Detectives attached to the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT), have arrested four men for the murder of Emmanuel Uba, alias Owan, at Festac Town, Lagos State.
Police had launched a two-weeks manhunt for the suspects who remained at large till last week.
The suspects, aged between 32 and 41, reportedly confessed to the police that they killed Uba because “he was fond of intimidating them” and “was also too popular in Festac Town for their liking”.
The suspects have been identified as Michael Fashola, Mufutau Tokosi, Abidemi Adeleye, and Fatai Onifade, alias Apashe.
The suspects were arrested based on a petition written by the victim’s family to the IGP, Ibrahim Idris, urging that he should use every lawful means to fish out the killers of their son.
The IGP was said to have transferred the case to assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Abba Kyari, in charge of IRT for further investigation. One of the suspects, Fashola, said that the deceased was a friend to the four of them before they parted ways after a disagreement.
“We were all together at Festac before the Lagos State local government election. During the election, we had different candidates we were working for,” one of the suspects, Fashola reportedly told the police.
“Uba wanted us to work for his own candidate, but we refused. And just because we refused to work with him, he started sending his boys to attack my boys and I. During one of the attacks, I was shot on my chest.
“We decided to kill him because of his popularity in the community; I believed then that if we didn’t kill him, it would be difficult for us to survive.”
GRAPHIC PHOTOS: Images of the murder scene of Emmanuel Uba HERE, HERE, HERE.
Fashola was said to have contracted the three others to kill Uba.
After killing him, they took his three phones and threw them into a nearby river in order to avoid being tracked by the police.
A police source said, “It was Adeleye, who went and tricked Uba out of his house, while Fashola used his own car to block the deceased’s car.
Tokosi and Fashola rode on a motorbike to the spot where Uba was blocked. They shot him on the head and escaped.” Narrating his own story, Adeleye said the plan initially was to frighten Uba, not to kill him.
“Yes, I was the person that went to his house to lure him out. I told him that he should come so that we could settle whatever differences were between his group and ours. He followed me willingly,” Adeleye said.
When we got to 7th Avenue, Festac Town, Fashola’s car blocked Uba’s car. Tokosi and Fashola came to the scene on a motorbike. They threatened him and to my shock, I heard a gunshot and we all escaped. We were later arrested at different locations in Festac Town.” Speaking, Tokosi said: “I invited Fashola to come when the heat was becoming too much for us. He was the one who brought the Berretta Pistol and Pump Action Rifle we used for the operation.
When we got to the scene, I never knew the pistol was already cocked. Before I knew what was happening, the gun exploded and hit him on the head.” One of the police investigators countering Fashola’s story said: “Tokosi is lying!
He was the person that pulled the trigger and killed the victim. He shot him three times on the head, just to ensure that he was dead. When they are sure he was dead, they ran away from the scene.” The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Edgal Imohimi, who paraded the suspects, said they would be charged to court after completion of the investigation.
