Oshiomhole wants Jonathan to probe aide’s murder

Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole, on Wednesday called on President Goodluck Jonathan to set up a panel of inquiry to look into the murder of his Principal Private Secretary, Olaitan Oyerinde.

Oyerinde was killed by gunmen in his Benin residence in May.

The governor, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Peter Okhiria, called for investigation into the contradictory roles by the police and the State Security Services on the matter.

The statement read in part, “While the SSS paraded some people alleged to have confessed to the killing of Oyerinde on account of armed robbery, the police also said they had in their custody exactly the same number of persons who allegedly confessed to the killing of Oyerinde.

“In fact, the police have gone ahead to arrest one David Ugolor, who is alleged to have been implicated as the sponsor of the murder. In order to clear the position of the Edo State Government, we wish to note the following:

“Following the murder of Oyerinde, the governor gave the security agencies a 14-day ultimatum to find the killers, which he suspected was politically-motivated. Within a few days of his murder, the governor was informed by the SSS in confidence that they had made some progress, having located Oyerinde’s telephone and those who bought it and eventually using their own skills, they were able to arrest, one after the other, those who have since confessed that they killed Oyerinde.”

The governor added, “Subsequently, at about the end of June, the SSS again, apparently to assure the governor of the progress made, paraded the suspects before the governor and he had the opportunity to ask some questions, for about 45 minutes, about the murder and they told him who fired the shot, where they stood, who bought the phone and for how much and they also showed him the weapons used and the amount of money they found which was less than N50,000.

“From the interface with the suspects paraded by the SSS, the governor was convinced that they were indeed responsible for the murder of Comrade Oyerinde, to which they had confessed.

“The suspects also repeated to the governor the confessions they had made to the SSS that they were the same gang that made an attempt to attack the state commissioner for information, Louis Odion, at his residence and their account corroborated that of Odion who narrated to the governor that ‘it was the vigilance group in his area that scared the attackers away.’

“Governor Adams Oshiomhole is convinced and impressed that the SSS did their job professionally. The only matter that remains unclear is the motive; whether it was a clear case of armed robbery or assassination on the ground that there were two men in the house and the invaders asked Oyerinde’s wife: ‘who is your husband.’ If it was a clear case of armed robbery, it would not have mattered who the husband was.”