Gory details of how Lagos billionaire was murdered, dismembered, remains dumped in the bush

Details have emerged of how a Lagos-based billionaire, Chief Ignatius Odunukwe was murdered, his corpse cut into pieces, packed in a bag and dumped in a bush.

The gory details came to light after the Zone 2 Command of the Nigeria Police Force apprehended four suspects allegedly connected with the killing of Chief Odunukwe.

They were also said to have chopped up his body, put them in a bag and dumped it in the bush.

According to the police, the abductors, Daniel Ibeaji, 42; Arinze Igwe, 26; Solomon Cletus, 30; and Israel Obigaremu, 35, had approached the deceased for the purchase of his property which he had put up for sale.

After agreeing to the price and all other details, they agreed to meet at a particular date for the signing of the agreement and exchange of money, the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2, Ahmed Iliyasu said at press conference in Lagos on Tuesday, adding that it was on the agreed date Adunukwe was seen last.

According to Iliyasu, Odunukwe’s family petitioned the command and narrated their trauma regarding his sudden disappearance, adding that he detailed personnel to go after the abductors.

He added that one medical identification card, an axe, remains of the victim in a bag, three AK-47 rifles, one pump action gun, one Ford SUV and property documents belonging to the victim, one Toyota Corolla car, a Nissan salon car, three Tecno phones, four Nokia phones, two Samsung phones and one Bontel phone were recovered from the suspects.

Read also: Navy arrests 9 suspected kidnappers, rescue 28 victims in Kaduna

Continuing, the police boss said Odunukwe left his residence at No. 14 Maduke Street, off Raymond Njoku Street, Ikoyi, Lagos, on December 1, 2019, and never returned home.

He further explained that the victim was declared missing, noting that he was strangled and injected with a lethal substance in a hotel room in Ajah.

Iliyasu stated: “The suspects specialise in hacking into unsuspecting members of the public’s Facebook accounts and the moment a person responds to a friendship request, the person is a ready-made target. Daniel Ibeaji, who claimed to be a medical doctor, is the alleged kingpin of the syndicate.

“It was Ibeaji, who approached the late Adunukwe with a business proposal to the tune of N900m, following which they fixed an appointment for the Artican Beach Resort, Ajah, Lagos, having asked the three other suspects to be on red alert for that operation.

“After cajoling Odunukwe into signing the agreed documents, he lured him to his hotel room. In the hotel room, Ibeaji instructed one of his boys to fetch him a bag and pretended as if he wanted to hand over the money to the victim.

“As the victim was about to open the bag, Ibeaji grabbed him from behind, while one of the boys hit the victim with an axe in the back of his head. Ibeaji then dragged Odunukwe into the toilet, strangled him and with the assistance of his boys, who held the victim down, injected him twice with a lethal substance. Convinced that the deed had been done, Ibeaji gave directives to the boys to evacuate the corpse and throw it away.”

Speaking at the press conference, one of the suspects, Cletus, said that it was Igwe, a former staff in the hotel where the crime was perpetrated, that directed them to take the corpse through the back door.

He said: “It was Igwe, who directed us, and we moved the body through the back door of the hotel and through the laundry area. We chopped the body between 7pm and 8pm and it was within that same hour that we dumped him in the bush as the hotel is not far away from where the corpse was dumped.

“Ibeaji was the person, who hit him, before he asked us to go and kill him.”

Iliyasu further revealed that Ibeaji was also involved in the murder of a commissioner in Bayelsa State. The remains of the commissioner was later found on the Abuja Expressway.

Ibeaji’s second victim, according to Iliyasu, was one Jude Efulue, a property developer in Abuja, who was held captive in an apartment and forced to sign a prepared document transferring the ownership of the victim’s property to him.

“His plan was to kill Efulue after sweeping his account clean. But with the help of neighbours, who called the police, Bob and his boys were apprehended and charged accordingly. It was at the Kuje Prison, where Cletus was also serving a jail term, that he and Ibeaji met and they reunited after leaving the prison to execute this dastardly act,” Iliyasu said.

The AIG also disclosed that Ibeaji was currently undergoing trial at the Apo High Court in Abuja for two similar cases.

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