WILLIAMS IKECHUKWU: HOW I PAID N300,000 TO HIRE ESCORTS FOR VEHICLE STOLEN FROM MURDERED BOLT DRIVER – Suspect confesses 

The chilling story of how the victim, Owoh Raphael, was killed was narrated by Ikechukwu and his accomplice, Chukwu Patrick, with whom he committed the murder on October 28.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Rivers State Command, SP Grace Iringe-Koko, who spoke on the arrest of the two suspects in a video, said that it was a case of conspiracy, kidnapping and murder which was reported by a credible source.

The PPRO, in a telephone conversation, confirmed the story to Saturday Tribune.

Ikechukwu, according to the PPRO, had lured the Bolt driver by seeking his service to convey him to a wedding ceremony for a fee. On the agreed date, the driver went to Ikechukwu’s house to pick him and transport him to his destination, unknown to him that his own destination was the man’s house, in connivance with a co-conspirator. The target of the two suspects was the car owned by the Bolt driver, an ash colour Toyota Camry (Spider), 2010 model.

SP Iringe-Koko said that after the murder of the Bolt driver, Ikechukwu was in a hurry to sell the car at the rate of N7 million, but was arrested at the point of price negotiation with a buyer.

“During interrogation, Ikechukwu explained how he lured the Bolt driver, Owoh Raphael, to take him to a wedding event. He conspired with his friend to murder the Bolt driver. He disclosed that it was the Bolt driver’s vehicle he wanted to sell when he was arrested,” Iringe-Koko said in the video.

“On October 28, I called my community brother, Chukwu Patrick, and discussed with him on the Bolt driver. I told him that I would want us to snatch the car from him while going on the journey. I asked him how that could be achieved because I trusted him, and he had the capacity to do that for me.”

“He replied that it would not be possible, as he didn’t have people who would work for him around at that particular time. Then I asked that what if the Bolt driver came to my house for us to execute our aim, and he replied that that would be fine.”

“That day, the Bolt driver came to my house at about 5 p.m. Before he came, I had discussed with Patrick, and he said that he would need a pestle. We went to the street to get it, and he selected the one that was okay for him. I paid N2,500. We brought it to the house and kept it, waiting for the driver to arrive.”

“As the driver arrived, I welcomed him and he sat on my bed while I sat on a chair. Patrick was standing by the door leading to the kitchen. I asked the driver the type of drink he would love to have, and he mentioned Action Bitters. I went out to buy it for him. While he was drinking, we were chatting with him. Then Patrick suddenly used the pestle to hit the driver on the head. He was hitting the driver continuously until he died.”

“Patrick took off the driver’s shirt, took his phones, ATM card and other personal items. I cleaned up the room because there was blood spill on the bed and the wall. I had to burn the bed sheet because it had blood stains. We took the Bolt driver’s body and kept it in the wardrobe because it was evening time. Next thing was that we went out to look for a buyer for the car. Patrick recommended a place called Daewoo at Choba.  He knew people there who could buy the car. The people we met said that they could not purchase a car except they saw it first. They gave us two drivers to follow us to my home. From my house, the drivers took the car to the location of the targeted buyers and one man showed an interest in buying it for N3 million. I told Patrick that we could not take someone’s life because of N3 million. I said we should leave the car there till the following day while I would make other calls to see if I could get someone else.”

“I put a call across and got a buyer who happened to stay at Ikoku. At about 8 p.m., Patrick and I returned to my residence to dispose of the driver’s body. We took the body to the back of my residence, where there was a bushy, unoccupied fenced yard. We threw it over the fence and returned to where the car was parked. We were looking for a driver to take it from Choba to where the prospective buyer was at Ikoku.”

“We were contemplating how to get someone, so I made a call to a friend, Izuchukwu, staying at Choba. He said he was busy but had someone he would recommend to help me. He called two men. One of them was one Daniel. With me in the car, they drove it to the intending buyer after they gave me a bill of N300,000 to drive the car from Choba to Ikoku. I made a part payment of N200,000 that night. I sold my phone to raise the money. I had earlier informed them that the car was stolen.”

“We got to the intending buyer at 10 p.m., but he said he couldn’t come out at that late hour, asking me to wait till the following day. I went to lodge in a hotel. In the morning, I called the men and paid the N100,000 balance, asking them to take me from the hotel back to Ikoku. When we got there, in the process of making negotiations, the police came to arrest me.”

When asked how he felt committing such an act, the suspect responded: “I feel so bad and disappointed in myself. I’m regretting everything. It was not my intention to kill the man. I have never done anything like this before. This is my first time.”

Ikechukwu said: “I have come to realise that first, it was not about money because I was doing well for myself. I’ll advise youths not to take counsel from people that would cause them to derail; that would make us do things that are contrary to the lives we live.”

