The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a manager and a housemaid for killing their boss, Alhaja Sikirat Eko, in Omole Phase 1, Lagos State.
Eko was said to be running a restaurant and bar in her compound, where she lived alone with the maid.
According to the police authorities, the suspects allegedly killed Eko at her home located on 5, Babatunde Ladega Street and kept her corpse within the premises.
The suspects were said to have continued to run the restaurant, giving neighbours and customers the impression that the deceased had travelled.
The two were said to have run out of luck when relatives of the deceased came on a visit. When the suspects could not provide a satisfactory answer, the matter was said to have been reported at Area G Command, in Ogba.
A police source who preferred to remain anonymous, told our correspondent that the manager threw Eko into a well inside the compound along with a generator.
The manager was said to have taken her phone which he used in impersonating her.
“The manager was using the deceased’s phone and assumed her identity. Sometimes, he would send text messages with her phone, telling people that all was well”, he said.
It was learnt that when the house was thoroughly searched, Eko’s corpse was found in a decomposing state.
A family friend, who preferred to remain anonymous, said, “Mummy (Eko) has just one child and she lives in the United Kingdom. When she could not get her mother on the telephone, she called relatives to help her find out what was wrong.
“When the relatives got there, the manager told them that she had travelled. The relatives became suspicious because the house was left open and the manager behaved as if he was the owner of the house. The relatives then reported the matter to the police.”
Our correspondent, who visited the area on Thursday, observed that the gate of the premises was locked.
A security guard in the area said Eko hadn’t been seen by neighbours in over two months.
The security guard described the deceased as a very nice but strict woman.
He said, “The last time we saw madam (Eko) was during Sallah. When we asked the housemaid her whereabouts, she said she had travelled to Abuja. I became suspicious because her vehicle was still parked outside the compound.
“It wasn’t until Saturday when policemen stormed the area that we knew what had happened. Policemen arrested about five of us, thinking that we were among but fortunately, the manager and the maid confessed.
“The incident is very sad because madam (Eko) was a very nice person. There was one time that my motorcycle was seized. She was the one that urged the police to give it back to me.”
When contacted on the telephone, the spokesperson for the state police command, Ngozi Braide, confirmed the incident to our correspondent.
Braide said the manager was the one who planned the killing. She added that the two would be paraded before journalists on Friday (today).
“The two suspects have confessed to the crime and they will be paraded before journalists on Friday,” she said.
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