Islamic cleric kills 32-yr-old graduate for disturbing him over N32,000 debt

A 32-year-old polytechnic graduate of Business Administration, Olufunbi Lawal, has been killed by a Lagos-based Islamic cleric who owed him N32,000 at Oworonshoki area of Lagos State.

Ali Mohammed, reputed to be a muezzin in a mosque in the community, allegedly killed Lawal to avoid paying the debt, which is the balance payment for a motorcycle he bought.

In his confessional statement published in Punch, Mohammed said he killed Lawal, his long term friend, with the help of four other relatives.

“He (Olufunbi) sold a motorcycle to me for N40, 000 last month and I gave him N8, 000 with a promise to pay up before the end of October," Mohammed said.

"But he kept disturbing me to give him his balance.

"I delayed in paying because the motorcycle developed some faults that also gulped the money I was to use to pay him."

READ: Oko polytechnic student butchers friend in his sleep over N.75m debt

He said they killed the deceased because he was 'disturbing' him.

“On that fateful day, I invited some of my relatives.

"We killed him in order to stop him from disturbing me.”

Student Pulse gathered Lawal was murdered last Thursday when he went to collect his money from the suspect at a three storeyed building on Olorunfemi Street, opposite his own shop where he sold provision.

He was attacked by Mohammed and his accomplices who tied a rope around his neck and broke his skull with an iron bar.

They also slit his neck with a cutlass and chopped off his finger then dragged his body down into the streets where they left it.

Luck ran out on the killers when the deceased's continuous absence led to a search.

His call log on his phone, which was found in his shop, showed that the last person he called was Mohammed.

A resident and close friend of the victim, , told Punch that the cleric however denied knowing his whereabouts.

“We challenged him that he was the last person that Olufunbi spoke with on the phone but he said Olufunbi called his old telephone line,” Nuberu said.

Later, the deceased corpse was found on an adjoining street.

Another resident who witnessed the incident told Punch that the search party traced the blood back to the building where he was murdered.

“There was blood from the ground floor to the top floor, so his corpse must have been dragged down after he was killed.

"We saw the clothes Mohammed wore the previous day, stained with blood.

"There was also a rope, which was used to tie his neck.

"The keys to his shop were on the ground.

“We found a crowbar which they used to hit his head and a cutlass that they also used to kill him.”

READ: Man Kills Baze University Student To Avoid Repaying N7m Loan

Mohammed was beaten to pulp after the discovery.

The victim's family said the deceased was planning his wedding.

“Olufunbi was very hardworking," his elder brother, Kazeem, told Punch. "He already had a piece of land in Ikorodu, but he put the project on hold because of his education.

"He also had a fiancée and they were planning their wedding."

Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Joe Offor, said two unnamed suspects had been arrested.

Lawal’s killing is similar to a 2014 incident where a 26-year-old student of Baze University, Abuja, Awwal Umar, was murdered by a friend who owed him N7 million naira.