The Lagos state police command is currently on the trail of a cult member who contracted members of his group to kill his friend, 28-year-old bus driver, Abraham Umar, pictured above, over a 17 year old girl simply identified as Elo. Abraham was shot dead at a restaurant operated by Elo’s mother at Cele bus stop in the Ijanikin area of Lagos state on Tuesday August 7th.
According to reports, Abraham had been in a relationship with Elo for some time. However, a member of a cult group who is also Abraham’s freind, was interested in Elo. He got jealous when Abraham started seeing the 17 year old girl and warned him to stop. Abraham and Elo however refused to stop seeing each other and this caused a friction between Abraham and his friend.
A witness, who did not want to be identified told Punch that the gunmen came in a group after Abraham, who plied the Lagos-Badagry Expressway route, parked his vehicle and went to eat.
“He was with his conductor and the owner of the commercial bus when one of the gunmen tapped him on the back. Another one pushed him and slammed his head against the wall. Then one of them put a gun to his head and shot him dead. Everybody ran away.”
Narrating what happened, Abraham’s foster father, Muhammed Umaru, said Abraham who lost his Naval Officer father when he was six years old, had been receiving threat text messages from some men who asked him to stop his relationship with Elo.
“They told him to leave the girl because she belonged to one of them. My son’s friend, Peter, said the young man behind the messages had once confronted them. I was told that the rival was dark in complexion and had dreadlocks. I told his aunt and uncle, who asked the girl to stay away from Abraham and also warned him to leave Elo alone. But they refused to quit the relationship. He was a calm man and never involved himself in any trouble. This incident is just unfortunate. The problem was that the girl he was dating had another boyfriend who is a cult member and that was why he was killed. We want justice; he must not die in vain.”
On her part, Elo who has since been arrested, said Abraham was her only boyfriend, adding that she could not tell why he was killed.
“He called me last night (Tuesday), saying he was going to my mum’s shop and if he could wait for me there. I said he should not wait because I was at my brother’s place in Ajegunle and would not be coming back that night. I told him that we were planning my brother’s wedding. On Wednesday when I got back home, I was told Abi had been killed. I don’t know about any threat because he did not tell me about it,” she said.
Confirming the incident, the spokesperson of the Lagos State Police command, CSP Chike Oti, said four suspects had been arrested.
“Abraham’s friend had a crush on the girl. It got to a point of obsession as he started talking to the man’s girlfriend to leave him. However, when he was not getting the desired cooperation from the girl, he set up his friend with some other guys, who killed him. The matter was reported at the Ijankin Police Station and immediately, the state Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, ordered the Divisional Police Officer to fish out the murderers. So far, the DPO has picked up four suspects, while the principal suspect, the one who had a crush on the girl, is still at large. We are on his trail and he cannot escape justice” he said
