The Lagos State Police Command has
arrested a manager and a housemaid for killing their boss, Alhaja Sikirat Eko,
in Omole Phase 1, Lagos State.
Eko was said to be running a
restaurant and bar in her compound, where she lived alone with the maid.
According to the police authorities,
the suspects allegedly killed Eko at her home located on 5, Babatunde Ladega
Street and kept her corpse within the premises.
The suspects were said to have
continued to run the restaurant, giving neighbours and customers the impression
that the deceased had travelled.
The two were said to have run out of
luck when relatives of the deceased came on a visit. When the suspects could
not provide a satisfactory answer, the matter was said to have been reported at
Area G Command, in Ogba.
A police source who preferred to
remain anonymous, told our correspondent that the manager threw Eko into a well
inside the compound along with a generator.
The manager was said to have taken
her phone which he used in impersonating her.
“The manager was using the deceased’s
phone and assumed her identity. Sometimes, he would send text messages with her
phone, telling people that all was well”, he said.
It was learnt that when the house was
thoroughly searched, Eko’s corpse was found in a decomposing state.
A family friend, who preferred to
remain anonymous, said, “Mummy (Eko) has just one child and she lives in the
United Kingdom. When she could not get her mother on the telephone, she called
relatives to help her find out what was wrong.
“When the relatives got there, the
manager told them that she had travelled. The relatives became suspicious
because the house was left open and the manager behaved as if he was the owner
of the house. The relatives then reported the matter to the police.”
Our correspondent, who visited the
area on Thursday, observed that the gate of the premises was locked.
A security guard in the area said Eko
hadn’t been seen by neighbours in over two months.
The security guard described the
deceased as a very nice but strict woman.
He said, “The last time we saw madam
(Eko) was during Sallah. When we asked the housemaid her whereabouts, she said
she had travelled to Abuja. I became suspicious because her vehicle was still
parked outside the compound.
“It wasn’t until Saturday when
policemen stormed the area that we knew what had happened. Policemen arrested
about five of us, thinking that we were among but fortunately, the manager and
the maid confessed.
“The incident is very sad because
madam (Eko) was a very nice person. There was one time that my motorcycle was
seized. She was the one that urged the police to give it back to me.”
When contacted on the telephone, the
spokesperson for the state police command, Ngozi Braide, confirmed the incident
to our correspondent.
Braide said the manager was the one
who planned the killing. She added that the two would be paraded before
journalists on Friday (today).
“The two suspects have confessed to
the crime and they will be paraded before journalists on Friday,” she said.
How callous people can be. Its so difficult to have so called house help or cook these days. God will comfort the deceased family
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