Ndubusi Kalu, a security guard, reportedly stabbed Simeon Chidi with a shard of bottle in the neck and back during the fight, which lasted for about 30 minutes on Saturday in their residence on Saula Sanni Street, Agbado, Ogun State.
It was learnt that Chidi and Kalu were so close that they cooked and ate together and were preparing a breakfast on the day when a disagreement broke out between them over a faulty fuse.
The fuse that supplied electricity to five apartments, including the two friends’, had tripped off, causing power outage. The suspect reportedly lamented the outage as he wanted to see a movie when the fault occurred.
The five affected residents were said to have agreed to contribute N200 each to pay an electrician, who would fix the fuse. Kalu, 30, who blamed the incident on the devil, said he had asked Chidi to contribute N200 for the repair, but the victim declined.
Kalu said: “I told him we had to fix the fault on time because I wanted to watch television and relax at home. When we were unable to raise the N1,000, the electrician asked us to pay N500.
The matter came to a head when Chidi could not produce the N400 contributed by the two tenants. He said the money was with somebody and that the person had gone out. He said he would beat me with a charm if I disturbed him again. .
That was how we started exchanging words. He picked a knife and asked me to come outside. As I was struggling to collect the knife from him, he injured me in the hand and leg. I also smashed a bottle and we started fighting again. .
People were many, watching us, but nobody came to separate us. It was after I stabbed him in the back that one man called Baba Sheri came to separate us. I didn’t intend to kill him. It was the devil’s handiwork.”
He should be brought to justice.