicate all of us. He has actually killed before he told me.
Before he left, he gave me a handset to keep; but I sold it for N7,500".
Meanwhile, the two suspects and one Abdulkarim Imran, a motor mechanic are cooling their heels in police cell at Gabasawa area of Kaduna Metropolis.