Police nab man for allegedly strangling Taxify driver

The Federal Special Anti-robbery Squad (FSARS) at Adeniji Adele, Lagos has arrested a man, Ikechukwu Ozorumba, who allegedly strangled a Taxify driver to death and stole his car.

Ozorumba, aged 29, of No. 16, Yaro Street, Okokomaiko, and his accomplice simply identified as Nkelechi, alias Sunshine, who is on the run, allegedly killed Ebenezer Olotu, who hailed from Akoko in Ondo State, last December 26.

The police alleged that Ozorumba, from Ubolu-Uku in Delta State, boarded Olotu’s Toyota Camry Taxify car at Bode Thomas Street, Surulere, at about 11:00p.m.

When they got to Okokomaiko at about 12a.m. they attacked Olotu, strangled him and dumped his body at Jimoh Street in Okokomaiko, before making off with the car with number plate SMK 980 FM.

FSARS also arrested a palm oil farmer in Oguta, Imo State, Chima Chukwuemeka, in connection with the crime. Chukwuemeka, aged 38, was accused of harbouring Ozorumba in his farm to evade police arrest.

The police said Olotu’s family petitioned the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in charge of FSARS, Lagos Island, Mr. Kola Okunola, that the deceased left home for work on December 26, 2018 and never returned.

According to a police source, the FSARS team obtained Ozorumba’s phone number from Olotu’s phone and used it to track him to his hideout on Chukwuemeka’s farm in Oguta, where both men were arrested and the car recovered.

Narrating how the incident occurred, Ozorumba said: “On December 26, we chartered the driver as passengers from Bode Thomas and told him to take us to Okokomaiko.

On our way, we ordered the driver to surrender his car key to us, but he refused and started struggling with us. In the process, we used an iron rod to hit him, strangled him and dumped his body at Jimoh Street, Okokomaiko. We then drove the car straight to Imo State to look for a buyer.”

He said when he got home, his wife asked him why he had blood stains on his body and an injury on his finger. “I told my wife that I was involved in a fight at a club, so she didn’t suspect anything. We never meant to kill him,” he added.

But Chukwuemeka denied complicity in the offence. He said Ozorumba never told him he killed anyone and stole his car.

“If I had known that Ikechukwu robbed a driver of his car and killed him, I would not have harbored him in my farm till the police came to Imo from Lagos to arrest me of what I know nothing about,” he stated.

Meanwhile, a member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Ekiti State, Abednego Ajibola, has been sentenced to death by hanging for killing his colleague over loading disagreement.

An Ado Ekiti High Court presided over by Justice Lekan Ogunmoye yesterday sentenced the convict to death for causing the death of one Ojo Ogunsakin at Akure Garage along Ikere Road in Ado Ekiti on March 10, 2017.

Justice Ogunmoye in his judgment, held that evidence before the court found Ajibola (40) guilty of killing Ogunsakin (42) contrary to Section 316 of Criminal Code Cap C16 Laws of Ekiti State 2012.

In his confessional statement volunteered to the police, Ajibola had said that a fight broke out between him and deceased on loading arrangement on the said date. According to the convict, he was slapped by the deceased, which provoked him to retaliate by attacking Ogunsakin with a stone, which led to his death.

In another development, a lecturer in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, Mr. Patrick Okojie, has committed suicide three days to his 47th birthday. The decaying body of Okojie was found on his plot of land at Igbira Camp, along Igarra/Auchi road, four days after he was declared missing

Okojie, who left behind a wife and three children, was said to have been due for promotion to Chief Instructor by month’s ending before he died. Family sources said he did not leave any suicide note. It was, however, gathered that he had made two previous attempts at suicide.

The source said he left home on March 4 and was found on March 8 while the rope he used to hang himself was found on his neck. He was said to have driven out of the house as if he was going to the office.

Spokesman for the institution, Musa Oshiobugie, did not answer calls on his mobile but a top management official described the incident as a family affair.

The Edo State police spokesman, DSP Chidi Nwabuzor, said he was yet to be briefed on the incident.