'I Killed My Best Friend for Inability to Pay N7m Loan'

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Yemi Akinsuyi in Abuja
     
It was like a scene from a horror movie as Abdulahi Bello narrated how he employed the services of a spiritualist and some hoodlums to stab his long-time friend to death for his inability to pay N7 million debt he was owing him.

Awwal Unar, a 26-year old Baze University student union leader, had given a N7 million loan to his friend, Bello, over a period of time. But each time he demanded for refund, Bello would come up with one form of excuse or the other.

When the pressure Awwal was mounting on Bello was becoming unbearable, Bello decided to contact a spiritualist in Katsina, who prepared some concoctions that would make Awwal to forget about the money.

This fetish thing had little or no effect on Awwal, who continued to mount pressure on his friend to pay back the money. The pressure was so much that Bello said he was sick and tired and decided to end it once and for all

Paraded by Federal Capital Territory Police in Abuja, Bello confessed to have contacted the same spiritualist in Katsina, who came up with how the ‘embarrassment’ would end forever.

According to the FCT Commissioner of Police, CP Wilson Inalegwu, who paraded Bello and the spiritualist, one Lawal Saleh, Bello masterminded the crime after he could not refund the N7m loan and could not hypnotise Awwal to forget the loan.

Inalegwu told journalists how Bello attempted to use the spiritualist to influence Awwal into forgetting about the loan but failed. He eventually resorted to tricking Awwal into his early grave".

To act as an advice and warning to parents, we had a sad case of one Awwal. Awwal used to be a student of Baze University in Abuja. He was an elected student union leader and was aged 26. On the 2nd of October when he was just 33 days married, he took his wife to the father in law’s house and told them that he was going to Keffi Road to purchase Sallah Ram.

“He left in the afternoon and by the evening, about 9.30 pm that day he made his last phone call to his parents that he had bought the ram and he was coming back home. That was the last contact they had with him".

The parents became worried. So, on the third day, they got a mysterious phone call from an individual by the name Suleiman, that he found the phone by the side of Awwal. So the father got worried and of course, the wife.

“On the 6th of October, a call was made directly to this command and we got our crack team to set the motion for investigation. From the call log and all that, we made arrest. When we made arrest, we discovered that one Abdullahi who was staying in the same house with this Awwal, had over a period of time, collected about N7m from Awwal and couldn’t pay back.

“He now engaged a spiritualist to divert the attention of Awwal from demanding for his money but the Juju couldn’t work. Awwal continued to demand for his money. So Abdullahi came with a plot. He told Awwal that he gave the money to a spiritualist in Kankara, Katsina State, and that they should go there so that they can double the money and he’ll get his money. Unknown to Awwal, a plan had been hatched to kill
him, Inalegwu said.

Awwal was said to have taken his car, a Toyota Yari, and drove Abdullahi from Abuja to Katsina.

“He had told his wife and relations that he was going to Keffi, but he never went to Keffi. He drove straight to Zaria, spent the night in Zaria and continued to Katsina and to Kankara.

“When they got there, Abdullahi and the spiritualist had engaged some individuals for the criminal job. So, they drove Awwal to a stream. This time, it was getting late at about 7.30 and there as they alighted from his car, some people already waiting in the bush, sprang out and started to
beat him.

“They used machete and sticks, on him until his last breath. So, when they killed him, nobody knew, everybody thought he would still be alive. But through diligent investigation, we got our crack team of detectives and the phone log and all the rest, we started making arrest. We made 12 arrests. From the arrest, through interrogation, the spiritualist confessed that indeed, Abdullahi had brought Awwal and they killed him,” Inalegwu said.

The suspects told police where they had buried Awwal in a shallow grave and took police operatives to recover the mutilated body which the police said had over 36 lacerations.

The CP said a post mortem was conducted on the deceased before he was buried. Meanwhile, Abdullahi was said to have converted Awwal’s car and repainted it for his personal use. He also used the proceeds of the loan to build a house which the police said they have also located.

The CP, who advised parents to know the company that their wards keep, adding the police were closing in on Suleiman who made a phone call and other people that hide in the bush to cause this mayhem.

The suspects who fielded questions from journalists confessed to the crime.

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