One of the neighbours of Ifeanyi Njoku, accused of killing his girlfriend and sleeping with her corpse for six days at the Seaside Estate in the Ajah area of Lagos, has spoken about the tragic incident.
The neighbour said since Njoku moved into the apartment in December 2021, the couple always been fighting.
Other neighbours said days before his arrest, Njokwu had been acting funny; leaving home as early as 6a.m. and returning late at night to sleep with the dead girlfriend.
WITHIN NIGERIA recalls that Njoku was arrested by the police for allegedly killing his 24-year-old girlfriend, Precious Okeke and sleeping with her corpse in the house for six days.
Speaking to Vanguard, the estate’s chairman, Segun Adewunmi; the house’s caretaker, Kelechi Uzoma, and some neighbours made startling revelations.
How it happened
Last Sunday on her way to Church service, a neighbour heard movements and voices from over the fence that separated the house from an empty plot.
She shouted out to whoever was there: “What are you doing there?” But the wall was high and it was too dark, so she could not identify them.
Before then, a bad smell had enveloped the compound. And the security man had also asked Njokwu after his ‘wife’. Njokwu told him she had traveled.
But when the woman, who earlier challenged voices from across the fence, returned from church, she called some other people to share what happened in the morning and they concluded that something was amiss. So they called the estate chairman.
Enter police
When the estate chairman and his team arrived, they got a ladder and climbed the fence into the empty plot of land and they saw the grave. They also saw bloodstained clothes and a poly bag. Inside the bag were a woman’s braided hair attached to part of human skull and flesh, with maggots feasting on it.
This confirmed to them that a murder had taken place. So they called the police.
It was discovered that Njokwu had rented a nearby hotel, where he was spending the day time, to return to the dead body in the night.
Caught on 6th day; neighbours arrested
The night he was caught was alleged to be day-6 of the suspected ritual killing. The lady was last seen at a party on her birthday.
When the police arrived, he was not in. They only had access to the plot where the grave was dug and recovered the items at the grave site. The police, thereafter, arrested four people, including the caretaker, two female occupants of the house, a brother to one of the females, whose pair of slippers was allegedly found at the graveside.
The arrested four were taken to Langbasa Police Station for questioning. While they were there, they got a call from one of the neighbors that they had sighted Njokwu at a hotel, close to AP Petrol Station. The police were informed and advised to come with sirens. That was how he was arrested.
‘She was stubborn’
According to neighbours, he did not deny his actions but confessed straight away that he used her because of her stubbornness. At the station, on seeing his neighbours and caretaker, he told the Police that the people they arrested had nothing to do with the crime and that they should be let go.
Discussion about this post