The Abuja Police Command has traced the death of a man whose body was found under a bridge along the Kubwa Expressway to a woman and two hotel workers allegedly linked to the handling and disposal of his remains.
The man, whose identity has not been disclosed, was reported missing by his family before his body was discovered under the Katampe Bridge on Saturday.
The FCT Commissioner of Police, CP Ahmed Sanusi, disclosed the development on Saturday while briefing journalists at the command headquarters in Abuja.
Sanusi said the discovery had initially generated speculation that the man may have been a victim of kidnapping or a “one-chance” robbery.
However, investigators later established that the body belonged to the missing man.
“Beyond the media reports, however, there was a family grieving and struggling to understand what had happened to their loved one,” Sanusi said.
According to the commissioner, the deceased’s missing mobile phone became a key lead in the investigation. Police traced the device’s last known communication to Rukayat Muhammed of Garki Area 2, Abuja.
Further investigation, Sanusi said, indicated that Muhammed, who is married, was allegedly in a romantic relationship with the deceased and had saved his number on her phone as “Safiyat”.
The investigation subsequently led detectives to Good Samaritan Guest House on Second Avenue, Gwarimpa, where police said Muhammed and the deceased had lodged.
Sanusi alleged that Muhammed discovered that the man was no longer breathing but left the hotel with his mobile phone instead of reporting the incident to the police.
“Rather than immediately reporting the incident to the Police, the suspect took the deceased’s mobile phone and left the hotel,” he said.
Several hours later, hotel management reportedly gained access to the room after attempts to contact the occupants failed and found the man’s body.
The commissioner said two hotel workers, identified as Ibrahim Omeiza and Kefat Bitrus, allegedly removed the body from the room and transported it to the Kubwa Expressway near Katampe, where they abandoned it under the bridge.
“Instead of reporting the discovery to the Police, two members of the hotel management identified as Ibrahim Omeiza and Kefat Bitrus subsequently removed the body from the room and transported it to Kubwa expressway by Katampe under the bridge where they dumped it by the roadside,” Sanusi said.
The police have not established how the man died.
Sanusi said the cause and circumstances of the death remained under investigation, urging the public not to draw conclusions until the investigation is completed.
“The exact cause and circumstances of the deceased’s death [are] still under investigation. Other investigative processes are being pursued to determine the full facts of the case,” he said.
The commissioner added that anyone found to have played a role in the man’s death, or in the concealment and abandonment of his body, would face the law.
The investigation is continuing as police work to establish what happened during the man’s final hours at the Gwarimpa guest house and how his body was later taken to Katampe.
