Kenneth Udeh, the suspected killer of the manager of Spring Bank (now Keystone Bank Limited), Ebute Meta branch, Lagos, Mr. Emeka Ohazuruike, on Monday said he killed the banker because he was rude and provoked him.
He said, “Ohazuruike had been hounding me for the money which my brother-in-law had borrowed from him. The day before the incident, he threatened to involve the police and implicate me if I did not do something about it.
“On that fateful day, we went to buy a copy of a newspaper and were reading it in his (Ohazuruike’s) apartment. Ohazuruike brought up the issue of the money again and an argument ensued.
“In the process, he slapped and pushed me. I got angry, went into my brother-in-law’s flat, and got a knife. When he saw the knife, he tried to wrestle it from me and in the process, I stabbed him.
“I did not plan to kill him but he provoked me and I stabbed him in anger. Ohazuruike is my kinsman; we both hail from the same village, Okija, Anambra State.”
Udeh and his brother-in-law, Onyeka Idemili, were arrested by the Lagos State Police Command in connection with the murder of Ohazuruike.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Samuel Jinadu, told journalists that the alleged murder was carried out on Saturday in Satellite Town area of the state.
Jinadu said, “On Saturday, August 6, 2011, about 12:20 pm, Mr. Innocent Ezema of 24 Silver Street, Finiger Estate, Satellite Town, Lagos, came to the Satellite Police Division and reported that while descending the staircase in the compound, he heard a loud noise from one of the apartments.
“Being the caretaker of that particular apartment, he went there to find out what was amiss and on getting closer, he heard somebody screaming, ‘Onyeka has killed me.’ When he forced the door open, he saw Ohazuruike in a pool of blood. Blood was gushing out of his body and Udeh was struggling with him.
“Ezema immediately raised the alarm and this drew people’s attention. As people rushed to the scene, Udeh escaped from the scene. Ohazuruike was rushed to the nearest hospital where he finally gave up the ghost
Jinadu added that the police investigations revealed that before the tragic incident, Ohazuruike and Idemili had been involved in a business transaction, which had gone awry and had been causing friction between them.
He said, “The Police discovered that Ohazuruike gave out a loan of N11m to Idemili, his friend. Prior to that, they had been having series of arguments because Idemili did not want to pay back the money.
“On that fateful day, Idemili and Udeh came into the apartment of the deceased where they read newspapers and discussed. When they discovered that no one was in the compound and Ohazuruike had gone to take his bath, Udeh sneaked in and stabbed the banker in the back with a kitchen knife. This led to Ohazuruike’s death.
“Before anyone could do anything, Udeh and Idemili escaped. Both of them were however arrested at a motor park where they were attempting to board a bus to the east.
“Meanwhile, investigations are still ongoing and they will be charged with conspiracy and murder any moment from now”
Idemili, however, denied complicity in the murder and denied that Udeh acted on his instruction to kill the banker because of the loan.
Idemili said, “Ohazuruike and I were good friends even though we used to argue because of the money, which I wasn’t able to pay back in full. I used the money to import goods from Vietnam and he was aware of this. I had no hand in his murder. In fact, when I was travelling to the east with Udeh, I didn’t know that he had been murdered. I only heard from one of my neighbours that something bad had happened to him and was told not to come home.
“I admit that he borrowed me over N11m but before he died, I had paid him N2m. I feel bad that this kind of thing happened. I did not send Udeh to go and kill him.
PUNCH METRO gathered that Udeh was staying with Idemili at the time of the incident and were Ohazuruike’s next door neighbours.This, it was learnt, gave them easy access to the late banker’s apartment.
Source: Punch
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