Butcher ‘slaughters’ okada rider, steals bike

The Lagos State Police Command has apprehended a butcher, Bidemi Akande, for the alleged murder of a commercial motorcyclist, Francis Jibel, in the Ajah area of the state on May 12, 2012.

It was gathered that after killing the motorcyclist, Akande allegedly stole his motorcycle popularly known as okada.

According to police reports, the suspect allegedly hired the service of the deceased and on getting to Mobil Road, brought out a knife and slit his throat open before fleeing with his okada.

It was learnt that the 23-year-old butcher was accosted by members of the Odua Peoples Congress a few metres away from the scene of the crime after seeing him with the blood-stained bike.

The OPC members were said to have led him back to the crime scene and on seeing the corpse handed him over to the police.

Akande however admitted stealing the okada but denied killing the victim. The suspect urged the police to be lenient with him.

He said, “Around 7pm on the said date, I was stranded along Mobil Road when I saw a motorcycle parked along the road. There was blood on the bike but I did not see anybody on it. So,  I took it, hoping I could sell it because I was broke.

“I began pushing the bike because I don’t know how to ride it but when I got to Gedegede, I was accosted by some OPC members because of the blood stains on the bike. I confessed that the bike did not belong to me and they forced me to lead them to where I had taken the bike from.

“On getting there, we saw a corpse on the ground with its throat slit open and a butcher knife beside it. That was the first time I saw the corpse. The OPC men accused me of the murder and gave me the beating of my life before handing me over to the police. But I wasn’t the one that killed the okada rider. If I was the one, would I have left the knife beside the corpse?”

Akande said he recently got married and had no baby yet. He confessed that he usually took marijuana but said he was in a sound state of mind on the day of the incident.

When contacted on the telephone, the Police Public Relations Officer for the command, Mr. Joseph Jaiyeoba, confirmed the incident but added that investigations were ongoing.

Source: The Punch.