The Kano State Police Command says it has arrested Sadiq Zubairu, a member of the Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO), for allegedly killing his friend and colleague identified as Bello Bukar Adamu over a debt of N3 million.
It was reported that on the 5th of May 2024, Bello received an urgent phone call from someone asking him to meet up with him. However, after he left, he never came back.
While speaking to journalists, Abdullahi Abubakar, the younger brother of the deceased, said: “Last Sunday, at around 12 pm, Bello received an urgent call from someone, and after the call, he told his wife that he was going to meet up with the person. He left in his car.
“Although my brother was working at Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO), we knew that he was hoping to get a job at the Federal Inland Revenue Service, and he had someone who promised to help him get the job.
“When he didn’t return home that Sunday and was unreachable, we reported at the Police station, and he was declared missing.
“We searched for him in different hospitals, Police stations and mortuaries, yet we didn’t find him. At a point, we thought he had been kidnapped.
“However, when his phone conversation was tracked, his last word with the person on the other end was “Alhamdulillah.” That was how we suspected that he was made to believe that the job offer was ready.”
Speaking on the matter on Thursday, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Abdullahi Kiyawa, confirmed the incident.
“On the 5th of May 2024, at about 10:00 am, a report was received from a resident of Zawaciki Quarters in Kumbotso LGA, Kano State, that his elder brother, Bello Bukar Adam, a KEDCO staff aged 45 years old of Zawaciki Housing Estate, Kano, had left his home with his Toyota Corolla Motor Vehicle, Ash in colour, since the 4th of May 2024, and his whereabouts were unknown.
“In the evening of the same date, there was a report that the body of a male adult has been discovered abandoned at the outskirts of Eastern Bypass, around Bechi Village in Kumbotso LGA, Kano State.
“The body was removed from the scene by a team of crime-scene policemen led by Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Kumbotso Division, SP Mustafa Abubakar, who brought the corpse to Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, where a medical doctor certified the body dead,” SP Kiyawa stated.
Going further, he also said that the Commissioner of Police, Kano State Command, Mohammed Usaini Gumel, raised a team of detectives led by the Officer in Charge Anti-Kidnapping Squad, SP Aliyu Mohammed Auwal, and directed that the suspect be trailed and arrested within 24 hours.
“Accordingly, the team immediately swung into action and arrested one Sadiq Zubairu, aged 35 years old of Hotoron Arewa Quarters, Nassarawa LGA, on the 6th of May 2024 at 9:00 am.
“During preliminary investigations, the suspect confessed that he conspired with two others and jointly lured the victim to his house who, until his death, were intimate friends.
“He narrated that he tied him up and hit him with sticks and sharp iron on his head and other parts of his body until he became motionless.
“Thereafter, he loaded the motionless body inside the boot of the deceased’s vehicle, threw him off by the roadside along Eastern Bypass, around Bichi Village, and left with the motor vehicle, a Toyota Corolla, 2015 Model, including his mobile phone.
“The suspect further confessed that what led to this regrettable incident was after he deceitfully collected the sum of three million naira (N3,000,000) from him on the pretext that he would secure a job offer for him.
“But having realized that he had no means of returning the money to him, he hired two hefty guys, conspired with them, killed him, and hid the motor vehicle at a garage in Hotoro Quarters, Kano. The vehicle has since been, however, recovered by the Police,” SP Kiyawa added.
Reacting to the incident, Sani Bala, the spokesperson of KEDCO said: “It was incredibly shocking and sorrowful for the company. He stood out as one of our most diligent and committed employees.
“Truthfully, the deceased and the suspect maintained a friendly working rapport, despite the suspect not being employed by us at the time of the incident.”
After the body of Bello was recovered, his family and friends gathered last Tuesday at Gama B area of Kano and buried him.
