A
suspect in custody in connection with the murder of Olaitan Oyerinde,
the Private Secretary to Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole, has
reportedly told police interrogators that he was offered N20m for the
job.
He said he was paid N200,000 as part payment with which he recruited four others.
Five
suspects, including the Executive Director of the African Network for
Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), Rev. David Ugolor, have been
arrested in connection with the murder.
Rev.
Ugolor was picked up on Friday by the investigating team from the Force
CID in Abuja. His office and residence were ransacked. He was arrested
after the suspect named one “David” as the sponsor of the murder.
Police
sources said the suspect identified Rev. Ugolor during an
identification parade as the “David” that sponsored the killing.
It
was gathered that the suspect told police investigators that the deal to
kill Olaitan was sealed at a restaurant in Benin City and that Rev.
Ugolor pointed Olaitan to him at a bureau de change where the late
Olaitan had gone for a transaction.
He
said they trailed the late Olaitan to a place where he (Olaitan) and
Ugolor had a drink before following him home to carry out the killing.
Ugolor
took the late Olaitan home the night he was shot and he was the person
called by Olaitan’s wife to take him to the hospital after he had been
shot.
Police sources said Ugolor and the suspect met on Sunday. Ugolor reportedly questioned him.
Ugolor, however, said he was being framed up for the murder of Olaitan.
A
statement signed by the Programme/Policy Officer of ANEEJ Innocent
Edemhanria, in Benin City said the relationship that existed between the
late Olaitan and Rev. Ugolor was convivial and neither of them could
plot the killing of the other.
The
statement said: “The suspect who is accusing David Ugolor is of a
northern Nigeria origin and is completely unknown to Rev. David Ugolor,
colleagues and friends. At the moment, the police are still holding onto
David as they carry out their investigations on the allegation we
consider spurious.”
“We
suspect strongly that somebody high up somewhere is framing up our
Executive Director Rev. David Ugolor, over the murder of the personal
aide to Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
“Rev.
David Ugolor is a life saver, not taker as his natural penchant for
poverty eradication, enlarging the voice of the voiceless, assisting the
poor and needy is unparalleled in his almost 25 years of effective and
result-oriented activism.
“While,
we wouldn’t want to obstruct police investigations on the murder of our
friend, Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde, as a law abiding corporate citizen,
we insist that Rev. David Ugolor is innocent of any accusation being
leveled against him. We call for his immediate release so he can rejoin
his family.”
The late Olaitan was murdered on May 4 at his Benin City home by unknown gunmen.
Source ;Ascology
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