The killing of Feyitayo Obot

LAST week, the Lagos State police command announced the arrest of one Joshua Usulor for murder. The story is indeed a tragic one: Usulor, having reportedly overstayed in a hotel in Opebi, Ikeja, Lagos State, Lagos, sneaked into one of the rooms and allegedly killed the occupant, a female lawyer, in order to get money to offset his bill. The dateline was January 26. The victim, Feyitayo Obot, was relaxing in her room when she was gruesomely murdered. She was aged 34. Having achieved his aim, Usulor immediately absconded from the scene.

According to the Lagos State police spokesman, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Chike Oti, Obot’s body had multiple stab wounds in the abdominal region and her throat was slit open with a sharp object. Oti said: “Although the suspect absconded after committing the crime, the Commissioner of Police, Zubairu Muazu, charged the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti Yaba, Yetunde Longe, to leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the culprit is arrested and prosecuted. Painstaking investigations led to the arrest of Usulor on February 28, at his hideout in Victoria Island, Lagos.

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“During interrogation, the suspect confessed to have committed the crime. He said he had never met the lady until the day he attacked her and that he was motivated to rob her to enable him offset his hotel bill, having spent two days above the one day he paid for. To execute his plans undetected, he claimed he sneaked into the room of the deceased to steal her money and her phones. The deceased struggled with him but was overpowered. 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 a cash sum of N26,000.” According to Oti, investigations revealed that the lady had come to Lagos for a business meeting.

It is indeed difficult to contemplate the Feyitayo Obot story without shedding tears. That a law-abiding citizen relaxing in a hotel room she booked for her comfort and safety could suffer such a cruel fate is not only troubling, but also distressing. Beyond the crass opportunism and heartlessness exhibited by her assailant, the story casts a blight on the Nigerian society and portrays humanity in the most unflattering terms. Pray, how could anyone decide to kill just to offset hotel bills? Since when did overstaying in a hotel become a motivation for murder? In the first place, what was Usulor’s mission at the hotel and how and why did he spend more days there than he paid for? And if for any reason he had become hard up, why not reach an understanding with the hotel management on how the outstanding bill could be offset?

To be sure, no one is forced to stay in a hotel and the fact that Usulor did naturally presupposed that he was well aware of the cost implications. He could therefore not have had any valid excuse for not meeting his financial obligations to the hotel. Harsh as things have become particularly in recent times, the Nigerian society is still compassionate, and has not let go of its communal origins. In Lagos, as in many other places across the country, there are places where you can pass the night at little or no cost, and it is unfathomable that anyone would bypass such an option and instead opt for hotel accommodation even with limited financial means. The point being made here is that staying in a hotel cannot be an option for anyone unsure of how to pay the bills.

Time and again, we have drawn attention to the Nigerian society’s collapsing moral values and ethical standards. The values of honesty, hard work and integrity are fast losing appeal, challenged by the get-rich-quick syndrome and quest for a life of pleasure by the country’s youths. Sadly, the family, the immediate society, religious and educational institutions are all implicated in the  gradual decay of society and there is little or no hope for change in the horizon. Yet, unless and until the issues that confront the Nigerian society at the institutional levels herein highlighted are addressed decisively, stories such as the current tragic one involving Feyitayo Obot will continue to be told. The auguries are, to say the least, portentous.

We commend the Lagos State police command for apprehending Usulor after weeks of investigations. It must get to the root of the matter and unravel the personality, profession (if any) and orientation of the suspect. It is for instance not impossible that a suspect accused of committing such a grievous crime is in fact no stranger to such crimes. It is also possible that he or she has accomplices that will be of interest in police investigations. In addition, it would be helpful to determine whether or not the suspect in this case suffers from mental challenges because, truth be told, his reason for committing the alleged crime borders on the insane. The police should also determine where and how the suspect came to be in possession of the sharp object with which he committed the alleged crime and ensure that justice is done in the matter.

We commiserate with the family and friends of Feyitayo Obot. These are indeed trying times for them and we share in their pain. We also commiserate with the legal community. May her soul rest in sweet repose.