The unrepentant Abuja killer

IN yet another terrible development that stunned many people, a so-called Gospel singer, Timileyin Ajayi, was arrested by men of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Nasarawa State Police Command in Lafia for the murder of his alleged girlfriend, Salome Eleojo Adaidu, a 24-year-old member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), serving at Nicon Insurance at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. Salome was murdered when she allegedly visited the suspect at his house in the Papalana axis at New Karshi in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State. The suspect was paraded with the weapons, namely a knife and a machete, he had used to butcher up the victim. He was nabbed on Sunday, January 12, while trying to dispose of the victim’s head after killing her and decapitating her, and set upon by a mob.

Rather strangely, the suspect confessed to the crime, saying that he had absolutely no regrets over his action. His story: “I killed her because we don’t have each other all the time, it’s not something I planned. It happened on that day and it happened. Not that I had the plan in mind, she was cheating. She hid most of the things from me most times. I got to know from her phone. I saw her chats with other guys on the phone. That was why I decided (to kill her). I don’t have any regrets because life is reciprocal; that is what I thought. If you must do something to someone, you have to be reciprocal with that person. You have to understand what that person is going through so that you can actually put yourself in the position that the person is going through, that is why I don’t have any regrets because we were actually compatible.” However, the victim’s elder sister, Esther Adaidu, denied knowledge of the victim’s alleged relationship with the suspect, declaring that he was unknown to the family. Hear her: “This so-called Timi guy, we don’t know him. We had never seen him until we were informed that this guy murdered and dismembered our sister. I demand and need justice to be served to this guy because he is the one that murdered my sister and he confirmed it to me.”

This is indeed a very shocking and alarming story. Over the years, but increasingly in recent times, many people, especially young women, have been killed in the most horrendous and heart-rending circumstances. In many cases, young women involved in amorous or transactional relationships with young men who are into money-making rituals or internet fraud have been killed or maimed, while in other cases the victims had no relationship whatsoever with their murderers but were abducted while going about their lawful duties. In the current case, a self-confessed criminal whose killer weapons have been recovered is saying that he committed the act because of the victim’s act of infidelity while the victim’s immediate family is denying any knowledge of his existence. Fortunately, though, the fundamental issue is not whether or not the deceased had a relationship with the suspect; it is about the act of murder to which he has owned up. Increasingly, because of the loss of family values and the craving for sudden wealth, many of the country’s young men and women have little or no value for human life. They cheat, rob and kill at the slightest opportunity, purveying self-serving and satanic arguments that only point to the utter darkness of their mind.

As the police continue their inquiry into this incident, it will be important to determine whether the suspect killed the deceased alone or acted with others, and how he was able to evade neighbours while dismembering her body after literally slaughtering her. Did the victim (not) cry out and how was her voice muted? Was she drugged? The victim’s phone should be checked carefully, as it will reveal vital clues. Again, it is important to establish whether or not this was the first time this apparently self-confident and unrepentant killer had committed murder.

We are shocked by the idea that a man with whom a lady has no formal relationship like a marital union can accuse her of cheating and then impose a death sentence on her for that reason, something which not even a husband has the right to do. Worse still, to evade detection, assuming that his narration is accurate, the suspect went ahead to divide the body into portions, intending to throw it away bit by bit! The self-confessed killer was so confident and self-assured in his narration of the crime and how it was carried out that his audience could be forgiven for thinking, if only momentarily, that murder is a pastime in Nigeria and not a crime. Apparently, the suspect was not concerned at all with the existence and powers of government and/or the ability to look for him and apprehend him for serious punishment according to the law. Government must recognize this existing lack of confidence in it and its capabilities and work to instill renewed confidence in the social fabric in order to make for a more lawful and sustainable society as an ongoing concern. And one way to do this would be to ensure that the alleged culprit in the instant case is made to face the full wrath of the law for his unconscionable acts.

READ ALSO: Police launch manhunt for killers of UNIBEN graduate