Witnesses narrate how suspects murdered CEO of FIRMAN Generator, Odunukwe, as court adjourns till Dec. 6

Two prosecution witnesses have testified in the case of murdered Chief Executive Officer of FIRMAN Generator Company, late Ignatius Odunukwe.

The duo testified before a Lagos High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square.

Lagos State Government is prosecuting three persons over the alleged murder – Daniel Ibeaji, Uzor Arinze and Cletus Solomon.

The defendants faces charges of conspiracy to kidnap, kidnapping and murder, including a count of killing Odunukwe on the pretence of negotiating a property.

The offences violated Sections 2 and 3 of the Kidnapping Prohibition Law of Lagos State, 2017, and Section 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

On Tuesday, Olayemi Shofolu entered appearance for prosecution. C. J. Jiakponna represented the first and second defendants; A. O. Ogusanya represented the third defendant.

The prosecution called its first witness, Adam Odunukwu, the deceased’s nephew and lawyer.

Adam told the court that he had prepared a contract of sale between his uncle and one Pa Godwin Okereke of No. 29, Trans-Ekwulu, GRA, Enugu.

Odunukwu said the deceased was selling his block of 10 terraces in Abuja and was lured by the first defendant, Ibeaji, as a prospective buyer.

He recalled that after Odunukwe became missing, a trace of his last received phone call showed that the CEO had a meeting with Ibeaji.

The witness said his car was tracked and later found with the second defendant, Arinze.

Further investigation led the police to the third defendant, Solomon, and Ibeaji residence in Abuja, where the original title documents of the property and the contract were found.

Odunukwu told the court that he never met Ibeaji before drafting the contract.

The second witness, Eugene Odunukwe, younger brother of the deceased, is into cosmetics business.

He testified that Arinze and Solomon, in his presence, confessed to killing Odunukwe by hitting his head with an iron.

“They hit the back of his head, he was begging for his life, he offered them the property and even more money, yet they killed him.”

The family member told the court that the Ibeaji lured the deceased to a hotel in Ogombo, Ajah area in Lagos, claiming he wanted to make payment for the property.

He said Arinze and Solomon confessed to watching the Ibeaji inject three 2.5mg of Diazepam drug into the CEO to prevent him from bleeding on a hotel floor.

Odunukwe added that the second and third defendants confessed that they cut his elder brother, put his body in a bag and threw into a canal.

Justice Yetunde Adesanya remanded the defendants in a correctional facility and adjourned the trial to December 6.

NAN