Graphic Picture: Trader kills man for "under-pricing" his goods

A trader at Alaba International Market Ojo, Lawrence Ikonne has been arrested for allegedly killing a buyer, Isa Yaya over the price of his secondhand air conditioner.

According to reports, the incident happened at Ikonne’s house at Afromedia Estate, Okokomaiko, Lagos where Ikonne had invited Yaya to. When they got to the house, the two of them went inside a room to bring out the air conditioner, and then they started haggling over the price. Yaya allegedly insisted on buying the air conditioner below N5, 000- a price which did not go down well with Ikonne. It resulted into a fight and Ikonne allegedly hit Yaya with a plank resulting in his death.

During interrogation, the suspect 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.” 

It was one of Ikonne’s co-tenants who noticed Yaya’s tied up corpse, raised an alarm, and reported the case to the Okokomaiko police station.