6 ms·

Okay, to play devil's advocate for a moment. What is there to gain financially from killing him, if his previous business was gutted by regulatory changes? Th

Okay, to play devil's advocate for a moment. What is there to gain financially from killing him, if his previous business was gutted by regulatory changes? The killer was evidently belonging to a highly capable skillset, and I'm extrapolating that they very nearly got away with his body in tow, and nobody would've been the wiser. Could they not have kidnapped him and ransomed the company? If there's financial qualms on the board, I just don't understand why they'd just kill him then. If they went to deliveries, does that mean other delivery couriers are to be scrutinized? Maybe he was involved with something dirty? If it was a state agent of Nigeria that is responsible, idk, that'd be geopolitical suicide, putting hits out on private entrepreneurs across national borders... Of course, had they gotten away, it may have seemed as though he just vanished, which I suppose is the ideal scenario for a state-sanctioned killing. Ugh. This is beyond horrible all the way around.

fragmede 6y ago
> if his previous business was gutted by regulatory changes? There are some people you just don't want to owe money to. I'm not speculating on if that was the case here, just that in the US, that sort of thing is the realm of movies. Elsewhere in the world (and also parts of the US) that still the reality of borrowing large sums of money.
- ganoushoreilly 6y ago
  Given the local environment they operate in I wonder if someone was on the take for them to operate originally. Maybe the regulation changes cause Gokada to not want to pay but that wasn't copacetic with the demands of the "shaker"? As you pointed out, business in these countries isn't clean and clear as it is in most countries HN'ers live in. I saw crazy shakedowns in Northern Africa when I briefly lived there. I wouldn't doubt the same to be seen in other countries.
filleduchaos 6y ago
Well, the idea is less financial gain and more punishment/retribution. You don't disappear/kill people in such a manner unless you want to send a message of some sort. It's possible that he might have taken an investment from someone that does not take failure/underdelivery as an answer. Or that Gokada's continued existence pissed off someone that intended the company to go under. It could also possibly be much more personal than that - there are many people who are wealthy enough to order such a hit with relative impunity (as long as they remain in Nigeria - our justice system and infrastructure is frankly not the greatest). It could also have nothing to do with Nigeria at all; he had business ventures and personal affairs elsewhere. It's all speculation at this point and I just hope whatever it is doesn't crush the company. Gokada employs a thousand riders but beyond that it's helped so many small businesses grow and thrive especially during this period; there's a huge informal vendor culture in Lagos that's enabled by companies like this.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- ejanus 6y ago
  Please don't bad mouth Nigeria. This case is not yet fully understood and we can't make any conclusions yet.
  - filleduchaos 6y ago
    My intention is not to bad mouth Nigeria - I did, quite literally, say that it's entirely speculation and that the case might very well have nothing whatsoever to do with the country (and even if it involves Gokada, the aggrieved party is not necessarily Nigerian). Regarding infrastructure, my point is that it's far easier for someone to disappear from the eye of law enforcement here than in many other countries.
    - ejanus 6y ago
      Please check global number of missing people and kidnapping cases, use it to rightly place your country. That you have weak institutions don't mean that your country is world theater of crime.
      - swanland 6y ago
        Those countries routinely underreport crimes.
        ejanus 6y ago
        Sure of course.
    - ejanus 6y ago
