Man accused of killing photojournalist dies by suicide in Kogi

The photographer Adebayo Pelumi, who allegedly murdered his colleague in Lokoja, Kogi State, on Tuesday, has incidentally committed suicide.

The Guardian learnt the suspect was found dead Thursday morning in a hotel room located in Lokoja.

The family of the late photojournalist Ayo Aiyepekun was said to have appealed to the Kogi State Government and the Nigeria Police to seek justice for their son, who was gruesomely murdered on Tuesday.

The alarm raised by the family prompted the police to initiate a search for the suspect.

According to one of the staff members of the hotel, who pleaded for anonymity, Adebayo Pelumi lodged in their hotel on Wednesday afternoon and was found dead on Thursday, around 1 pm, when one of the stewards of the hotel went to clean up the room at check-out time.

The hotel management quickly alerted the police, who arrived and identified him as the prime suspect they had been hunting.

The police took the remains of the suspected killer to the mortuary of the Federal Teaching Hospital, Lokoja, where the corpse was deposited.

Recalled that a photojournalist working with Inside Story in Lokoja, Ayo Aiyepekun, was on Tuesday murdered allegedly by his neighbour, Adebayo Pelumi, who resides in the same compound.

An eyewitness account from someone who worked with InsideStory online media stated that he was in the office with the victim, doing some video and photo editing, when the suspect called the victim to help him out at his poultry farm, which is located inside the same compound.

‎The source stated that it was around 8:30 pm when the suspect called him, but he was unaware that Ayo was not the only person in the office. The moment Ayo got out to meet Adebayo, he was hit with an iron repeatedly and killed there.

‎The eyewitness said he saw the suspect lifting the body into a deep freezer before moving the body into his Hilux Van, prompting him to raise alarm.

However, the Kogi State Police Command spokesperson, SP Williams Ovye, has not been able to make a statement on the incidents.

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