Police arrest suspected killers of NNPC staff, recover corpse

Nigerian Police yesterday said the suspected killers behind the alleged disappearance of a Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), have been arrested with his corpse and personal effects discovered.


A statement issued by the Force spokesman, CSP Frank Mba said the suspects have been arraigned in Court on charges of criminal conspiracy, armed robbery and culpable homicide punishable by death.
“Detectives from the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) of the Nigeria Police Force have successfully solved the… unexplained disappearance of Mr. Sylvester Emefiele, staff of the

Transformation Office of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC),” Mba said.
He added that the police tracked down one Olaniyi Banjo, a 20-year old resident of Ilesa, Osun State, who bought the Blackberry phone of the deceased from one of the principal suspects, Akindele Taiwo.

The Police said it arrested a 30-year old Timothy Abidemi Lekan and a 41-year old Akinlade Taiwo who have allegedly made statements to the police in connection with the disappearance, robbery and killing of Mr. Sylvester Emefiele.
How the victim died

The suspects equally led detectives to the scene of the crime – a bush close to the Iddo Campus of the University of Abuja where the abandoned and totally decomposed remains of the deceased. Now mere skeletal parts, were recovered.

A detailed forensic examination including DNA analysis has confirmed that the recovered remains were actually those of Mr. Sylvester Emefiele. Other personal effects of the deceased, including cash, ATM cards, Laptop, Blackberry phones, cheque books, personal apparels, etc were also recovered, the Police have said.

Also arrested in connection with the case was a witch-doctor, Saidi Babatunde from Osun State who was implicated by the suspects for preparing criminal charms for them, the police said.

“Police investigation shows that the late Sylvester Emefiele, while en route from Lagos to Abuja, dropped at Giri in Gwagwalada Area Council of the FCT at about 8pm on 23rd September, 2012, where he unsuspectingly boarded a Nissan Sunny Saloon Car with Reg. No: AG-956-KEF driven by Akinlade Taiwo who further picked his accomplice, Timothy Abidemi Lekan.

The suspects confirmed that they had earlier forced the deceased to disclose the Personal Identification Number of all his ATM cards which enabled them to make an initial withdrawal of N186,000 from his Zenith Bank, First Bank and GT-Bank accounts at Gwagwalada.

On seeing that their victim still had an outstanding balance of over Eight Hundred thousand naira (N800,000.00), the robbers chose to kill Mr. Sylvester Emefiele by binding his wrists with twine and hitting his chest with their Talisman and other dangerous weapons until they were sure that their victim’s life had fizzled out.

Thereafter, they continued making illicit withdrawals from the victim’s accounts until they were apprehended by the Police, the police statement said.