Two people have been arrested for strangling an Uber driver and stealing his car

Officers from the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Lagos State Police Command said the two suspects, and one other person who is still at large, strangled the Uber driver, Emmanuel Innevosa, before disposing his body and stole his car, a KIA RIO salon car marked KTU 594DM.

According to a Punch Online report, the suspects requested a ride from Ikeja to Oke-Ira, Ogba — both in Lagos — before suddenly ordering the driver to make a U-turn and take them to another part of Ogba, where they strangled him and made off with his car.

One of the suspects narrated the whole thing thus: “I and Michael met at Ogba where I went to drink and we became friends. I told him how difficult things were for me that I needed to relocate to Benin to start all over again.

“It was at this point that Michael told me about a deal that could fetch me some money that we could get a car and then sell it to his boss.

“Michael then told me about one Alex (Emmanuel) who had a vehicle and we agreed to meet the following day. Since then we had been meeting and discussing how to buy the vehicle.

“On the fateful day the Uber driver came, I was with Michael in his office and his friend Destiny was with him but I don’t know if he discussed the vehicle deal with Destiny.

“Around 9:30p.m, we called the Uber driver to come and pick us at Tantalizer eatery at Ogba. I and Destiny were inside the vehicle with the driver, but Michael was outside while I was holding the belt.

ALSO READ: People are deleting ride sharing app, here's why

“Immediately I put the belt across the driver’s neck, Destiny dragged the belt and we strangled him. When we were satisfied that he was dead, we took his corpse to Oremeji Street and dumped him in front of a church around 10:30 p.m., without anybody noticing us.

“After killing the driver, we took the vehicle to Michael’s boss to sell it. The buyer then inquired from us where we got the vehicle from and Michael told him that we killed the owner.

“The buyer then said we should take the car away and Michael said we should take it to his house and park it outside, before taking it to another buyer in Benin.

“Later we were tracked to Benin, arrested and brought back to Lagos.”

Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, said the cops had received a report of an Uber driver gone missing and the driver’s car stolen. “The suspects posed as passengers, strangled the Uber driver and dumped his remains at Ogba and the vehicle was taken to Delta State, where it was recovered and the suspects arrested,” Owoseni said.

About two weeks ago, three people were also arrested in Port Harcourt after they tied up a Jumia delivery man and threw him in a septic tank, leading to his death. This wave of disturbing incidences raises the question as to how tech companies in Nigeria protect the people who work for them.

There really isn’t any precise methodology to preventing these kinds of crimes. People trying to make a honest living do not deserve to become victims of senseless crimes. How do we stop this?