Photo : Man kills Roommate during Fight over Cooking Pot

The Lagos State Police Command has apprehended a 20-year-old man, Ngwuta Nweke, for allegedly killing his friend in their apartment in the Sawmill area of Ebute Meta.

According to the police, the suspect strangled Emeka James during an argument over a cooking pot on March 22, 2014. But the suspect says he did not mean to kill his friend, but only strangled him in a bid to overpower him in a free fight.
He said:

“James is the owner of the apartment, I only started living with him about a month before the incident. I sell fuel pump for a living at Idumota and I did not have the money to secure an accommodation so James took me in.

On the day of the incident, I had some stew in a pot and James told me to empty the pot because he wanted to make use of it. I told him that I could not pour the stew anywhere and he should be patient, but he got angry. In a fit of rage, he picked up the pot and poured the stew into a dirty container. I also got angry and we started fighting. I grabbed him from behind and as we were struggling, we both fell to the ground. When I got up, I realised that James was no longer breathing.”

It was learnt that the deceased was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead.
Neighbours alerted policemen at the Denton Police Station after which the suspect was arrested and transferred to the homicide department of the SCID.
The landlord of the victim, who spoke to PUNCH Metro on the condition of anonymity, said he was surprised that the suspect was living with the deceased.
He said:

“I have known James since 2011 when he started living in the house. He was a good person and was very hardworking. He was a hawker, but when the state government began a clamp down of their activities, he started doing other menial jobs. I never knew anyone was living with James. It was when I was invited by the police that I saw the guy (Nweke) for the first time.”

Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide confirmed the incident saying:

“On the fateful day, around 12.30pm, Nweke strangled James who lived in an apartment at Kadara slum, close to Sawmill, Ebute Meta, during a fight over a cooking pot. The corpse has been deposited at the Mainland Hospital Mortuary, Yaba, while the matter is under investigation at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba.”