Conductor kills master to steal money for Dubai trip

A petroleum tanker conductor, Sani Saidu, who stabbed his master, one Shitta Aremu, to death, so that he could steal the product and sell so as to get money to travel to Dubai for business, is now regretting his actions in the police cell at the Lagos State Criminal Investigations Department, SCID, Yaba, Lagos.

The 32-year-old Saidu from Gombe State, confessed that he was hanging out at a fuel depot in Lagos when the kind hearted Aremu, alias Baba Oyo, engaged him to be the motor-boy on his truck on a trip to Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to supply 40,000 litre of aviaton fuel worth N5.5 million, but that act was the last for Aremu as his motor-boy murdered him on the way and diverted the product to the northern part of the country.

Reports from the police investigation reveal that the late Aremu whose age was put around 56 years, was a driver to S.K Transport Service Nigeria Limited and reportedly loaded the truck with plate number AGL 368 XA with the product and consequently left Lagos for Port Harcourt on November 13, 2014, to discharge the content.

But leaving Lagos, he was said to have invited Saidu to work with him as his motor-boy, with a promise to pay him an undisclosed amount at the end of the trip.

The police report, according to Saidu's confession, further states that when, two days later, his employers efforts to reach Aremu on phone, raised suspicions of danger.

They decided to trace the location of the vehicle via the tracking device installed in the truck and were shocked that the truck had been diverted from its original route to somewhere around Mutum Biu, in Taraba State.

The company initially thought their driver had some sinister moves up his sleeves and laid a complaint SCID where detectives swung into action by travelling to Taraba State. Fortunately for them, the truck was recovered at the Taraba Police Command, with only Saidu.

It was in the course of investigation that the police established that Saidu actually murdered his master before diverting the truck to the northern part of the country.

In an interview with the Vanguard Newspaper while in police cell, Saidu, a father of five, narrated how the devil took over him and he stabbed his master to death with a knife, threw him out of the truck and took over the steering, diverting the product to the north, all in a bid to get money to travel to the Dubai.

Hear him:

"I killed Mr. Aremu because I wanted to sell the aviation fuel and use the money to travel to Dubai on a business trip.

A day after we left Lagos, at about 6pm, the company called Baba Oyo and instructed him to park at Umunede, Delta State, for security reason and that he should proceed on the journey the following day.

While there, I bought a knife without him knowing and tied it with a rope on my leg. Very early the third day, Baba Oyo started the ignition to continue the journey. As he was about to move, I told him that one of the tyres had developed a fault. I came out of the vehicle and pretended to be checking the tyres.

I went to his side of the truck, bent down as if checking the tyres and in the process, I brought out my knife. But as I raised my hand to stab him, he held my hand and we started struggling, in the process of which the knife cut me on the index finger.

I succeeded in stabbing him first on the lap and blood started gushing out. Again, I stabbed him again in the stomach, leaving the knife in there. By then he was too weak to shout.

Thereafter, I pushed him out of the vehicle and mounted the driver’s seat and zoomed off.

My intention was to take the aviation fuel to Taraba State and sell it at the black market. When I got to Adamawa State, I sold four drums, at the rate of N28,000 per drum. On reaching Katsina Ala, the truck developed a fault and I ended up spending N57,000 to fix it.

I continued the journey but on reaching Mutum Biu, I was stopped by some soldiers who were on a joint operation with the police, at a check point. They demanded for the way bill and I showed them.

But one of the policemen asked where the plate number was and I brought it out from where I kept it. I had earlier removed it because the company’s number was inscribed on it. When the policemen dialled the telephone number, they discovered that the vehicle was supposed to be heading for Port Harcourt. When they asked what it was doing at Taraba, I could not provide a ready answer and I was subsequently apprehended.

I did what I did in order to raise N150,000 for a ticket to Dubai. A friend of mine who lives in Kano usually travels to Dubai to buy handsets and sell in Kano. He told me he would take me down if I could raise N150,000.

That was why I did what I did. But with the look of things, it is obvious that I am in a big trouble and may never come out of from it for the rest of my life."