Posted by By TOPE ADEBOBOYE on
An intricate web of high-wire intrigues spun by opponents of the former Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayo Fayose was responsible for the arrest, detention and prosecution of certain associates of the erstwhile governor on various murder charges in the State, a police document has revealed.
An intricate web of high-wire intrigues spun by opponents of the former Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayo Fayose was responsible for the arrest, detention and prosecution of certain associates of the erstwhile governor on various murder charges in the State, a police document has revealed.
According to the document obtained by Daily Sun, many of those currently being prosecuted by the Ekiti State Government in connection with the murder attempt on Taiye Fasuba as well as the assassination of Dr Ayo Daramola, a former consultant to the World Bank, may be innocent of the charges.
'It would appear that the opposition group capitalized on the above mentioned violent crimes to actualize their aim, which is to impeach the Governor, Ayo Fayose," the document asserted.
Investigations by the Commissioner of Police, Legal/Prosecutions Section, ‘D' Department (FCID) at the Force Headquarters in Abuja have corroborated the confessions earlier made by Mr Adeniyi Adedipe, Co-ordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) in Ekiti State.
Adedipe had confessed that persons standing trial for the attempted murder of Mr Taiye Fasuba, then chairman of Ado-Ekiti Local Government, and the murder of Dr Ayo Daramola, a governorship aspirant in the state, were falsely roped into the cases in a desperate bid by certain 'Ekiti elders" to facilitate Fayose's impeachment from office.
The police document in Daily Sun's possession is numbered CB:3960/X/LEG/FHQ/ABJ/Vol. 25/28, signed by Columbus O. Okaro, Commissioner of Police, Legal/Prosecution Section, at the police headquarters and dated 30th November 2007. It was addressed to the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, ‘D' Department at the Force Headquarters in Abuja.
According to the police statement, an earlier petition had been sent to the DIG ‘D' Department by one Segun Arowoyele on behalf of his client, Adeyemi Adedipe whereby the petitioner sought to correct earlier statements made concerning the various murder cases in Ekiti State. The petition was accompanied by a 23-paragraph affidavit deposed to by Adedipe at the Federal High Court Lagos on 27th July, 2007.
In the petition, Adedipe claimed he was appointed a security aide to Fayose by virtue of his position as OPC co-ordinator in Ekiti State. A disagreement with the then governor eventually led to the termination of that appointment. But while he still worked for Fayose, there had been an assassination attempt on Taiye Fasuba, then Ado-Ekiti Council boss. After Adedipe had been relieved of his position, Daramola was suddenly assassinated. According to the OPC leader, the sudden termination of his appointment by the governor led him to align with some known opponents of Fayose.
The police statement partly reads: 'According to him, these two incidents came to him and those opposed to the former Governor as an opportunity to deal with him as agreed by them (sic), he got some of his members in OPC to admit that they were responsible for the assassination attempt on Taiye Fasuba. For this reason, these boys were arrested and are being prosecuted in Ado-Ekiti High Court. Again he made statement to the effect that certain persons who were very close to Ayo Fayose were responsible for the murder of Ayo Daramola.
These set of people are also on remand at Ado-Ekiti Prison. According to him, the whole idea was to facilitate the impeachment of Ayo Fayose, the then governor of Ekiti State. He claimed that he was promised by those he called Ekiti elders that immediately after they succeeded in impeaching Ayo Fayose, that all the boys who made statement that they committed those offences will be released. He stated further that having waited up till this time and nothing has been done with regard to their initial agreement, he had no option then (sic) to go to court and depose to an affidavit and write this petition to the Deputy Inspector-General of Police ‘D' Department for the purpose of letting Nigerians know the truth in the aforesaid cases."
Investigation
According to the 14-page police document, following Adedipe's petition, detectives were sent to Ado-Ekiti Prisons to conduct discreet investigation into the matter.
The document revealed that one of those detectives spoke with was a certain Francis Ariwajoye currently standing trial for the attempted murder of Fasuba. The accused was said to have admitted to the detectives that Adedipe had led him and others to Abuja in order to facilitate Fayose's impeachment. The accused claimed he was taken to the Force Headquarters Abuja, where he was made to sign a statement written by certain policemen.
The accused said he promptly authenticated the statement since his boss in the OPC, Adedipe, had asked him to sign even though he could neither read nor write. He also reportedly denied knowing the Chief Security Officer to the governor, who was also implicated in the case. He also stated that he was not given any double barrel gun by anyone.
Another accused person interviewed by the detectives was Deji Abegunde. Also an OPC member, Abegunde confirmed Adedipe as his boss but denied knowing the then governor's CSO. His claims were similar to Ariwajoye's, but he also reiterated that Adedipe had told him that certain 'elders" in the state were behind the plot to sack Fayose. 'He mentioned the names of Femi Ojudu and Femi Falana as some of the elders of the state who want Ayo Fayose removed by all means," the statement disclosed. The accused said it was Adedipe, his boss, who was responsible for the statement allegedly signed by him as he could not understand English.
A third accused in the Fasuba case, Ajayi Ola, a driver reportedly admitted knowing Fasuba, but denied belonging to the OPC. He told the detectives that Fasuba's campaign organization had hired his bus during the political campaigns. 'He also denied knowing the house of Taiye Fasuba let alone conveying some people to his house," the statement revealed.