      https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/nyregion/fahim-saleh-suspect-tyrese-devon-haspil.html#click=https://t.co/o1QaBTufVj https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/nyregion/fahim-saleh-susp...
marcinzm 6y ago
>that'd be geopolitical suicide Saudi Arabia seems to be doing fine last I checked.
- 131012 6y ago
  That was my thought: Us foreign policy is such a mess that its territory is now open to international hitmen.
- dkroy 6y ago
  One interesting fact linked to this country is that he was born in Saudi Arabia as well. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/nyregion/dismembered-body-houston-street-manhattan.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/nyregion/dismembered-body...
  - alien_ 6y ago
    Operating mode sounds much like it happened with Jamal Khashoggi, could he be another victim of MBS or some other Saudi prince?
    - grugagag 6y ago
      Why would that be the case? Khashogi was clearly speaking up and was wanted killed, even he knew it
      - sushshshsh 6y ago
        Money and/or power tend to be the causes for these things, unless it's personal.
- yardie 6y ago
  Saudi Arabia carried out an extrajudicial killing in a small, neighboring state. This was carried out in the US. And for all intents and purposes could be considered an act of war against a state that has an unlimited war chest.
daenz 6y ago
I look at one possibility as he raised/borrowed money from the wrong people and then when things went pear shaped, he couldn't get them their promised profit, got chopped up to set an example.
- iso947 6y ago
  Either that or sex
  - grugagag 6y ago
    He was followed by a man he did not invite to his apartment, doesn’t look like he knew his killer
    - withinboredom 6y ago
      I think they meant sex with the wrong person, not the killer.
      - iso947 6y ago
        Jilted lover etc
komali2 6y ago
> What is there to gain financially from killing him, if his previous business was gutted by regulatory changes? Devil's devil's advocate - the motivation for the killing doesn't need to be "rational" or make sense from our perspective. It could be pathological, it could be revenge, who knows?
cyberlurker 6y ago
First thing that comes to mind: What was the financial or other motivation behind Mohammed bin Salman killing Khashoggi? It's a power move. Putin does it too.
- jacquesm 6y ago
  The degree to which the American president praises the dictators of this world makes you wonder if he wishes he could do it too.
  - stjohnswarts 6y ago
    I think he might if he thought he could get himself out of it someway. Look at how callous the administration has been about allowing covid to go wild without even blinking until lately. Tens of thousands of people dead for no reason, soon to be hundreds of thousands. It's a nightmare.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
freyr 6y ago
> nobody would've been the wiser. Except they would have footage of two people going into the apartment (one person apparently wearing a ninja outfit), and only one person leaving. That could have been a tipoff that something was askew.
- interestica 6y ago
  Are you inferring "ninja outfit" from the article description? Because it vaguely mentions a black suit and face mask. And I'm not entirely sure "face mask" doesn't just mean a now-standard-in-a-pandemic mask type.
jariel 6y ago
In some parts of the world, for some people, it was enough to want to kill him to actually do it. And in such a brutal way. It doesn't have to be that complicated. "The killer was evidently belonging to a highly capable skillset," - no, it's not skill, it's just the diabolical will to actually do such a thing. Depending on circumstances, there can be a lack of evidence ... and that's that.
monadic2 6y ago
> What is there to gain financially from killing him, if his previous business was gutted by regulatory changes? It may be as simple as being the member of the board another member is displeased with. Not suggesting that, just saying sometimes your very existence is a liability to others. > If it was a state agent of Nigeria that is responsible, idk, that'd be geopolitical suicide, putting hits out on private entrepreneurs across national borders When in Rome....

