Posted by By Wisdom Patrick, Senior Correspondent, Lagos on
Poor management of crime scene by the police may have forced the British Police to abandon investigation of Funsho Williams' assassination.....
Poor management of crime scene by the police may have forced the British Police to abandon investigation of Funsho Williams' assassination.
Sources said the two homicide detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) left the country after gathering over 7,000 fingerprints at Williams' murder scene.
"They were disappointed that the crime scene was not cordoned off several hours after the incident happened by our policemen, which gave unrestricted access to many people," a source at the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Alagbon said.
After dusting off the politician's remains, bedroom, staircase, bed and bedsides and other necessary areas, and subsequent preliminary analysis of same, it was discovered that there were over 7,000 fingerprints impression at the scene.
"This was made up security operatives - State Security Service (SSS) and policemen - prominent Nigerians, sympathisers and even the killers themselves. The British Police said they were leaving," a police detective said.
They left with the blood and fingerprints of suspects in detention.
The Inspector General of Police (IG), Sunday Ehindero, was briefed on the outcome of their investigation. He told Metropolitan Police that there was no way the Nigeria Police could have prevented people from visiting Williams' house because the news of his death got to the public even before law enforcement agents were informed.
Ehindero, therefore, agreed with the London Police decision to go. "That does not mean that if we need any other assistant from you, you will not be contacted," Ehindero was quoted as saying.
"The IG thanked them for their swift response to Nigeria's request for assistance. So the people left. But the main reason they left is that the crime scene had already been muddled up before they arrived, so they did not want to get involved in a shoddy job," the source added.
This may have informed Ehindero's statement at a world press conference in Abuja on Monday that "no motive has yet been established for (Williams') killing".
All hopes may, however, not be lost yet. The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Haz Iwendi, gave an assurance that the Nigeria Police are capable of solving the case.
He spoke in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
He, however, refused to comment on the report of the British Police. The FPRO said investigation into the Lagos Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant's murder is on and the police are not leaving any stone unturned.
"We found Rimi's wife's killers, we found Bola Ige's killers and many others. So if we have been able to do these, I don't see why we would not be able to fish out those who killed Williams. All we need is the cooperation of all Nigerians and we would prove the cynics wrong once again," he said.
Iwendi disclosed that police are closing in on Williams' killers and very soon, the world would be told who killed him.
After Williams' murder, police made a number of arrests. At the last count, over 20 people, including all the PDP governorship aspirants in Lagos, have been arrested and are still in detention.
Hopes of early release of the detainees seem remote as sources at the FCID Abuja said the police may not consider such for now. The sources said investigation into the case is still at a prime stage and would therefore not be proper to think of bail for any of the suspects.