A taxi driver accused of being responsible for the death of a Vanguard Journalist, Tordue Salem, has been apprehended by police.
Itoro Clement, 29, was paraded in Abuja on Friday.
According to the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, Clement was arrested following an investigation conducted by the Intelligence Bureau.
He stated that Clement, who drives a 2004 Toyota Camry with the license plate BWR 243 BK, admitted to hitting Tordue around 10:00 p.m. on the 13th of October in the Mabushi district of Abuja but fled.
Mba quoted what the driver told investigators during questioning: “I thought it was an armed robber that I knocked down until the following day when I saw a smashed phone on my windscreen. The phone was not working again so I threw it away.”
Clement said that despite knowing he had hit someone, he did not stop, arguing that the area was notorious for criminal activity.
“The place I knocked this person down, is a criminal place everybody knows that place,” Mba further quoted Clement.
On Thursday, November 11, Salem’s body was discovered, more than a month after he went missing.
A Benue State native, Salem covers the House of Representatives and was last seen on October 13, a situation that led to protest and agitation by the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Abuja.
There are still many unanswered questions, according to a number of journalists.
Speaking with Radio Nigeria on the condition of anonymity, they questioned how the driver was captured, who left the late Tordue’s body in the mortuary where he was alleged to have been recovered, and if not, where was the corpse found; and why the mortuary did not alert the public despite the media hype surrounding the missing journalist.
Writing by Daniel Adejo, Editing by Saadatu ALbashir