The
Niger State Police Command has started investigations into the killing of the
owner of Deploo Hotel and Suites, Mr. Lucky Okonkwo, who was murdered in his
hotel in Suleja, Niger State.
It was learnt that
59-year-old Lucky was stabbed to death on Friday by a three-man gang, suspected
to be workers at the hotel, shortly after he returned from a trip to Kaduna.
He
was said to be at the hotel for the purpose of supervision.
It
was learnt that after killing the victim, the suspects took away the Closed
Circuit Television decoder of the hotel, the victim’s phones and fled in his
Peugeot 406 saloon car.
They
also took away a file containing certain information about the hotel.
The
security men at the hotel, who were the prime suspects, were reported to have
fled immediately the incident happened and had since been unreachable on their
telephone lines.
They
were identified as Frank Anavukko, Victor Anerah and Emmanuel Adeh.
Our
correspondent was told that the incident was discovered on Saturday morning by
a housekeeper who saw a pool of blood streaming out from the victim’s office.
The
matter was reported at the Madalla Police Division and some of the hotel
workers were arrested.
Lucky,
an indigene of Delta State, was said to be the immediate past Vice-President of
the Nigerian Association of Technology Engineering, North-West zone.
The
victim’s first son, Paul, said that his father was killed around 7pm.
He
explained that workers at the hotel claimed not to have known when his father
was murdered.
He
said, “He just returned from a trip and around 7pm of that day, he went to his
office. When his workers didn’t see him and they discovered he was not
reachable on his telephone lines, they called my mum the following day.
“She
rushed down to the hotel and met him in a pool of blood. The workers claimed
they didn’t know when it happened. They said they only saw three people
going into his office and the same set of people driving out in his car. They
said they also saw those people with the CCTV decoder and when they queried
them, they said, ‘Oga asked us to go
and repair it’.
“Aside
from the CCTV and the car, those men also left with his money and other
valuables. We don’t really know the motivation for the murder.”
Paul
said the family reported the case to the police at the Madalla division, adding
that some of the workers on duty at the time had been arrested.
He
urged the police to speed up investigations and bring the perpetrators of the
crime to book.
A
source said the father of five struggled with his assailants before he was
overpowered and killed.
He
said, “The man was a retired PHCN worker. He was killed on Friday night. On
Saturday morning, a man cleaning the hotel saw a pool of blood coming out of
his office and raised the alarm. At the scene, there was a knife with which he
was killed. There were also signs of struggle as the office table was broken.
He had a deep knife cut in his palm, probably while he was holding the knife
from piercing into him. They drove away his grey colour Peugeot 406 saloon car,
with number plate KUJ-424 BB. They also made away with a file containing some
information about the hotel.”
It
was gathered that the case had already been transferred to the State Criminal
Investigation and Intelligence Department, Minna.
A
source said the fleeing hotel guards were the prime suspects.
He
said, “One of them is already in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. How can something
happen on Friday and in less than 24 hours, you have already disappeared to
Port Harcourt if not that you are culpable?”
The
Police Public Relations Officer, Niger State Police Command, Elkana Bala, said
the police were closing in on the suspects, adding that information available
to the police showed Lucky was killed by his workers.
He
said, “He was suspected to have been murdered by his workers; he was not killed
by outsiders. After the incident, those male workers ran away with his Peugeot
406. We are trailing them. The SCIID, Homicide section, has commenced full
investigations into the matter.”
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