THE real reason Mr. Ignatius Adunukwe; a billionaire business man should go alone without his lawyer, driver or any family member to a hotel in Ajah area of Lagos to seal a land deal amounting to N900million is one weighty issue detectives from the Zone 2 Headquarters, Lagos are still contending with. They are yet to unravel the reason but have vowed to do so.
Prior to his death, he was said to be into estate development, gold mining and holds franchise for the distribution of Firman brand of generators in Nigeria.
Though, the suspected killers of Adunukwe have been arrested by the police and they have made confessional statements, yet many Nigerians are wondering why such a high profile personality should gamble with his life, to the extent that he declined the request of his lawyer who reportedly offered to accompany him on the fateful day for then perfection of the deal after he had prepared all necessary documents.
According to reports, Adunukwe was said to have told the lawyer, that he planned to stop over at Ikoyi Club first to see a friend before going to Ajah to meet the buyers who ironically turned out to be his nemesis.
The other questions on the lips of many are: why did he not disclose to his family members about his one man mission? Was it that he wanted to keep the secret about the sales to himself alone? Was he under any spell, instruction or suggestion by his killers-in-waiting, not to come for the deal with any one?
How long had he known the principal suspect Daniel Bob Ibeaji before accepting to meet and conclude discussions with him on buying of his (Adunukwe’s) land said to worth N900million? Though police sources said that the billionaire actually took Ibeaji for inspection of the land, yet it is not clear whether they were accompanied by some other persons during the physical inspection before getting to the stage of perfecting the documents relating to the transaction.
To what extent did Adunukwe’s lawyer know about the deal in terms of preparing the deed of assignment and other necessary documents and agreed system of payment?
These are some of the questions the police would seek answers to, in their further investigation.
Briefing journalists on January 21, 2020 at the scene where the remains of the slain Adunukwe were dumped on Ogunbo forest area of Ajah Lagos, the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge
of Zone 2, Ahmed Iliyasu said that the whole episode came to light following a petition sent to his office by family members of the billionaire business man.
According to the petition, Adunukwe had reportedly left his residence No. 14 Maduke Street, Off Raymond Njoku Street, Southwest Ikoyi on December 1, 2019 to an unknown place and had not returned home.
Sequel to the petition, the AIG summoned the Tactical Commander in charge of Ikorodu office of Zonal Intervention Squad (ZIS) of the Operation Puff Adder, Uba Adams; a Superintendent of Police to go
after the victim’s suspected abductors.
As at the time the police boss was giving the directive, little did he know that Adunukwe had been killed in a most gruesome manner in a hotel room.
The act was allegedly committed by a four-man team led by 42 years old Daniel Bob Ibeaji from Enugu State.
Following the commitment of Uba and his operatives, a clue was established on what had happened. Police investigations revealed that Ibeaji who parades himself as a medical doctor is the kingpin of the syndicate. He told police that he holds an MBBS, and Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeon in Edinburgh, United Kingdom as well as Masters in Business Administration from Zurich.
It was gathered that Ibeaji was the one who got linked up with Adunukwe following an advert the business man placed in the social media offering to sell off his land somewhere in Lagos, Ibeaji whom
investigation has revealed to be a serial killer scammer, reportedly talked the business man into meeting with him to open up discussion on the land transaction.
Subsequently, an appointment was fixed at Artican Beach Resort, Ajah Lagos on a particular day precisely December 1, 2019 reportedly to seal up the deal after Ibeaji had inspected the land. However, police investigation is yet to establish how many times both parties had met and venue of such meeting relating to the transaction before they got to the stage of exchange of title documents and payment.
According to Ibeaji’s confession, the billionaire had arrived the hotel as agreed. They sat down in a place in the hotel for Ibeaji to inspect the documents Adunukwe had come with, expecting to get his payment in return. Adunukwe was reportedly cajoled to sign their agreed documents after which, Ibeaji took him into his hotel room ostensibly to make payment of the N900million selling price. He later told investigators that he paid in gold but however recanted when investigation linked him up with the murder of the billionaire.
According to investigation, as a pre-arranged scenario, Ibeaji had armed himself with a lethal injection he purchased that same day having confirmed that Adunukwe was on his way to the meeting.
It was gathered that in the hotel room, Ibeaji instructed one of hiS boys to fetch him a bag he came with, pretending as if it was the money to be handed over to the business man.
The suspects confessed to the police and later to journalists that as Adunukwe was about to open the bag to ascertain what was inside, Ibeaji grabbed him from behind while one of the boys hit him with an axe on the back head.
They went ahead to drag him to the toilet, strangled him and Ibeaji who claims to be a doctor injected him twice with the lethal injection. Convinced that the deed had been done, Ibeaji gave directives to the boys to evacuate the corpse and be thrown away.
As directed, the boys searched for a big carton, wrapped and dropped the mangled remains of Adunukwe in a waiting vehicle parked at the exit of the hotel, leading from the hotel’s laundry. The lifeless body was taken away and thrown into a canal area in Ogunbo Forest.
Giving more clarification on how police were able to unravel the heinous act, the AIG said, that technical expertise of his men and technology enormously assisted them to get the prime suspect Ibeaji in whose house in Abuja documents relating to the land deal were recovered. The suspect later confessed that he had intended to use the documents to resell the land.
Police investigations have brought to the fore that Daniel Bob Ibeaji had been living on ill-gotten money through this means for some time. Two incidents have been established against him.
One was the case of a civil commissioner in Bayelsa State where one Honorable Depologa was murdered and his remains was found along Abuja express way just a week after his encounter with Ibeaji at Ibeto
Hotel, Abuja. It was gathered that during their discussion, he had offered to pay the victim N220million for a block of flat situated at Durumi, Abuja. As a result this dastardly act, the victim’s wife had to flee Nigeria in fear vowing never to come back.
The second incident involving Ibeaji was when a property developer in Abuja, one Mr. Jude Efulue fell into his net. The developer was reportedly held captive in an apartment and forced to sign a prepared
document transferring the ownership of the victim’s property to him. Ibeaji had discovered that the victim had N9million in his account.
His plan was to kill Efulue after sweeping his account but unfortunately for Ibeaji neighbors called the police who arrested Ibeaji and his boys and charged them to court.
Police investigations revealed that it was while serving his term at Kuje Prison, Ibeaji met Cletus who was also serving a jail term that he and Ibeaji met. They reportedly re-united on leaving the prison to execute the Adunukwe act.
Among the items recovered from Adunukwe’s killers were his 4Runner SUV which was tracked to Artican Beach Resort as well as his documents found in possession of Ibeaji in Abuja.
Apart from Ibeaji, his other three accomplices who were paraded by the police included Arinze Uzor Igwe, who was working with Artican Beach Resort but accepted to take part in the crime when Ibeaji promised to give him N2million. Others were Solomon Cletus (30 years) and an Uber driver Israel Obigaremu (35 years).
Describing the act as the deadliest in the annals of internet frauds, AIG Iliyasu has appealed to Nigerians to be cautious of what they post about themselves in the social media. He cautioned that they should avoid being enticed with quick money making businesses and how they make friends on social media.
He has similarly w
https://any.peopleandpowermag.com/gruesome-murder-of-billionaire-ignatius/
About The Author
