Posted by By MUYIWA OYINLOLA on
Kehinde, wife of slain Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial aspirant in Ekiti State, Dr Ayo Daramola, Monday commended the police for the recent arrest of suspected killers of her husband.
•Ex-commissioner wants Falana,Ojudu arrested for alleged blackmail
Kehinde, wife of slain Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial aspirant in Ekiti State, Dr Ayo Daramola, Monday commended the police for the recent arrest of suspected killers of her husband.
The politician was assassinated August in his bedroom at his country home, Ijan Ekiti, and the police had since been on a manhunt for the killers.
But relief came the way of the family, as six men suspected to be the assailants were paraded by the police in Abuja at the weekend.
Speaking through the politician's younger brother, Dare Daramola, Kehinde said the feat had re-affirmed the confidence of the family in the ability of the police to unravel the crime and bring the killers to book.
She urged the police to disregard a preliminary investigation report which stated that Daramola was killed by armed robbers, insisting that he was murdered by rival politicians.
While insisting that Ayodele Fayose, the former Governor of Ekiti State, and his aides had a case to answer over Daramola's assassination, Kehinde called on the police to investigate the antecedents of Mr Goke Olatunji, Fayose's Personal Assistant, named over alleged complicity in the crime.
However, former Commissioner for Information in Ekiti State, Mr. Gboyega Oguntuase, on Monday, called for the arrest and interrogation of Messrs Femi Falana and Babafemi Ojudu who were alleged to have induced a suspect to blackmail suspended Governor Fayose.
Prince Segun Bamiteko, one of the suspects paraded on Sunday by the Inspector-General of Police in Abuja over alleged ritual murder named Falana and Ojudu as people who induced him to implicate Fayose.
Oguntuase who spoke in Ado-Ekiti, said Bamiteko's confession had further confirmed the claims earlier made that a section of the elite in the state was bent on destroying Fayose at all cost.
According to Oguntuase, the desperation was clearly evident in the allegation of corruption by the EFCC, the attempt to link the governor with the murder of Dr Ayo Daramola as well as the 'serial unconstitutionalities" in the process of the purported impeachment of Governor Fayose.
Besides, Oguntuase also recalled that seven of the members of the House of Assembly who had confessed, mentioned the same personalities that were mentioned by Bamiteko as those behind the purported impeachment of the governor.
He said it would be in the interest of justice and fair play if the Inspector-General of Police invited the duo and their cohorts to answer some questions.
'The IGP should invite these people for questioning. There should be no sacred cow in the interest of fairness and equity because it is Fayose today, it could be another person tomorrow."
But in a reaction yesterday, Mr Falana absolved himself of the allegation, suggesting that Bamiteko's volte-face was an afterthought.
The lawyer, who gave account of his role in the saga urged the IG to make available to the mass media all the voluntary confessional statements Bamiteko made in the course of investigations.
Below is the full text of the reaction!
'Sometimes last year, Mr Segun Bamiteko was abducted and taken to Government House at Ado Ekiti by Governor Ayo Fayose.
I was requested by Mr Bamiteko's family to secure his release. I immediately reported the bizarre incident to the police authorities. The Governor was directed to hand him over to the police which was done. 'Thereafter, he was charged to the Chief Magistrate Court holden at Ado Ekiti.
'Upon his release on bail, Mr. Bamiteko came to see me in my office in Lagos in the company of Messrs.
Babafemi Ojudu and Yinka Akerele. On that occasion he informed me that he was being harassed by Mr. Fayose for allegedly leaking information concerning a pregnant woman that was kidnapped at Ibadan and taken to Ado Ekiti for rituals in 2003.
'I suggested to Messrs. Ojudu and Akerele to conduct a private inquiry into this story. This was undertaken with full co-operation of Mr. Bamiteko who led Messrs. Gbenga Ogunleye and Ibukun Anjorin to a herbalist at Ara Orin in Kwara State. The conversation between Mr. Bamiteko and the herbalist was recorded in a cassette.
When the investigation was concluded the case was reported to the office of the Inspector-General of Police. Upon Mr. Bamiteko's arrest, he denied his involvement in the ritual murder. But when confronted by Mr. Akerele with sufficient documentary evidence in the office of the Inspector-General of Police Mr. Bamiteko made a written confessional statement.
'In order to get to the root of this matter the Inspector-General of Police is requested to make available to the mass media all the voluntary statements of Mr. Segun Bamiteko in the course of investigation.
'However, it is interesting to note that since I have been assisting the Investigating Police Officer (IPO), ACP Ali, in the investigation of the serial politically motivated killings that characterized the Ayo Fayose tenure in Ekiti State, I was never confronted with the allegation that I conspired with Messrs. Ojudu and Akerele to implicate Mr. Fayose in any material particular."