fragmede 6y ago

> if his previous business was gutted by regulatory changes? There are some people you just don't want to owe money to. I'm not speculating on if that was the case here, just that in the US, that sort of thing is the realm of movies. Elsewhere in the world (and also parts of the US) that still the reality of borrowing large sums of money.

ganoushoreilly 6y ago
Given the local environment they operate in I wonder if someone was on the take for them to operate originally. Maybe the regulation changes cause Gokada to not want to pay but that wasn't copacetic with the demands of the "shaker"? As you pointed out, business in these countries isn't clean and clear as it is in most countries HN'ers live in. I saw crazy shakedowns in Northern Africa when I briefly lived there. I wouldn't doubt the same to be seen in other countries.

filleduchaos 6y ago

Well, the idea is less financial gain and more punishment/retribution. You don't disappear/kill people in such a manner unless you want to send a message of some sort. It's possible that he might have taken an investment from someone that does not take failure/underdelivery as an answer. Or that Gokada's continued existence pissed off someone that intended the company to go under. It could also possibly be much more personal than that - there are many people who are wealthy enough to order such a hit with relative impunity (as long as they remain in Nigeria - our justice system and infrastructure is frankly not the greatest). It could also have nothing to do with Nigeria at all; he had business ventures and personal affairs elsewhere. It's all speculation at this point and I just hope whatever it is doesn't crush the company. Gokada employs a thousand riders but beyond that it's helped so many small businesses grow and thrive especially during this period; there's a huge informal vendor culture in Lagos that's enabled by companies like this.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
ejanus 6y ago
Please don't bad mouth Nigeria. This case is not yet fully understood and we can't make any conclusions yet.
- filleduchaos 6y ago
  My intention is not to bad mouth Nigeria - I did, quite literally, say that it's entirely speculation and that the case might very well have nothing whatsoever to do with the country (and even if it involves Gokada, the aggrieved party is not necessarily Nigerian). Regarding infrastructure, my point is that it's far easier for someone to disappear from the eye of law enforcement here than in many other countries.
  - ejanus 6y ago
    Please check global number of missing people and kidnapping cases, use it to rightly place your country. That you have weak institutions don't mean that your country is world theater of crime.
    - swanland 6y ago
      Those countries routinely underreport crimes.
      - ejanus 6y ago
        Sure of course.
  - ejanus 6y ago
    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/nyregion/fahim-saleh-suspect-tyrese-devon-haspil.html#click=https://t.co/o1QaBTufVj https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/nyregion/fahim-saleh-susp...

marcinzm 6y ago

>that'd be geopolitical suicide Saudi Arabia seems to be doing fine last I checked.

131012 6y ago
That was my thought: Us foreign policy is such a mess that its territory is now open to international hitmen.
dkroy 6y ago
One interesting fact linked to this country is that he was born in Saudi Arabia as well. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/nyregion/dismembered-body-houston-street-manhattan.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/nyregion/dismembered-body...
- alien_ 6y ago
  Operating mode sounds much like it happened with Jamal Khashoggi, could he be another victim of MBS or some other Saudi prince?
  - grugagag 6y ago
    Why would that be the case? Khashogi was clearly speaking up and was wanted killed, even he knew it
    - sushshshsh 6y ago
      Money and/or power tend to be the causes for these things, unless it's personal.
yardie 6y ago
Saudi Arabia carried out an extrajudicial killing in a small, neighboring state. This was carried out in the US. And for all intents and purposes could be considered an act of war against a state that has an unlimited war chest.

daenz 6y ago

I look at one possibility as he raised/borrowed money from the wrong people and then when things went pear shaped, he couldn't get them their promised profit, got chopped up to set an example.

iso947 6y ago
Either that or sex
- grugagag 6y ago
  He was followed by a man he did not invite to his apartment, doesn’t look like he knew his killer
  - withinboredom 6y ago
    I think they meant sex with the wrong person, not the killer.
    - iso947 6y ago
      Jilted lover etc

komali2 6y ago

> What is there to gain financially from killing him, if his previous business was gutted by regulatory changes? Devil's devil's advocate - the motivation for the killing doesn't need to be "rational" or make sense from our perspective. It could be pathological, it could be revenge, who knows?

cyberlurker 6y ago

First thing that comes to mind: What was the financial or other motivation behind Mohammed bin Salman killing Khashoggi? It's a power move. Putin does it too.

jacquesm 6y ago
The degree to which the American president praises the dictators of this world makes you wonder if he wishes he could do it too.
- stjohnswarts 6y ago
  I think he might if he thought he could get himself out of it someway. Look at how callous the administration has been about allowing covid to go wild without even blinking until lately. Tens of thousands of people dead for no reason, soon to be hundreds of thousands. It's a nightmare.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

freyr 6y ago

> nobody would've been the wiser. Except they would have footage of two people going into the apartment (one person apparently wearing a ninja outfit), and only one person leaving. That could have been a tipoff that something was askew.

interestica 6y ago
Are you inferring "ninja outfit" from the article description? Because it vaguely mentions a black suit and face mask. And I'm not entirely sure "face mask" doesn't just mean a now-standard-in-a-pandemic mask type.

jariel 6y ago

In some parts of the world, for some people, it was enough to want to kill him to actually do it. And in such a brutal way. It doesn't have to be that complicated. "The killer was evidently belonging to a highly capable skillset," - no, it's not skill, it's just the diabolical will to actually do such a thing. Depending on circumstances, there can be a lack of evidence ... and that's that.

monadic2 6y ago

> What is there to gain financially from killing him, if his previous business was gutted by regulatory changes? It may be as simple as being the member of the board another member is displeased with. Not suggesting that, just saying sometimes your very existence is a liability to others. > If it was a state agent of Nigeria that is responsible, idk, that'd be geopolitical suicide, putting hits out on private entrepreneurs across national borders When in Rome....