Businessman kills associate to avoid sharing profit

A businessman identified as Ogbaire, has been arrested by the Delta State Police Command for allegedly murdering his business partner, Lawrence Ojoh, and burying his body in a shallow grave in Warri, Delta State, to avoid sharing the profits from a business transaction with the deceased.

New Telegraph reports that Okoh, fondly called Law, a native of Ubulu-Uku in Aniocha South Local Government Area of the state, was killed by the suspect after he Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State, where his business outfit is based, to supply generator spare parts to a customer in Warri, on August 2, 2016.

After making the supply, Law did not return home, prompting his wife to report to the police who declared him missing.

It was gathered that the wife's suspicion of foul play was as a result of a text message her husband had sent to her that he would not make it back to Port Harcourt that day and that he would pass the night with his customer in Warri.

But when the wife contacted the said customer on the phone, he claimed he had not seen Law over a period of time.

It turned out that the customer was Ogbaire and when the police raided the spare parts market in Warri, the wife was able to identify some of the parts her husband left with on the fateful day, in a shop.

The owner of the shop where the part were found, took the police to the person who supplied them and it turned out it was the suspect and he was arrested.

During interrogation, he allegedly to the police that he murdered Okoh and buried him in a shallow grave in an uncompleted building to avoid sharing the profits to be made from the sales of the parts.

A senior police officer in Warri who said the suspect took the operatives to the grave where he had buried the murdered man, said the corpse was exhumed and released to the family in Ubulu-Uku for burial.

“The suspect has confessed to the crime that he killed Okoh in order not to pay him the money for the spare parts, he supplied him,” the officer said.

A cousin of the deceased said that the late Okoh left behind his twin babies born after eight years of marriage.

“My cousin got married eight years ago and just got twins last year. The wife is now a widow while the twins, who are minors, will not see their father again.”

The State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Celestina Kalu, ahs confirmed the murder and arrest of the suspect.

“The principal suspect has been arrested, after taking the police to the shallow grave. We have exhumed the body.”