African-born businessman shot dead in Russia (VIDEO)

The entrepreneur was assassinated over debt issues, local media reported

A 58-year old man was shot dead in broad daylight in the city of Krasnodar in southern Russia on Friday, the local investigative committee has reported. According to media in the area, the victim was a Niger-born businessman.

He was identified as Yakubu Khamidu, a former owner of ‘Havana,’ one of the city’s most popular night clubs, reports claim. Khamidu moved to Russia from Niger in the 1990s and received higher education there. He switched to the farming business in recent years and was growing wheat and sunflower.

He was reportedly gunned down near his SUV as he was leaving a restaurant in the city center, by a sole shooter using a hunting rifle. He succumbed to his wounds before the arrival of emergency services.

Footage circulated online by several telegram channels appears to show the attacker waiting for the businessman in the street before shooting him twice.

Authorities say a suspect, a 54-year-old man, has been detained and a criminal case has been launched. According to media reports, he is local resident Andronik Grigorian, and had made no attempt to try to escape the scene, surrendering to the police.

Grigorian was reportedly an acquaintance of Khamidu and killed him over debt issues. The African-born businessman is believed to have loaned him seven million rubles (around $76,000) a few years ago, money Grigorian was unable to return for a long time, Mash telegram channel reported.

Grigorian eventually offered a solution to the problem, which would see Khamidu becoming the owner of a home in Krasnodar Region that Grigorian had been building for years but couldn’t finish. The businessman was to sell the building and take the money that he had been owed, according to the agreement, the report claims.

Grigorian’s relatives told Mash that the 55-year-old had “put his heart and soul” into that house, so after losing it he began pursuing and threatening the businessman.

The suspect is now facing up to 15 years in prison.