The Lagos state police command is currently searching for a computer engineer identified simply as Samuel over the gruesome death of his neighbour, Taiwo Aiyegbusi, in the Alagbado area of Lagos State.
According to reports, Samuel while driving home along Ibari Road, Alagbado around 9pm on Sunday, with his friends, reportedly crushed the father of five, dumped his corpse in a canal and fled the community.
Saturday PUNCH learnt that Taiwo, a mechanic in Fagba, a neighbouring community, had visited his church member, who lives a few metres away from the scene of the accident.
The 42-year-old native of Ipere Ekiti, Ekiti State, was trekking back home when Samuel lost control of the car and veered into his path, slamming him on an electric pole.
Our correspondent gathered that Samuel and three friends were returning from a party.
They were said to have taken Taiwo to a private hospital in the neighborhood, from where he was referred to the Ikeja General Hospital. They reportedly dumped his corpse in a canal at Abattoir area after he died on the way to the hospital.
Samuel reportedly returned to the scene and removed his car.
A friend of the deceased, Segun Inuesokan, said landlords around the area kept quiet on the incident until he (Inuesokan) threatened to report them to the police. He added that it was a search party organised to look for Taiwo that found his corpse in the canal.
Inuesokan said,
“On Sunday when the incident happened, I was not around. When I came back on Monday morning, somebody called me that Baba Ife (Taiwo) was involved in an accident. I was very shocked. I went to meet the pastor of his church and he confirmed the incident, but said Taiwo’s corpse and his killer had not been found.
“I went to the scene of the accident and met with some landlords. I threatened to report all of them if they failed to expose the killer. The landlords knew Taiwo because he grew up in that area. In the process, a resident confided in me that the car was driven by Samuel. He is a computer engineer in Ikeja.
“While I was making more inquiries from people, I learnt a corpse was dumped at a canal in Abattoir. When we got there, we discovered it was Taiwo’s body. We removed the corpse and took it to the Police station before we deposited it in a mortuary in Ota.
“Samuel and Taiwo grew up and lived in the same place before he (Taiwo) relocated to Malomo Street, Alagbado. Samuel lives on Odutola Estate, Alagbado. I went to his house and asked his wife where he was; she said he was not around.
“When I asked her if she was aware that her husband killed somebody, she broke into tears. I asked his father if his son told him that he killed somebody, he said, ‘yes.’ I asked him what steps he took, but Samuel’s dad didn’t respond to that question. Rather, he said he did not know his son’s whereabouts.”
The car
It was learnt that the suspect’s father was arrested by the police from the Alagbado Police Station after Taiwo’s family reported the incident. He was released on Tuesday with a promise that he would provide Samuel by Friday.
The suspect had yet to be arrested as of the time of filing this report.