Forty-two-year old Bob Ibeaji who led a four-man gang has revealed how they killed the Anambra State-born billionaire and owner of Fireman Generators, Mr. Ignatius Odunukwe, who went missing in the first week of December 2019.
It was gathered that some criminals who pretended to be property buyers called him on phone because they heard he had a property for sale.
They agreed on a price and the agreement for the purchase was drafted by his lawyer.
Both parties agreed to meet on an agreed date for the exchange.
Odunukwe’s lawyer suggested going with him for the signing but he declined and told him he needed to see someone in Ikoyi Club and that was the last time they saw him.
When he did not return home, his family reported the matter to the police and they started investigations.
In his confession while being paraded before journalists at the Zone 2 Command, Onikan, in Lagos yesterday, Ibeaji who claimed to be a medical doctor, confessed that the lust for money led him to commit the heinous crime.
“Unnecessary lust for money and my greed for immaterial things clouded my judgement and made me commit the crime,” he said.
He said he saw an advert in 2019 for the sale of a property in Katampe, Abuja.
He added that he approached a security man who linked him up with the deceased.
“I told him I was interested in the property and I think he (the deceased) had a function in Abuja at that time so we were able to meet once in the city.
“We later met again at Artican Beach Resort, Ajah in Lagos State, on December 1, 2019, where we discussed after which I murdered him with the help of two of my gang members,” he said.
According to NAN, Ibeaji was the leader of a four-man gang that includes Solomon Cletus, 30, Arinze Igwe, 26, and Israel Obigaremu, 35.
Ibeaji said he met Cletus when he was remanded at Kuje Prison, Abuja and discussed the deal with him which he promised to help out with.
“I lured Odunukwe into my hotel room through N900 million business deal I was pretending to go along with.
“With the help of Igwe and Cletus, I was able to distract him and hit him on the head using the butt of an axe.
“After then, I injected him twice with shots from a lethal injection. His body was later cut into pieces and dumped somewhere in Ogunbo Forest, in Ajah,” he said.
Cletus whom he met in prison said he was lured into the act with the promise of N2 million if he would participate in the plan.
Ibeaji said Igwe, who was a staff of the resort was the one responsible for navigating his (Ibeaji’s) successful exit from the hotel because of his knowledge of its layout.
However, Israel Obigaremu, the Uber driver, said he knew nothing about the plan and was unfortunately involved because he allowed Arinze to park the deceased car in his compound.
He said Arinze usually called him for jobs of transporting his clients who lodged in the hotel and that was how he met with Ibeaji whom he drove around town.
“Arinze brought the victim’s car to my compound and told me that the car belonged to his boss who had travelled and he promised to come pick it up the next day.
“I do not know anything about the killing. I was home sleeping when Arinze brought the vehicle to be parked in my compound,” Obigaremu said.
The assistant inspector general of police, Mr. Ahmed Iliyasu of Zone 2 Command, Onikan, said two similar incidents were established against Ibeaji in the past.
“The first was that of a commissioner in Bayelsa State, where one Depologa was murdered and his remains found dumped along the Abuja Expressway.
“The second was the case of Jude Efulue, a property developer in Abuja, whom he held captive in an apartment and forced him to sign a document transferring the ownership of the victim’s property to him.
“He almost killed Efulue but the intervention of Efulue’s neighbour led to Ibeaji’s apprehension by the police which landed him in Kuje Prison,” the AIG said.
Iliyasu advised the public to be careful about what they post online and desist from revealing too much information about themselves on the social media.
“There is a sophisticated dimension that has been introduced into cybercrime and the only way out is to abstain from flaunting one’s achievements and wealth on the social media,” he said.
