The Kano State Police Command has arrested Sadiq Zubairu, who murdered his buddy Bello Adam for failing to help the victim find work after collecting N3 million.
Zubairu had told the late Adam, a former colleague at the Kano Electricity Distribution Company, that he would help him get a job at the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
According to a family source cited by security analyst and counter-insurgency expert Zagazola Makama, tweeting as @ZagazOlaMakama early Friday, “A family member of the deceased just contacted us on the story where he reported another version of the story.
“He said, “Regarding the story of the guy that killed his friend, his name is Sadiq Jibrin with an active handle on X @sadiqsolar, and the deceased is Bello Bukar Adam. He didn’t borrow the money.
“He lied to Bello (his former colleague at KEDCO) that he would help him secure employment with the FIRS. After weeks, there was no job offer and no money. There was pressure from Bello on Zubairu, and that was when he invited Bello to his house and carried out the heinous act.”
Zubairu invited the deceased to his home, “tied him up, and hit him with sticks and sharp iron on his head and other parts of his body until he became motionless,” according to authorities.
According to a statement released on Thursday, Haruna Abdullahi, the State Police Public Relations Officer, stated that on May 5, 2024, at exactly 10 a.m., the command received a complaint from the deceased’s brother, who stated that Adam left home with his car and his whereabouts are unknown.
The police were then alerted to the presence of a deceased male body in Bechi Village in the state’s Kumbotso Local Government Area. The police detained Zubairu the next day at 9 a.m. after conducting an inquiry.
The statement read, “On May 5, 2024, at about 10:00 a.m., a report was received from a resident of Zawaciki Quarters in Kumbotso LGA, Kano State, that his elder brother, Bello Bukar Adam, a KEDCO staff member, aged 45, of Zawaciki Housing Estate, Kano, had left his home with his Toyota Corolla motor vehicle, ash-colored, since May 4, 2024, and his whereabouts are unknown.
“On the evening of the same date, there was a report that the deceased body of a male adult had been discovered abandoned at the outskirts of the Eastern Bypass, around Bechi Village in Kumbotso LGA, Kano State. The body was removed from the scene by a team of crime-scene policemen led by Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Kumbotso Division, SP Mustafa Abubakar, who brought the corpse to Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, where a medical doctor certified the body dead.
“Accordingly, the team immediately swung into action and arrested one Sadiq Zubairu, aged 35, of Hotoron Arewa Quarters, Nassarawa LGA, on May 6, 2024, at 9 a.m.”
The state PPRO added that “during preliminary investigations, the suspect confessed that he conspired with two others and jointly lured the victim to his house, who until his death were intimate friends. He narrated that he tied him up and hit him with sticks and a sharp iron on his head and other parts of his body until he became motionless.
“Thereafter, he loaded the motionless body inside the boot of the deceased’s vehicle, threw him off by the roadside along Eastern Bypass, around Bichi Village, and left away with the motor vehicle, a Toyota Corolla 2015 model, including his mobile phone.
“The suspect further confessed that what led to this regrettable incident was after he deceitfully collected the sum of three million naira (N3,000,000.00) from him on the pretext that he would secure a job offer for him. But having realized that he had no means of returning the money to him, he hired two hefty guys, conspired with them, killed him, and hid the motor vehicle at a garage in Hotoro Quarters, Kano. The vehicle has since been recovered by the police.”
