Teen Guard Sets Boss’s Home on Fire in Lagos

The police in Lagos have arrested two security guards, 20-year-old Muhammed Kiga and 18-year-old Joseph James, for allegedly setting two houses on fire in the Ajah area of Lagos State, Punch News reports. A certain Musa, who has not been apprehended, is thought to have conspired with the suspects to commit the crime in November, 2015.

Police say Musa and Kiga were employed to guard a property on Loius Fadipe Street, Thomas Estate, Ajah; however, Musa, who owned a motorcycle, was alleged to have had a disagreement with the landlord after his motorcycle scratched the latter’s car.

This led to the landlord banning Musa from bringing his motorcycle into the compound. Musa was said to be angry at this and resorted to setting fire to the landlord’s car on 5 November 2015 while people slept. Unfortunately, three cars got burnt and the house was also affected as the fire spread. It took the intervention of fire-fighters from the Lagos State Fire Service to eventually put out the fire.

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Kiga, an indigene of Borno State, denied having a hand in the two fire disasters, but blamed the first fire incident on Musa saying,

“I came to Lagos two years ago to work and make ends meet. I became a security guard in the first house and was assisting Musa. I was paid N20, 000 as salary.
Just four months after I was employed, Musa had a disagreement with the landlord. On the day of the incident, I went to sleep around 12am. He was beside me, but suddenly, he left my side. It was around 3am that Musa went and set the car on fire. I did not have a hand in it.”

Kiga explained that he got another job on the street, and had barely spent up to a month when there was another fire outbreak. He claimed that residents sighted Musa, sneaking into the property to set it on fire.

The second suspect, James, said he relocated to Lagos when his school principal asked him and his colleagues to stop coming to school after the Chibok schoolgirls were abducted. He said,

“I was in SS 2 when the principal said we should stop coming to school because of Boko Haram. And because I could not continue to stay at home, I came to Lagos to work.
I had barely worked for two weeks when the second fire happened and I don’t know the cause of it. I went to sleep around 12am and it was 3am that I heard people raise the alarm.”

The Police Public Relations Officer, Joe Offor, has not made any comments about the matter.