SAN tells court how security guards shot him three times, stole his money

A Lagos State High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square has been told how two security guards, Kingsley Asuquo and Isaac Edet, allegedly stabbed a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Prof. John Mbaduga, and stole his money.   Asuquo and Edet are standing trial before Justice Yetunde Adesanya following an accusation of stabbing and robbing Mbaduga in 2018.   At the trial on Monday, the SAN, led in evidence by the prosecutor, A.M. Adetokunbo, told the court that the defendants were security guards employed to protect the building where his law office was located.   According to the SAN, the incident happened in the afternoon when Asuquo entered and pointed a gun at him in his office on the building’s third floor.   Mbaduga said he was shot three times before he was stabbed twice in the chest.   “I begged them not to kill me so that I could give them money, but Asuquo insisted he was going to kill me, while Edet wanted to take the money. While I was lying in a pool of blood, I heard them discussing that they would take the money and also kill me,” the SAN said.

  The SAN said he told them he had the sum of N80,000 in his bag and over N1m cash in the office.   “Edet took the money; Asuquo removed my wristwatch and two of my phones. On the way to the office, I was in their middle and Asuquo was behind me. Asuquo said he didn’t want money, but wanted to kill me. He stabbed me at the back of my head and Edet stabbed me in my forehead. They started stabbing me everywhere,” he added.   The SAN said the two assailants appeared to be leaving before Asuquo rushed back and stabbed him in the stomach when he saw him still breathing.   “When I came out with blood all over my face, I blocked a car that was passing by. The driver asked me what happened and I told him. He said he saw the two defendants running and he reversed to chase them. Another person came and used his car to take me to a hospital,” the SAN added.   Justice Adesanya adjourned the case till June 22 and 23 for continuation of trial.   In another development, a middle-aged man, Aliyu Hammanseyo, of Mubi North Local Government Area, Adamawa State, has been remanded in prison for allegedly stabbing his friend to death over N1,500.   Hammanseyo, who was arraigned before the Chief Magistrate’s Court, Yola, was remanded over the alleged offence.   The police prosecutor, ASP Francis Audu, who read the charge sheet before Magistrate Muhammed Abubakar, said Hammanseyo stabbed the victim, Bilham Babangida, with a knife, which resulted in the death of the latter on June 7, 2022.   He also said the defendant admitted to stabbing Babangida in the chest during interrogation.   TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that on the charge sheet, the defendant owed Babangida N1,500.   The deceased was allegedly attacked when he attempted to recover the money from his friend.   The prosecutor pleaded with the court to remand Hammanseyo.   The Chief Magistrate, Muhammed Abubakar, adjourned the case till July 14, 2022, and ordered that the defendant be remanded.