They killed his Principal Private
Secretary, Mr.Olaitan Oyerinde, just six days after the governor himself
escaped death in a auto crash and five days after gunmen missed his
Commissioner for Information, Mr.Loius Odion, at home.
Four persons, including three
journalists, died in Saturday’s auto accident on Afuze-Auchi Road, with the
governor crying out that he was the real target.
Oyerinde’s murder in the presence of
his wife has provoked an outrage across the land.
Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka,
said: “The hand of the assassin is clear as day,” while Gov Oshiomhole told the
Police to fish out the killers immediately.
Oyerinde, 44, was shot dead by four
gunmen who invaded his house located in Ugbor area, Benin City around 1 am.
They first tied the security guard
while two of them forced their way through the front door and made straight for
his bedroom, but it was Oyerinde’s brother-in-law they found there. They left
him and went for the wife, Funke, asking her to lead them to the husband who,
unknown to them, was sleeping in the living room.
Once they sighted Oyerinde, the
hoodlums fired four shots, one each to the head, chest, abdomen and hip. He
died instantly.
Mission accomplished, the assailants
fled, taking nothing from the house.
Oyerinde, a Mass Communication
graduate of the University of Lagos, was seconded from the Nigeria Labour
Congress (NLC) to work with the comrade governor in November 2007. He is
survived by his wife, Funke, and four children as well as aged father and
mother.
Only on Saturday, a tipper crashed
into Governor Oshiomhole’s convoy on the Afuze-Auchi Road after it veered off
its track and headed straight for the staff car, missing it by a whisker. Three
journalists were killed while others, including security details, sustained
various degrees of injury.
At about 2.45 am the following day,
the home of the Information Commissioner, Odion, was invaded by four gunmen who
also missed him because he opted to pass the night in a friend’s house located
in another part of the city.
A member of the Edo State House of
Assembly, Hon. Johnson Oghuma, was similarly attacked by gunmen recently.
Oghuma, who represents Etsako Central, was on his way to Fugar, his hometown.
His car was riddled with bullets.
Odion said last Sunday that certain
government functionaries were being targeted for elimination.
Special Adviser on Media to
Gov.Oshiomhole, Mr. Tony Iyare, said yesterday: “This sequence of sordid
events, coming each time on the eve of the flag-off of Governor Oshiomhole’s
campaign, raises grave concern and therefore demands thorough investigation by
the security forces.”
Deploring Oyerinde’s murder, Soyinka
said “the agents of darkness and retrogression will not triumph.”
Soyinka, in a text message, said:
“The hand of the assassin is clear as day. It reaches all the way back to the
killing of Bola Ige. Please convey my deepest condolences to his (Oyerinde’s)
widow, children and colleagues.
“Tell Oshiomhole we all stand by him
against the agents of darkness and retrogression. They shall not triumph.”
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)
also condemned the murder, saying it raised a lot of questions, especially
coming shortly after the yet-to-be-resolved ramming of the Governor’s convoy by
a truck.
In a statement in Ibadan, the
party’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, described the
development as another indication of the growing state of anarchy across the
country, to which the PDP-federal government has no answer.
His words: ”If someone as close to
the Governor as his Private Secretary can be so mindlessly killed in cold
blood, shortly after what now seems to be a failed attempt on the Governor’s
life when the truck rammed into his convoy, one cannot but be concerned about
the safety of the Governor himself.
‘’Yes, there may not yet be any
conclusive evidence linking anyone to these incidents, but there is a growing
concern that they may not be unconnected with the forthcoming gubernatorial
election in the state, especially considering the desperation of the PDP to
‘reclaim’ the state at all costs.
‘’But we are bound to ask: Must
everyone be killed and Edo state thrown into anarchy just because the PDP wants
to rule the state at all costs? If the PDP is as popular in Edo State as it
claims, why is it afraid of contesting a free and fair election in July? Or has
the PDP just realised that since Gov. Oshiomhole’s sterling performance has all
but guaranteed his re-election, the only way the party (PDP) can return to the
state house is by playing dirty?’’
The ACN said its concerns and
suspicions on the spate of attacks directed at the Governor stemmed from the
fact that many high-profile assassinations in the country have remained
unresolved - a pointer to the fact that such killings might not have been due
to mere happenstance.
‘’Take the case of Chief Bola Ige
who, as a sitting Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice,
was so easily mowed down, and yet the killers have not been brought to justice.
Isn’t it clear that the only reason the assassination has yet to be resolved is
because of the calibre of those who may have orchestrated the killing?
‘’Then, of course, the
assassinations of Harry Marshall, Aminasoari Dikibo and Funsho Williams, just
to name a few, have remained unresolved many years on. This is why we are
compelled to cry out now, to warn those who are seemingly targeting Gov.
Oshiomhole to desist. After all, there is no indication yet that the ‘nest of
killers’ has been dismantled,’’ ACN said.
The party said it was “becoming
increasingly clear to the PDP that it will be hard for it to win any fresh
election, considering the worsening insecurity of lives and property in the
country, the rising unemployment and the mindless looting of the national
treasury under the party’s watch, and the cluelessness of those in charge of
the country’s affairs.
‘’This may explain the resort to
acts of desperation by the PDP.’’
Former State Chairman of the Peoples
Democratic Party, who recently defected to the ACN, Sunny Uyigue, recalled
media interviews in which he said Oshiomhole’s aides were targeted for
assassination.
He said some persons had been
pencilled down to be killed or kidnapped and urged the security agencies to
fish out the killers.
Senator Ehigie Uzamere representing
Edo South described the late Olaitan as a quiet and unassuming young man.
“Olaitan was the engine room of
Oshiomhole’s government. We are not going to relent on our effort to ensure
Oshiomhole returns as governor,” Uzamere said.
Former Edo State representative in
the Niger Delta Development Commission, Hon Matthew Iduoriyikemwen, said it was
sad some people had to resort to killing opponents in this democratic
dispensation.
He said: “The whole thing is so sad.
It is so painful. This incident should not be left univestigated. We are now
wondering the type of security
yesterday said it was on the trial
of the killers of Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s private secretary, Olaitan
Oyerinde.
State Commissioner of Police,
Olayinka Balogun who spoke in a telephone said they were working round every
details to apprehend the killers.
Balogun assured that the police will
leave no stone upturn in apprehending the culprits.