|
Attack on Ekiti LG boss: Police release suspected assassin�s corpse
Akin Oyedele and Tobi Soniyi
DESPITE ongoing investigations into the assassination attempt on the Chairman of Ado-Ekiti Local Government Area, Ekiti State, Mr. Taye Fasubaa, there were strong indications on Monday that the police had released the corpse of one of the suspected assassins, Mr. Femi Abire, to his family.
A senior police officer who disclosed this to our correspondents, added that the corpse had been interred in Ikere-Ekiti.
In criminal cases, the release of the corpse for interment, especially when the report of the autopsy is not available and investigations are still on, may weaken the case for prosecution.
The Chief Medical Director of the State Specialist Hospital, Dr. Oyebanji Olajuyin, confirmed the release of the corpse.
Olajuyin said, �Police brought in the corpse and maybe an officer had been delegated to do this (claim the corpse). �
Although the Commissioner of Police, Ekiti State Command, Mr. Bashir Azeez, was not forthcoming on who ordered the release of the corpse, our correspondents gathered that some prominent politicians played a key role in it.
Azeez told our correspondents that he was on vacation when the incident happened and that since the matter was not being investigated by the command, he had no information about it.
He also denied claims that the investigation team from Abuja took Abire�s head to the police Headquarters.
He argued that in a case like the one involving Abire, a police doctor, an investigating police officer, and pathologists at the hospital where a corpse is deposited would carry out joint post-mortem on it to erase any doubts.
Most people contacted in Ikere-Ekiti feigned ignorance of the identity of Abire who was mistakenly shot dead by a colleague during the attack on Fasubaa on September 11, 2004.
Investigations by our correspondents, however, revealed that Abire was a former student of Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, Ondo State.
It was further learnt that he was an ardent follower of a prominent politician in Ekiti State.
Before the attack on him, Fasubaa had been at loggerheads with the State Governor, Chief Ayo Fayose, over Ado-Ekiti council�s share of revenue from the Federation Account; appointment of cabinet members, and the reconstruction of the Okesa market, then gutted by fire.
The Nigeria Police Headquarters, Abuja, which is handling the investigation, had on Sunday said that work was in progress.
Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Chris Olakpe, said, �This is a very serious case. We are been very cautious and we are handling the matter with all sense of seriousness.�
Fasubaa, in an interview with our correspondents on Friday, confirmed that 12 people close to him had been arrested and quizzed by the police for alleged conspiracy.
He disclosed that he had to bail them after they had spent three days in police custody.
He added that the four prominent Peoples Democratic Party members also arrested by the police, had in their statements, admitted holding meetings prior to the attack, �to drum support for me and the governor towards the 2007 election.�
The men were alleged to have met at a popular hotel in Ado-Ekiti on the eve of the attack. They were also said to have told the police that the meeting was a routine political gathering.
Fasubaa maintained that he later gathered from a source that the suspects confessed to be shopping for someone that would replace him following an alleged move to suspend him.
Asked whether he was satisfied with the level of police investigation into the attack on him, he said that his wife and himself were invited only once to make statements.
He, however, added that an unnamed lady who witnessed the attack had been of tremendous assistance to the police in their investigation.
The chairman said it would be wrong for anyone to trivialise the attack on him by labelling it a family or party affair.
He said, �It will be satanic for anybody to describe an attempted murder as a family or party affair. That means we will be trivializing the sanctity of human life, because even animals of the same species don�t kill one another.
�The attack should be a source of concern to everybody, irrespective of ones calling or political lineage. Therefore, the police should carry out their investigation to its logical conclusion. If that is not done, human lives will be worthless and that would further embolden hoodlums to toy with people�s lives.�
When asked to describe his relationship with the governor now, Fasubaa said he had nothing personal against him
He said, �One complex thing is that as far as I�m concerned I�ve never believed I have deep seated animosity against the governor, because we never really had serious cause for misunderstanding, except that issues between us was always exaggerated.�
Fayose had maintained that the state government was distressed by the news of the attack on Fasubaa, promising the government would do everything to ensure that the assailants were brought to book.
The PUNCH, Tuesday, October 19, 2004
|
|
| |
Copyright 2003 - 2004
Punch (Nigeria) Limited. All Rights Reserved
Powered by dnetsystems.net
dnet�
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
STOCK MARKET
|
|
As at Tues, October 18, 2004
|
|
|
8,265
8,250
8,235
|
| Total |
|
N181.50 |
+142k |
|
| Guiness |
|
N117.00 |
+100k |
|
| Glaxosmithklime |
|
N7.95 |
+37k |
|
| Texaco |
|
N150.05 |
-595k |
|
| AP |
|
N75.81 |
-399k |
|
| Conoil |
|
N126.01 |
-399k |
|
Volume: 70.7 million
Value: N765.7 million
Deals: 3,183
Index: 22,776.31
Mkt Cap: N1.690 trillion |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
