By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
A journalist in Atar Communication, owners of Liberty TV/Radio, was reportedly found dead on Wednesday in Abuja, five days after he was declared missing.
Joel Waksi, an On-Air Personality (OAP) in the media outfit, was said to have left office around 9pm on Friday and was expected to report back to duty by 2pm the following day at the Mpape office of the station.
The Group General Manager (GGM), Atar Communication, Balarabe Muhammad, while confirming the incident to City & Crime, said the police in Mpape division announced that his corpse was sighted close to the Panteka area in the community and was taken to Kubwa General Hospital morgue.
He said he was stabbed around his neck, and his phone was missing.
He said, “It was suspected that he was attacked by the phone snatchers,” adding that two months back, he survived a similar attack, where he was stabbed below his abdomen, but he was treated.
“He was supposed to be on break till Monday, having worked at night; however, due to internal arrangements among colleagues during such public holidays, he was billed to report back to duty the next day afternoon, but he never did.’’
Joel, as he was fondly called among his colleagues, was said to be a hardworking and very creative staff.
The menace of phone snatchers is becoming more prevalent around some black spots in Mpape town, as well as some identified Federal Capital Territory (FCT) suburbs, leading to loss of lives in some cases.
The spokesperson of the FCT police command, SP Josephine Adeh, was yet to respond to enquiries on the incident up till the time of filing this report.