A 30-year old man, Oluwagbemiga Shogbola, has reportedly stabbed his friend, Victor Olabiyo, to death for allegedly cheating him of $150 (N61,950) proceeds from an alleged internet fraud deal in Ogun State.
The incident which happened in Ikenne Local Government Area caused panic as friends of the deceased pursued the suspect to retaliate.
It was learnt that the two friends started querelling after the suspect accused the deceased of cheating him and taking all the money they realized from the deal to himself.
lt was also learnt the querelling degenerated into a fight between Shogbola aka Oja or Federal and the deceased, who is a tailor, despite the intervention of their friends.
The deceased’s friend, Onyemaechi Onwuzuribe, said Shogbola around 8.00pm on Tuesday posted a picture of Olabiyo on his WhatsApp status with a tag, ‘RIP’ and by 11.00pm stabbed him to death.
Narrating how the incident happened, Onwuzuribe said Shogbola after killing Olabiyo was given a hot chase as he attempted to board a motorcycle to flee the scene.
But he said the motorcyclist on seeing the suspect’s bloodstained shirt, refused to carry him,. adding that before those chasing him catch up with him ran to the Ilishan-Remo Police Station, where he handed himself over to the police.
He said: “Federal was bloodied and I saw him running away though I did not know that he had stabbed Victor (Olabiyo). I knew that they fought earlier that morning over $150 and as soon as I saw him running, I sensed that he must have done something.
“I grabbed him and just as I did, I saw people running after him and crying that he had stabbed Victor to death. That was when I and others tried to hold him, but he escaped and went to the police. If the boys had caught him, they would have lynched him.”
Also, the deceased’s brother, Adebowale Opasanya, said: “The incident was shocking as the two of them are good friends and regularly visited each other.
“Victor’s death was shocking to us. I am dazed that his friend, Federal, was the one who killed him just because of $150. I had warned him about some of his friends, but I never thought Federal would do this.
“We heard that Federal ran to Ilishan from Ifo due to something of this nature; he was accused of killing in that area as well,” he added.
Irate youths reportedly crowded Ilishan-Remo Police Station on Wednesday, demanding that the police hand over the suspect for jungle justice but the Divisional Police Officer, Kunle Olaitan, was said to have appealed to them to go home with an assurance that the police would not escape justice.
Confirming the incident, the spokesman for the Ogun State Police Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, disclosed that the remains of the deceased had been deposited in the morgue of Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu.
He further disclosed that the suspect had been transferred to the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Eleweran in Abeokuta.