The second suspect, Patrick, who claimed to be an okada rider, stated his side: “On October 28, I took a passenger to Choba. He had engaged me to take him back to where I picked him from. As I was waiting for him, I received a call from Ikechukwu. He said he had a business for me that would fetch N13 million. I told him I was at work and would call him afterwards. Shortly after, he called me again. I told him I was still waiting for the passenger I took out, saying that I would join him in about 30 minutes.”

“I later joined Ikechukwu at Alakaya Junction and he said we should go to his or my house. I told him I had no place to myself but was residing with my cousin.”

“When we got to his house, Ikechukwu told his girlfriend to be cooking while he took me to the backyard to sit. He said he had a Bolt driver who used to take him to places he needed to go. He said that the issue he wanted to discuss with me was for us to kill the Bolt driver and sell his car. I told him that we should drug the driver instead of killing him, but he replied that we could not do that as the driver would still trace him.”

“Then, I asked him how he wanted us to do it, and he replied that we should use a gun to kill him when on a journey. I told him I didn’t have a gun; I was only riding motorcycle. We started deliberating on what to do to achieve our aim. That was when I brought up the idea of using pestle because it was the only way to keep our act a secret.”

“We bought the pestle and kept it in his kitchen.  After eating, he told his girlfriend to leave. After she left, he called the Bolt driver. When he arrived, I shook hands with him and stood up to stay by the kitchen door. Ikechukwu sat on a chair and the driver sat on the bed. Ikechukwu spoke to the driver, asking him what he would like to drink since it was his first time of entering his residence. The driver replied that he didn’t want any drink. Ikechukwu persuaded him to take something, and he went to buy three sachets of Action Bitters for him.”

“As the driver was drinking, I took the pestle and hit his head and neck with it two or three times. The first time I used the pestle on him, he could not struggle at all because the hit was sudden and very heavy. He could not move. He just shook like he was having a seizure. I became afraid.”

“Ikechukwu collected the pestle from me, saying that it was as if the driver had yet to die. But when I saw that the driver couldn’t move again, we dropped the pestle. We started thinking of a buyer who would come for the car immediately.”

“We put driver’s body in the wardrobe while Ikechukwu burnt the deceased’s clothes and the bed sheet which had blood stains. He scraped the wall which had blood stains with a knife. He started talking about the buyer but could not connect with the one he was calling. We decided to go to Daewoo area at Choba. We met about two persons. They asked us of our reason for being there, and we told them we had a car to sell, asking whether they had someone who needed one. They asked us to go and bring the car for them to see, but we told them there was no driver, so they told two people to go with us to bring it.”

“We took the car to Daewoo area and parked it there. We returned to Ikechukwu’s house to carry the deceased’s remains to the backyard where we threw it over the fence into a compound that has an unoccupied building. We returned to Ikechukwu’s house and continued looking for buyers, but we did not get.”

“The following day, we were looking for how to remove the vehicle from Daewoo area. I told him that if we were to take the car away from where we left it, there was no one to drive it. I reminded him of government officials on the road and the problem that might arise as we had no vehicle documents, and that even if he had, it would be difficult for him to respond to questions when asked.”

“That was when he told me that he had connection with a man who would escort him. He called the man and opened up to him that he stole the car and wanted to go and sell it, but had got no buyer. The man told Ikechukwu that he had no time to escort him, but would connect him with other men. He did and those ones joined us.”

“We decided to go to where the car was at Choba at about 3 p.m. The men followed us and said that the car would be taken to Ikoku. We went to our different abodes. At about 9 p.m., Ikechukwu called me and said he was going to Choba to pick the car. I told him that there was no need for me to follow him. All he needed to do was to sell and do the right thing for me.”

“I gave him some time to get to Ikoku. When I didn’t hear from him, I called him but he said the buyers didn’t want to come out late in the night. He said he would park in a hotel and sleep there until the following day. At daybreak, he told me of the amount he paid the men who drove the car. He said the intending buyer was still negotiating.”

“In the evening, he called me to come and collect my share from the car sale. That was how I was arrested.”

Saying that he regretted his action and admitting that what he did was “very, very wrong,” Patrick gave his own advice to youths in Pidgin: “Anybodi wey dey do bad thing should just comot im hand for bad.”

He said that he had no intention of killing and was just riding motorcycle as a means of livelihood “when he (Ikechukwu) called me for this job.”

Expressing sympathy for the family of the deceased and other Bolt drivers, SP Iringe-Koko advised them and other members of the public to be vigilant and security-conscious.

She said: “Whenever you want to pick a passenger, listen to your instincts, report at the nearest police station as you are going, and drop with your loved ones the contact of the person who has asked for a paid ride.”

@ Nigerian Tribune