Weekly Trust gathered that Rotimi, 42, is an indigene of Ogun State and a graduate of the Lagos State Polytechnic. He got married to Bolanle, an indigene of Kogi State in 2007 at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Kaduna. But since 2007, Rotimi failed to secure a job to cater for his family, so he has had to depend on 42-year-old Bolanle, his wife. Bolanle has been working in the KRPC for over 10 years and is the breadwinner of the family.
Disturbed by her husband’s long years of unemployment, Weekly Trust gathered through a neighbour, that Bolanle gave him one million naira to start recharge card business which flooped.
In the early hours of Tuesday, July 14, it was learnt that Rotimi allegedly invited 23-year-old Moses Solomon from Nasarawa State to the house he shares with his wife, which is located on Benin Road inside the refinery quarters, Kaduna. Rotimi, according to a source, gave Solomon a tour of the the premises while his wife was in the office.
The hired killer went back to the house around 8pm and walked straight to the living room and attacked Bolanle with a gun while her husband was in another room.
“After gaining entrance into the house, he shot Bolanle twice before attempting to run away. Weekly Trust reliably gathered that the bullets did not penetrate her body deeply, which gave her the chance to run out of the house and call for of neighbours’ assistance.
“While trying to escape, the pistol fell down, but before the killer could run out of the premises, the KRPC security detail at the gates apprehended him as he was about to jump over the fence,” the source added. One of the security personnel who facilitated the arrest told Weekly Trust that when the husband discovered that the killer had been arrested, he rushed over and asked the mob to lynch the killer. Confessing to the crime, Rotimi now arrested confessed to planning to kill his wife, but quickly added that he was misled by the devil.
He exonerated the assassin of the crime, saying “I wanted to kill her, because she has made up her mind to divorce me. That boy is not an assassin. I was the one that forced him. He is just an ordinary carpenter in Nasarawa State where I am selling recharge cards.
“Bolanle, my wife, is everything to me because I rely on her for survival; she gave me N500,000 recently. But she has been threatening to divorce me because of my inability to impregnate her three years after our wedding. And I have been explaining and sermonising to her that I am not the one was gives pregnancy, but God. However, she refused to understand. She always said I am cheating on her because we are not living together. She gave me one-month ultimatum to impregnate her or I should forget about the marriage. I am based in Nasarawa State while she is based in Kaduna,” Rotimi said as tears flowed freely down his cheeks.
He said: “I did not engage any assassin to kill her as people are saying. I only invited a neighbour of mine in Nasarawa State to help me and I did not disclose to him my plan until when I handed him a pistol. I love my wife and it was the devil that pushed me to this act.” He said he got the pistol during the 2000 Sharia crisis in Badarawa in Kaduna North Local Government Area. “I got the gun after the crisis and have been hiding it since then. I only brought it out for the killing of my wife,” he confessed.
Solomon the other suspect said he is not an assassin as he was referred to.
“He did not tell me anything and I have never held a gun before in my life. I was surprised when he brought out a pistol concealed in a loaf of bread and said I should kill his wife or he would kill me. I decided to do it, because I wanted to save my life. You know I have a wife and three children. I am doing well in my carpentry work,” he said.
He urged the police to consider the way he was forced by his friend at gunpoint to carry out the act and be lenient with him. “He told me last Monday that he is going to Kaduna and asked whether I would like to follow him, so that I can know Kaduna. I quickly took him up on the offer, not knowing he had a hidden agenda. I have never touched or held a gun before and that is why I missed her twice when I fired the shots,” he said.
At the KRPC clinic where the woman is being hospitalised, she was sheilded from being spoken to her on health ground. However, one senior female medical personnel at the clinic said the woman is responding to treatment, but that her temperature is high.
“You cannot see her because her temperature is very high as a result of the attack, but she is responding to treatment. The bullets did not go deep into her. We are not going to discharge her now for security reasons, but she is okay,” she said.
The Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Tambari Y. Mohammed, confirmed the incident and described it as personality clash. He said the suspects have since been arrested and have confessed to committing the act, while assuring that the Command would investigate the matter to the letter.
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