Woman, 31, murdered in Lagos apartment

LAGOS—Residents of Aina Road, Agility in Ketu area of Lagos, were thrown into mourning, weekend, following the murder of one Mrs Ojeite Ejiro in her apartment.

Her assailants also set the apartment on fire, but the smoke alerted neighbours, who forced the door open, to discover the lifeless body of the 31-year-old woman on the floor with her hand burnt.

A resident of the area, who identified herself as Mrs. Oghenerukewe Najite, said: “The plan of those that perpetrated the devilish act was to make her burn to death to make it look like a fire outbreak.

“When some brave persons forced their way inside the room, Ejiro was found facing down. Her neck was slit.

“She was just a secretary at a water bottling company. She was not a politician. She got married November 18, 2021 and had been living peacefully with her husband. This is so unbelievable. We are appealing to the Police to do all they can to unravel the perpetrators of this murder.”

Sister speaks

Speaking with Vanguard, one of the deceased’s siblings, Marvis, said: “I have been at her place since last week. Last Wednesday, she came to meet me, asking for her house key. She said she could not find her personal key andasked if I gave her the key, I said yes. She told me to give her my own key so that she could open the door for her husband.

“But she did not return the key. The next day, being Thursday, she told me that I should have my bath, since her husband was going out in the morning, so that he would drop me at the bus stop for my work.

“When I got back around 7pm, I called her on the phone but she did not pick or call back. I knocked on the gate, nobody responded. I got a Whatsapp message from my sister husband’s younger brother that there was smoke coming out of our apartment.

“The landlord son and I tried all we could to force our way inside the apartment, since I was not with the key.

“I was able to enter the house through the balcony with a ladder, from where I got the key and opened the door. I trailed the smoke to where it was coming from and saw her in a pool of her blood.”

Spokesman for the Lagos State Police Command, SP Benjamin Hudenyin said the corpse was evacuated and had been deposited at the Mainland mortuary, Yaba, for autopsy, adding that detectives at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba, had started investigation into the incident