UPDATED: How Whistleblowers Exposed Suspects Who Buried Jumia Deliveryman In Septic Tank (GRAPHIC)

Acting on a tip off, Police arrive No. 4, Adaede Street, off Ada George Road, by Location junction, Port Harcourt

Saturday, March 25 turned out to be a gloomy day for the family of a courier service personnel for popular e-commerce platform, Jumia. The middle-aged delivery agent had gone to deliver products to customers living at No. 4, Adaede Street, off Ada George Road, by Location junction, Port Harcourt before he went missing.

The Guardian Nigeria report continues:

On the said day, he had gone to deliver two iPhones and a super bike worth about ₦500,000 at the above address to the duo of Sodienye Mbatumukeke, 28 and Excel Divine Naabe, 25.

As is usually the case when deliveries are made, owners of the item purchased verify products brought and make payment either by cash or transfer. However, on this fateful, the duo were alleged to have grabbed the deliveryman, tied his hands backwards, tortured him before dressing him with a robe and dumping him inside a septic tank in the compound.

Two days after the incident, the frightened residents and neighbours, who suspected strange movements in the area and bloodstains around the compound, informed the police.

The state police command immediately swung into action on Monday afternoon went to the compound and after a thorough investigation, discovered the lifeless body of the courier personnel inside the septic tank. They thereafter called the fire service officials who assisted them in evacuating the body.

Gruesome find: Men of the fire service dug up the body of Jumia delivery agent from a septic tank at No. 4, Adaede Street, off Ada George Road, by Location junction, Port Harcourt

The duo of Mbatumukeke and Naabe were immediately arrested, alongside a female suspect, Joy Eluwa, in connection to the incident. They are alleged to have robbed and murdered the courier personnel.

It was gathered that two of the suspects occupy a two-bedroom flat in the compound, which houses eight flats and each flat is rented for ₦500,000 per annum.

When The Guardian visited the building yesterday, it had been deserted as all the occupants of the eight flats have fled for fear of being arrested.

An ex-police officer, who lives around the area, said the arrested persons were suspected to be criminals for a long time in the neighbourhood because they allegedly lived above their means without any verifiable means of livelihood. He disclosed that the boys were usually seen doing nothing during the daytime, as they only sleep, eat and move out at night.

“Despite doing nothing, they live a very flamboyant life and ride expensive cars. If their suspicious moves had earlier been reported to the police, maybe the poor deliveryman would not have died. I blame their co-tenants for failing to alert security agents when they noticed the questionable attitudes of the suspects,” he said.

One of the suspects, Nabee, denied killing the man. He said he saw the victim on Saturday in the compound carrying packaged items. “I snubbed him and went my way. When I returned, I saw blood stains in the compound but my friend warned me that if I speak, he would kill me and my family.”

The female suspect, Eluwa said her mother was having financial challenges, which compelled her to visit her boyfriend for financial assistance before she was arrested.

Image source: amebobook.com

However, the PUNCH Metro report provided more details:

The state police spokesperson, DSP Nnamdi Omoni, who confirmed the incident, said the suspects – Sodienye Mbatumukeke, Excel Naabe, and Joy Eluwa – upon their arrest, confessed to the crime.

Eluwa was said to be Mbatumukeke’s girlfriend.

He said, “Operatives of SARS, acting on credible intelligence on Monday, at about 3am arrested three suspects– two males and a female– identified as Sodienye Mbatumukeke, Excel Divine Naabe, and Joy Eluwa.

“These armed robbers ordered smartphones from a certain courier company in Rivers State. Then the company sent the phones through a dispatch rider. On getting there, the hoodlums beat up the dispatch rider and later shot him; he died inside their flat.

“After killing him, they threw his corpse into a septic tank. Our men, who were acting on credible intelligence, arrested the suspects and they showed us where they hid the corpse.”

Omoni added that the state Commissioner of Police, Zaki Ahmed, who led other senior police officers to the scene, appealed to members of the public to always share information with the police.

The two prime suspects, however, passed the buck to each other.

Naabe, who claimed to be on a visit, said he saw Mbatumukeke pushing the deceased into the septic tank.

He said, “On my way to this place, I saw him (Mbatumukeke); he was packaging something like a black waste bin. He was saying I should just go inside and chill out. He said he would soon join me in the room.

“I overheard some neighbours asking him what he was doing close to the septic tank and he gave them an excuse. I went inside and saw bloodstains in the bathroom.

“When I queried him, he brought out a gun and pointed it at me, saying if I uttered a word about what I saw, he would kill all my family members.”

The second suspect, Mbatumukeke, claimed that Naabe killed the victim, adding that he hit the courier man with an iron on the head.

“He hit him with iron on the head and blood was gushing out. I was afraid; I was vibrating. I didn’t know what to do. God is my witness,” he added.

When one of our correspondents visited the scene on Tuesday, he observed that the house was deserted.

It was gathered that most of the tenants in the building began to leave the house after policemen recovered the corpse.

An official of Jumia, Mr. Naze Paul, told PUNCH Metro in a telephone chat that the throat of the victim was slit.

Paul, who works at the Customer Care Section of Jumia in Port Harcourt, described the late Eleje as a good worker.

He said, “Instead of them to say they don’t have money for the items, they cornered and killed him.

The Commissioner of Police, Zaki Ahmed, who led other police officers to the scene, appealed to the public to always help the police fight crime by sharing useful information. He promised to flush out all criminal elements in the state.