A consultant at a construction firm in Abuja, Abdulkareem Sheu, is cooling his heels in police custody in Abuja for shooting a car dealer in the head.

The 30-year-old reportedly shot the victim, Yakubu Ayuba, to evade payment in a car transaction between them.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that Sheu had bought a Volkswagen Passat car worth N2.5m from Ayuba sometime in April 2018 and paid N1.5m in cheque with a promise to pay the balance after delivering the vehicle to the owner in Kaduna.

Ayuba was said to have released the car to the suspect based on the previous successful transaction they had.

It was gathered that he returned from Kaduna two days later and went to pick Ayuba at his home, asking the victim to follow him to collect the balance.

He was said to have driven Ayuba to Minister Hill, Abuja, in a Mercedes Benz he brought from Kaduna around 7:00pm and parked on getting to a junction.

The Gombe State indigene suddenly brought out a pistol and shot Ayuba in the head at close range.

He was said to have abandoned the car and fled the scene while some passersby rushed the victim to a hospital where he was treated.

Operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team went after the suspect following a petition addressed to the IG, Ibrahim Idris.

The police said the N1.5m deposit made by the suspect later turned out to be a dud cheque as it was rejected upon presentation at the bank.

Sheu, in an interview with our correspondent during the week, owned up to the attempted murder, adding that he bought the gun he used to shoot Ayuba from a friend in Jos, Plateau State, while returning from Kaduna.

He said, “I am a consultant in Abuja. A friend of mine linked me to Ayuba sometime last year to buy a second-hand car. He did not have the car, so he took me to his colleague and I bought the car for N570,000. I paid instantly.

“In April 2018, I contacted him again for Passat CC and he ordered for the car from Lagos. We agreed on N2.5m and I gave him N1.5m cheque with a promise to give him N1m balance at the end of the month.

“I took the car to a man in Kaduna the following day. I exchanged it with a Mercedes Benz and the man gave me additional N200,000. On my way back from Kaduna, I stopped by at Jos to buy a locally-made pistol for N70,000 through a former classmate. When I got to Abuja, I went to pick Ayuba on April 14. I pretended that I wanted to pay him the N1m balance and took him to Minister Hill junction. I brought out the gun and shot him in the head.

“We started dragging with each other and the gun fell. He ran away with the car key, shouting for help. Some hoodlums descended on me and beat me up. They collected my phone and later freed me. I saw the Mercedes Benz at a nearby police station the next day and ran away. Two days after, I relocated to Gombe.

“I am already regretting what I did. I don’t know what came over me. I wanted to kill him so that he would not ask me about the money again.”

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