MURDERED FEMALE LAWYER: WHAT IS THE POLICE TRYING TO COVER UP?

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Joseph Omoniyi

Following the killing of an Abuja based lawyer, Feyitayo Obot in her hotel room at Citiheights, 6, Sheraton link road, Opebi, Lagos, on the 26th of January, 2019, new revelations have emerged which suggest the Nigerian police may be trying to help ‘keep skeleton in a cupboard’.

Recall that on the 26th of January 2019, an Abuja based lawyer, Barr. Feyitayo Obot, 34, was gruesomely murdered in her hotel room after an alleged robber was said to have stabbed her and slit her throat, at Citiheights hotel, 6 Sheraton link road, Opebi Ikeja and the case was reported to the police.

According to the police, the suspect, Usulor, who was apprehended at a restaurant in Victoria Island and detained at the homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba, confessed that he killed the the mother of two who had arrived Lagos on the 23rd of January for her management exams, to raise money for his hotel bills.

However, it seems there are irregularities in this police report and their story does not ‘add up’.

A look at the family of the deceased’s side of the story and many questions beg for answers. How did the murder suspect know she was on her way to Lagos and the hotel she would be staying? What were his initial reasons for booking the same hotel?Why did he overstay? Why not check out when his time ran out? Is it normal to check into a hotel and then randomly kill someone when you just realised you had overstayed by 2 days?

An official statement by the family, made available to hotjist.com revealed that at the initial stage of the investigation, the family was reliably informed by the Nigerian Police – SCIIB that it was a ‘hit job’.

“As a family, we were restrained from going public with our outcry because we had placed our trust and confidence in the commitment of the Nigerian Police and security agencies to bring justice to the family of the deceased”, said Mrs Oyedepo, a senior sister to the deceased.

Investigations by the police revealed that the murder suspect arrived the hotel and checked in as a guest a few hours after late Feyisayo checked-in. Is that a coincidence?

According to the statement from the police, investigations revealed; “During interrogation, the suspect confessed to have committed the crime. He said he has never met Ms Feyitayo Obot until the day he attacked her and that he was motivated to rob the deceased to enable him offset his hotel bill having spent two days above the one day he paid for.”

Read the graphic account of the suspect according to the Lagos State police command, “On the fateful day, I was looking for money to pay my hotel bill, because I over-spent and I did not want embarrassment. I was thinking of what to do when I saw the female lawyer. Convinced that she was alone in her room, I knocked and when she opened the door, I wanted to steal her money and her phones but she started struggling with me, so I stabbed her. I did not konow her before.”

“To execute his plans undetected, he claimed he sneaked into the deceased’s room to steal her money and her phones, but the deceased struggled with him and he overpowered her. He then stabbed her with a sharp knife in the stomach and used the same knife to slit her throat. Satisfied that the woman was dead, he made away with her phones and N26,000″, the police emphasised.

More questions cry for answers; How did he know the room to go to when it is on record that he was not staying on the same floor or even wing as the deceased? It is on record that the suspect also works in a restaurant on Victoria Island. Why did he come to pay 30k a room for three nights (60k)? How come he was even accommodated by the hotel without a valid means of identification in the first place? Why did the hotel not insist on him paying up his bills when he overstayed the first day?

Based on the initial information from the police to the family, Usulor said he was paid to murder Mrs Feyisayo Obot. Who paid him? Does the Police know? Why the sudden twist in the police report. These are gray areas the police will as a matter of urgency need to clarify in order to restore the faith of this family in the our justice system.

Meanwhile, CP Muazu has directed that the case file be duplicated and forwarded to the Directorate of Public Prosecution for legal advice.