Another OPC member implicated in the Fasuba case, Adeomi Odunayo also said he signed a statement at the police headquarters because Adedipe, his leader, told him to. Being a member of OPC, he had no reason to doubt his boss because they were bound together by their oath.
When Odunayo was shown a copy of the statement he had earlier made, he reportedly denied being the author.
According to the police report, a statement by one of the persons charged with the attempted murder of Fasuba, Dele Ogunleye, also cited the so-called 'Ekiti Elders" as being behind the plot to remove Fayose. The report partly reads:
'He stated that Niyi met him in his workshop and informed him that the elders of the state had concluded arrangements with him to remove Ayo Fayose from office. He further stated that Femi Falana is leading the line of the elders that were rooting for the removal of Ayo Fayose as the governor. That Niyi requested him to follow him (sic) to Abuja for this purpose. That since Niyi is their leader, he has no reason to doubt him.
That Niyi assured him that he will not have any problem if he cooperates with him. That part of the promises Niyi made to them was that within three days, they were going to be released.
Babatunde Adebayo, another person standing trial for Fasuba's attempted murder, was also interviewed by the detectives. According to the police report, his statement also indicated that he was forced to tag along Adedipe in the latter's plot to get Fayose out of office. The report also quoted Adebayo as saying the only question he was asked at the Force Headquarters was his name and background. 'He admitted signing a statement presented to him and stated that he did it in the spirit of their mission to ensure the removal of Ayo Fayose," the report stated.
Perhaps the most intriguing of the findings was the statement credited to one Taiye Olanipekun, one of those charged with the murder of the late Ayo Daramola. The police statement on this man was quite revealing.
'Following, Adeniyi Adedipe's deposition, this notorious armed robber was interviewed in his own separate cell. From his statement, he is not a member of OPC and does not know Adeniyi Adedipe. In his statement, he stated how he escaped from Ikere to Akure following the attempt of some OPC members to search his bag. Again he stated that while he was at Akure, a policeman who knows him saw him and arrested him.
He further stated that he was initially detained at Finibi Police Station at Akure before he was transferred to Ikere Ekiti and later transferred to State CID Ado-Ekiti. While at Ado-Ekiti, detectives from Force CID came for him and he was taken to Akure, the Ondo State capital. According to him, he met with the then Commissioner of Police Ondo State at Police Officers Mess, Akure. He also mentioned the names of certain persons like, Femi Falana, Yinka Akerele and Abiodun Aluko. According to him, the Commissioner of Police, Ondo and the aforementioned people sought for his co-operation. That he requested the fee of three million which the commissioner said was on the high side and he had to reduce it to two million naira.
'That right from Akure to Force Headquarters, Femi Falana, Yinka Akerele and Abiodun Aluko were following him and were dictating the tune of the investigation. Again while they were at Force Headquarters, he was shown the pictures of Goke and Chief Okondo. Later when these people were put on parade he was asked to go and identify them. But because of the mistake in the description he was unable to identify them on parade.
He said that, the pictures of Baba Okondo and Goke were shown to him again and he was asked if he can now identify them and he said yes. He also alleged that he was shown the vehicle of Baba Okondo through the window for the purposes of identifying it, he concluded his statement by saying that he was taken to Ikere-Ekiti where upon he was shown the House of Baba Okondo notwithstanding his insistence that he does not know Baba Okondo's house."
In its findings, the police discovered that Adeniyi Adedipe who admitted to contacting and commissioning the accused persons was not charged alongside those being detained at Ado Ekiti Prisons. The report also dismissed Adedipe's initial statements which led to the arrest and subsequent arraignment of the accused persons. According to the report, since Adedipe had recanted, his evidence had become 'worthless and without probative value."
Another twist, noted the report, was that five of the people interviewed in the prison could neither read nor write, and had to thumbprint their statements after the statements were read back to them and interpreted in Yoruba language. Curiously, in their former statements, each of the obviously illiterate persons appended well crafted signatures to the documents.
The police investigation discovered that Adedipe merely deceived his illiterate collaborators in a bid to hit back at Fayose to score some political points.
Said the police statement: 'The disparity in their signatures has given rise to serious issues of deceit and fraud against Adeniyi Adedipe for having used these illiterates to achieve his political aims."
Concluding, the police report noted that the Ekiti State Attorney-General currently prosecuting the suspects might be oblivious of certain basic facts in the case. 'The non-disclosure of these facts has led to the arraignment of some people who may be innocent after all," the report stated.
It went on: 'The case of ASP Gbenga Joseph and PC Moses Usman readily comes to mind. The officer was posted as the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to former Governor Ayo Fayose while the constable served at Government House Ado Ekiti. As it were, they were caught in the political intrigues of Ekiti State and subsequently charged to court with other dramatis personae.
Now, that it has become clear that they were roped in for the purpose of achieving some political objective that is, the impeachment of the former governor, the police authorities can no longer fold their hands and watch their innocent colleagues languishing in jail.
Finally, in view of the facts analysed above, it is my humble recommendation that this additional case file be duplicated and forwarded to the Ekiti State Ministry of Justice, for their information and further necessary action, please."