By Boluwaji Obahopo, Lokoja
A photojournalist with Inside Story in Lokoja, Ayo Aiyepekun, has been murdered.
Ayo was said to have been killed on Tuesday by his neighbour, Adebayo Pelumi, who resides in the same compound housing the Inside Story office.
According to an eyewitness who worked with InsideStory, he said he was in the office with the victims doing some video and photo editing when the suspect called the victim to help him out in his poultry farm which is inside the same compound.
”It was around 7:30 pm when the suspect called him, but he didn’t know that Ayo was not the only person in the office. Immediately, Ayo gets out, Adebayo hits him with an iron repeatedly and killed him there.”
The eyewitness said he saw the suspect lifting the body into a deep freezer before moving the body into his Hilux Van, prompting him to raise alarm, “I called some people on the phone who mobilised the vigilante in the area, but before they came, Adebayo had made away with the dead body.
The witness said that along with the vigilante, they searched the area but could only see blood stains in the freezer and around the poultry stall.
”While the vigilantes were still with us, the suspect drove into the compound with his van and when he saw us, he turned back and refused to stop, but the vigilantes chased him, and along the line, his car had an accident during the chase, which made him jump out of the vehicle and run away.”
The witness said the van was also stained with human blood. He said that while the body was yet to be recovered, they feared that ritual may be the reason for the murder.
The case was, however, reported on Wednesday at the State Police Headquarters in Lokoja.
The suspect, Adebayo Pelumi, is said to be a staff member of the Correctional centre, whose wife separated from him two months ago due to constant domestic violence.
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