Sani Saidu, 32, a motor boy has been arrested for allegedly
stabbed his boss, one Mr Shittu Aremu, a truck driver to death while accompanying him to Port
Harcourt, Rivers state , and diverted the truck to Taraba state.
According to Vanguard, late Mr Shittu Aremu , was a driver
to S.K Transport Service Nigeria Limited. He reportedly loaded the truck with aviation
fuel worth N5.5 million and consequently left Lagos for Port Harcourt on
November 13th, 2014, to
discharge the product. He was said to have invited Saidu to work with him as his
motor boy, with a promise to pay him an undisclosed amount at the end of the
trip
Asked what made him carry
out such dastardly act, Saidu replied : “ I killed Mr Aremu because I wanted to
sell the aviation fuel and use the money to travel to Dubai on a business trip”
Narrating how he snuffed life out of Aremu whom he fondly called baba Oyo, ,
Saidu said: “ A day after we left Lagos, at about 6pm, the company called baba
Oyo and instructed him to park at Umunede, Delta state for security reason and
that he should proceed on the journey the following day. While there , I bought
a knife without him knowing and tied it with a rope on my leg.
Very early the third day,
baba Oyo started the ignition to continue the journey. As he was about to move,
I told him that one of the tyres had developed a fault. I came out of the
vehicle and pretended to be checking the tyres. I went to his side of the
truck, bent down as if checking the tyres and in the process, I brought out my
knife. But as I raised my hand to stab him, he held my hand and we started
struggling, in the process of which the knife cut me on the index finger.
I succeeded in stabbing him first on the lap
and blood started gushing out. Again, I stabbed him again in the stomach,
leaving the knife in there. By then he was too weak to shout. Thereafter, I
pushed him out of the vehicle and mounted the driver’s seat and zoomed off. My
intention was to take the aviation fuel to Taraba state and sell it at the
black market. When I got to Adamawa state, I sold four drums , at the rate of
N28,000 per drum. On reaching Katsina Ala, the truck developed a fault and I
ended up spending N57,000 to fix it. I continued the journey but on reaching
Mutum Biu,
I was stopped by some
soldiers who were on a joint operation with the Police, at a check point. They
demanded for the way bill and I showed them. But one of the policemen asked
where the plate number was and I brought it out from where I kept it. I had
earlier removed it because the company’s number was inscribed on it. When the
policemen dialled the telephone number, they discovered that the vehicle was
supposed to be heading for Port Harcourt. When they asked what it was doing at
Taraba, I could not provide a ready answer and I was subsequently apprehended”
“ I did what I did in order to raise N150,000 for a ticket to Dubai. A
friend of mine who lives in Kano usually travels to Dubai to buy handsets and
sell in Kano. He told me he would take me down if I could raise N150,000. That
was why I did what I did. But with the look of things, it is obvious that I am
in a big trouble and may never come out of from it for the rest of my life”, he
stated remorsefully. Information at Crime Guard’s disposal revealed that
operatives at the SCID would be leaving Lagos for Umunede in Delta state, to
inspect the spot where the suspect claimed to have thrown Aremu’s body, with a
view to ascertaining whether he is alive or not.
Police sources however
hinted that the driver’s seat of the recovered truck was stained with blood,
adding that at the end of investigation, the suspect would be charged to court
for murder and stealing
