The Lagos State Police
Command has arrested a trader, Mr. Lawrence Ikonne, for allegedly killing a
buyer, Isa Yaya, because the deceased haggled over the price of a commodity.
According to Punch, the incident occurred at Ikonne’s residence on
Afro Close, Afromedia Estate, Okokomaiko, Lagos.
Ikonne sold electronic appliances at the Alaba International
Market, Ojo, Lagos.
It was learnt that the
victim, 22-year-old Yaya, from northern Nigeria, had gone to Ikonne’s apartment
to buy a fairly used air conditioner. Yaya, it was said, usually bought and
re-sold condemned iron and electrical materials.
Ikonne, 26, from the Isiala-Ngwa South Local Government Area of
Abia State, had gone to Alaba market on the morning of Friday, October 10,
where he first met Yaya.
Ikonne had also
reportedly invited the deceased to his house to buy his second-hand air
conditioner.
When they got to the
house, it was said that the two of them went inside a room to bring out the
commodity, and they started haggling over the price.
It was gathered that
Yaya insisted on buying the air conditioner below N5, 000- a price which did
not go down well with Ikonne.
As the haggling
continued, a fight was said to have ensued between the two which turned violent
during which Ikonne allegedly hit Yaya with a plank in the belly.
During interrogation,
the suspect explained that he had asked Yaya to either pay N5, 000 or assist
him to return the commodity to where they brought it from but Yaya had refused.
Ikonne added that he felt insulted by this attitude.
He said, “I had not met
the young man before. I met him that morning at the Alaba market, and asked him
to buy one of my appliances: an air conditioner. He actually looked like a cart
pusher. When we got home, we both went in to remove the product, and we brought
it outside for negotiation.
“As we continued, he
said he would pay less than N5, 000. I replied that he should assist me to
return it to where we took it from, but he refused. In the process, we started
fighting. He even asked me to pay him for helping me bring it out. I was mad,
and I hit his belly with a plank.
“When I realised he had
fainted, I tied him with a rope and dragged him into a corner. I also fled the
house.”
It was one of Ikonne’s
co-tenants who noticed Yaya’s corpse where he was tied up.
He then raised the
alarm, and reported the case to the Okokomaiko police station. The policemen
later came to arrest Ikonne.
Ikonne had been
transferred to the State Criminal Investigations Department, Yaba, and he would
be charged to court soon.
What a nonsense...
ReplyDelete