Trader Kills Customer During Price Negotiation in Lagos (PHOTO)
The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a trader, Mr. Lawrence
Ikonne, for allegedly killing a buyer, Isa Yaya, because the deceased
haggled over the price of a commodity.
Punch
learnt that the incident occurred at Ikonne’s residence on Afro Close,
Afromedia Estate, Okokomaiko, Lagos.Our correspondent learnt that Ikonne
sold electronic appliances at the Alaba International Market, Ojo,
Lagos.
It was learnt that the victim, 22-year-old Yaya, from northern Nigeria,
had gone to Ikonne’s apartment to buy a fairly used air conditioner.
Yaya, it was said, usually bought and re-sold condemned iron and
electrical materials.
Our correspondent gathered that Ikonne, 26, from the Isiala-Ngwa South
Local Government Area of Abia State, had gone to Alaba market on the
morning of Friday, October 10, where he first met Yaya.Ikonne had also
reportedly invited the deceased to his house to buy his second-hand air
conditioner.
When they got to the house, it was said that the two of them went inside
a room to bring out the commodity, and they started haggling over the
price.It was gathered that Yaya insisted on buying the air conditioner
below N5, 000- a price which did not go down well with Ikonne.As the
haggling continued, a fight was said to have ensued between the two
which turned violent during which Ikonne allegedly hit Yaya with a plank
in the belly.
During interrogation, the suspect explained that he had asked Yaya to
either pay N5, 000 or assist him to return the commodity to where they
brought it from but Yaya had refused. Ikonne added that he felt insulted
by this attitude.
He said, “I had not met the young man before. I met him that morning at the Alaba market, and asked him to buy one of my appliances: an air conditioner. He actually looked like a cart pusher. When we got home, we both went in to remove the product, and we brought it outside for negotiation.As we continued, he said he would pay less than N5, 000. I replied that he should assist me to return it to where we took it from, but he refused. In the process, we started fighting. He even asked me to pay him for helping me bring it out. I was mad, and I hit his belly with a plank.
“When I realised he had fainted, I tied him with a rope and dragged him into a corner. I also fled the house.”
Our correspondent gathered that it was one of Ikonne’s co-tenants who noticed Yaya’s corpse where he was tied up.
He then raised the alarm, and reported the case to the Okokomaiko police station. The policemen later came to arrest Ikonne.
