[size=14pt]Murder of Lagos socialite: Police arrest another suspect[/size]
Crime Alert Wednesday, July 6, 2011


By Emma Nnadozie, Crime Editor

Detectives investigating last Monday murder of Lagos Socialite and popular auto dealer, Alhaji Rafiu Jabita at his palatial home in Adeniyi-Jones, Ikeja, Lagos yesterday arrested another suspect over the incident.






The arrest of the man said to be in his late fifties brings the number of suspects so far arrested to two. Earlier, the security guard to the deceased was whisked away immediately after the incident following his inability to give accurate account of how the assailants gained entry into the well-secured home of the auto dealer.

This is just as it was revealed yesterday that the assailants gained entry into the estate through a canal bordering Alausa axis which had been closed for long.


Vanguard learnt that the arrest of the second suspect was as a result of hints that he earlier championed the clearance of the canal which hitherto had being closed for years in order to avoid intrusion into the highbrow estate.

The assailants reportedly deceived Alhaji's security guard by speaking Hausa language which made him open the gates for them at 3am.As at the time of going to press, it was gathered that a team of Police men from Mancenter station led by the divisional Police Officer are interrogating the suspects with a view to unraveling the mystery surrounding the brutal murder of Alhaji Jabita, described by friends, acquaintances and neighbors as 'a great philanthropist and humane personality'.

Ironically, he reportedly just completed installation of bullet proof gadgets in almost all the strategic places in his house with the exception of the balcony downstairs when the assailants struck. They came through the iron protector at the balcony.

It was also learnt reliably that the latest attack that claimed the life of Alhaji Jabita should be the third attempt in his life in recent times. Close associates disclosed that few years back, he was abducted by some unidentified gun men just few minutes after he left his office at Alausa with a large sum of money which was to be used in buying cars from overseas.

The associates said the gun men took him to a far-away lonely spot along Sango-Ota Abeokuta road where they dispossessed him of all the money and later forced another motorist at gun point to drop him at Sango around midnight. After the incident, he was reportedly telling friends and relations that he was happy they spared his life and did not care about the huge amount of money they made away with.

Few weeks later, it was gathered that another gang attacked him around Aromire street, very close to his residence and dispossessed him of all the valuables including a huge sum of money in his car.

Meanwhile, scores of sympathizers have continued to throng his residence to commiserate with his wife and members of the family. Vanguard learnt that amongst the sympathizers were five of his bosom friends who were sworn in yesterday as Commissioners in Governor Fashola's cabinet, the same day he was brutally stabbed to death.

Another incident that threw sympathizers into more mourning and gnashing of teeth was the arrival of one of the beneficiaries of his free-tuition University education, a final year student ,whom he earlier told to come for his school fees. Unfortunately, he was killed the same day he told the student to come for his fees.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/07/fg-international-community-urged-to-end-gas-flaring/