Patience Ogbo/
Nigerian police officers have revealed how Anambra-born billionaire and distributor of Firman Generators, Chief Ignatius Odunukwe, was lured into a hotel room in Lagos and brutally murdered by four men who pretended they wanted to buy a land valued at N900 million from him.
The businessman who had gone missing since December 1, 2019, was reportedly dismembered by his assailants and his body packed into a ‘Ghana Must Go’ bag before it was dumped in a swamp in Ogombo area of Ajah.
NewsmakersNG learnt that one of his killers had called him on phone pretending to be interested in buying the land he had advertised for sale. They subsequently met at the deceased’s Abuja office where they agreed to finalise the deal in Lagos.
Based on the discussion between the two, the deceased reportedly instructed his lawyer to prepare a purchase agreement which he took with him to Artican Beach Resort in Ajah, where they agreed to meet to finalise the transaction on December 1.
That was the last day anyone saw or heard from the businessman.
His family consequently petitioned the police following which one of the suspects was arrested with the original land documents of the deceased.
The suspect initially claimed he had already paid the deceased for the purchase of the land, but later confessed to what had happened when he was asked to provide details of the account he paid the money into.
He, thereafter, led detectives to arrest his accomplices after which the corpse of the businessman was recovered from where it was dumped on January 16.
Speaking on the incident while parading the suspects, Assistant Inspector General of Police at Zone ‘2’ Headquarters, Lagos, AIG Ahmed Iliyasu, said that the victim was killed in cold blood.
Iliyasu gave the names of the suspects as Daniel Bob Ibeaji, 42; Arinze Uzor Igwe, 26; Solomon Cletus, 30; and Israel Obigaremu, 35.
He said two of the suspects, Ibeaji and Cletus, are ex-convicts who met while the former was serving time for a similar offence in Kuje prison, Abuja.
The AIG said police acted on a petition from the deceased’s family following which policemen attached to the Zonal Intervention Squad of the Operation Puff Adder led by the Tactical Commander of the Ikorodu Office, SP Uba Adams, recovered the decomposing body of the victim.
“Even before the investigation commenced, the victim had been killed. It was the same day, December 1, that he was declared missing that they killed him in a most horrifying and cruel manner. He was strangled and injected with a poisonous substance in a hotel room in Ajah area of Lagos,” Illiyasu further stated.
Narrating how they killed the victim, Ibeaji, alleged to be the mastermind of the crime, stated:
“I saw his advert for the sale of a property on a sign in front of his office at Katakpe area of Abuja. I got his number from his security man and called him that I was interested in buying. I introduced myself as a miner when I met him at his Abuja office and then we agreed to meet in Lagos.
“Meanwhile, I had already planned with two other persons to help me in killing him after collecting the documents of the property. One of them is Solomon whom I got to know while in prison.
“On December 1, I called Chief to come to Artican Hotel in Ajah that I had the N900 million for the property. My two accomplices were with me in the hotel. When he came, he brought out the documents and I told one of the men with me to bring a bag containing money. When Chief opened the bag to check, I used a machete to hit him on the back of the neck and he became unconscious. I then injected him and dragged him into the bathroom where I strangled him to death. I then left with the documents after giving instruction on what should be done with his remains.”
Another suspect, Solomon Cletus, said Arinze Uzor, who was a staff of the hotel guided them to the secret exit through which they smuggled the corpse of the businessman out of the hotel after they had dismembered it and stuffed the parts in a bag.
He said, “We stuffed his corpse in a big bag and dragged his body into a car through the back door which one of the hotel staff, Arinze, showed us. It was Arinze that also took us to the swamp where we dumped the body in the night.”
The gang reportedly abandoned the victim’s Ford SUV at the hotel premises where it was recovered by the police.
Iliyasu said the prime suspect, Ibeaji, claimed to be a medical doctor with MBBS and a fellow of the Royal College of Surgery and member of the Royal College of Surgeon both in Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
He also linked Ibeaji to other crimes including the murder of a commissioner in Bayelsa State, Honourable Depologa, whose remains were found along a expressway in Abuja.
“This happened a week after his encounter with the victim at Ibeto Hotel, Abuja. During their discussion, he offered to give the victim N220 million for a block of flat situated at Durumi, Abuja,”AIG Iliyasu said.
He said a second victim, Jude Efule, a property developer in Abuja, survived being killed after Ibeaji had held him captive in an apartment and forced him to sign a prepared document transferring ownership of the victim’s property to him.
“His plan was to kill Efulue after sweeping his account clean. But with the help of neighbours, who called the police, Bob and his boys were apprehended and charged accordingly. It was at the Kuje Prison, where Cletus was also serving a jail term, that he and Ibeaji met and they reunited after leaving the prison to execute this dastardly act,” Iliyasu stated.
The AIG added that Ibeaji was currently undergoing trial at the Apo High Court in Abuja for two similar cases.
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