Death could have been prevented if…, says vigilance group
Detectives yesterday received shocking revelations, while investigating the Monday night murder of Ogun State Action Congress (AC) governorship candidate in 2007, Otunba Dipo Dina.
After the crack team of detectives, led by the Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG) in charge of investigations, Mr Israel Ajao, visited the crime scene and interrogated Dina’s driver and the prophetess, who was in his car when the killers struck, the police boss said: “We have good clues to solve this crime.”
When Ajao, who had earlier visited the Lagos home of the slain politician, later led a long convoy of detectives to one Odo-Ore River, at Onigbongbo village, near Atan Ota, where the prophetess, Funmilayo Olagoke, had allegedly told the police that Dina was going for a ‘spiritual cleansing’, he was told how the gunmen, after killing their victim, drove to the riverside with the driver and the spiritualist and spent over 20 minutes there before they parted ways.
He also learnt that the bandits shot Dina twice, when they cornered his Toyota Camry car near the Living Faith World Outreach Ministries (a.k.a. Winners Chapel) area of the Ota-Owode-Idiroko Road, as he was trying to negotiate some speed breakers on the road.
Ajao, who did not comment on the revelation, said that Nigerians should be rest assured that the police would get Dina’s killers. He also pleaded that members of the public should help the police with further information, that could unmask the killers quickly.
Ajao’s tour, which began in Lagos, and ended at the riverside, followed Vice President Goodluck Jonathan’s order that the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo, should fish out the killers within a week.
For about one and half hours at the Ogun State Police Command Headquarters, Eleweran, yesterday, the DIG interrogated Dina’s driver, Tunde Oyediran, and Funmilayo behind closed doors.
As the prophetess was being led away, she could be heard crying and lamenting that she never knew that things would take “this turn”.
The DIG, who arrived at the state capital at about 1p.m., grilled the two suspects between 2p.m. and 3.30p.m., after being briefed by the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Musa Daura.
The Nigerian Compass learnt that Ajao later took over the case file, after he went through it.
The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, denied reports that the late Dina’s vehicle, which was stolen after the killing, had been recovered.
“It is not true. The car has not been recovered. But we are intensifying efforts to track down the killers,” the police spokesman stated.
Meanwhile, the Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN), Ado Odo/ Ota Local Government Command, Ogun State, yesterday, described the location where Dina was killed as a black spot and hotbed for armed robbery incidents.
Addressing a press conference in Ota, the VGN Sector Commander, Alhaji Adeyemi Aiyetoto, said his association had complained severally to the police authorities about the black spot.
According to him, the community opposite the Winners Chapel had for long been a notorious hideout for suspected criminals, hemp hawkers and people of questionable character.
The association’s Assistant Commander (Administration), Mr. Nurudeen Serinkudi, who spoke on behalf of Aiyetoto, explained that criminals capitalised on the lack of police presence on the routes to strike.
He said: “We feel that it is our responsibility, as an informal medium of security, to draw attention to the fact that the spot at which Otunba Dipo Dina met his unfortunate end has for long been a black spot and hot bed of armed robbery incidents in Ota.
“Robbery attacks in that place have become a recurring decimal of sorrow and tragedy. We know this to be the fact because our vigilante teams have the responsibility to provide a level of security for the area of Ado Odo/ Canaanland axis where this unfortunate incident occurred.
“Preliminary report and investigation so far indicated that the incident may be a case of armed robbery. Our interest is the wider picture of the implication of the murder of Otunba Dina and what has been happening in Ado-Odo/ Ota Local Government Area in general and in particular, on the roads stretching from Sango through Ota-Idiroko and from Atan to Igbesa to Agbara axis.”
Aiyetoto claimed that the Chief Security Officer of the church some months back ordered his men to vacate the church areas, over undisclosed reasons.
He added that the absence of his men coupled with the security lapses at the area enabled criminals to attack innocent motorists at will.
He said: “If our men were at the area, this type of thing would not have occurred because we were always on ground. When some banks in the Winners Chapel were attacked by robbers, we pursued them to Imeko and recovered the vehicles of the church used for the robbery operation.
Although, we couldn’t recover the stolen money. Even the Bishop of the church gave us two jeeps in appreciation of our effort,” he said.
“The Idiroko-Sango route is also a dangerous haven of smugglers and robbers. However, police presence on these routes is scanty and ineffective. It makes the Idiroko-Sango route and the Atan-Agbara route the most dangerous routes to ply in Ogun State.”
He submitted that “the lack of visibility of police on these routes clearly explains why the murder of such a prominent politician was carried out with relative ease on such a busy route without any speedy response from the police”.
Aiyetoto called on police authorities to mount surveillance at the noted spots and guarantee effective policing, while expressing his association’s preparedness to cooperate with the police in unmasking the killers of Dina.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Action Congress (AC) members yesterday took to the streets in Ijebu-Ode, protesting the killing of Dina by unknown gunmen.
Led by a close associate of the slain politician, Alhaji Rasheed Alatishe, the protesters, who first converged on the Endurance Garden, GRA Ijebu-Ode residence of the Dinas, went round the town with placards to demonstrate their grievances.
Alatishe said the police authorities should not allow Dina’s death to be among the growing list of unresolved murders in the country.
The AC chieftain urged the police to fish out the killers and bring them to justice to serve as a deterrent to criminally-minded people.
The senators representing Ogun West and Ogun East Senatorial Districts, Felix Kola Bajomo and Lekan Mustapha, yesterday joined the list of sympathisers over the gruesome murder, describing it as “unfortunate and barbaric”.
In separate statements made available to the Nigerian Compass, the two senators said the latest killing was an indication that the nation’s security apparatus needed total overhauling to cope with modern security challenges.
Bajomo, in a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant, Dapo Oke, said the Federal Government must address the growing insecurity in the polity ahead of the 2011 general elections.
He lamented that Dina’s murder had robbed the state of one of the great future leaders of the country.
Bajomo said: “The killing, to say the least, is tragic, uncivilized and quite unfortunate. Without prejudice to the outcome of police investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death, I condemn the barbaric killing while leaving judgement to the All-knoweth God.
“This development further raises the fear of most Nigerians on the problem of insecurity in the polity which the Federal Government must address urgently before the next general election. The fact that investigations into all the previous killings have not yielded any positive results is an indication that the security apparatus of the nation needs total overhauling to cope with the challenges of securing the nation.
“I join other compatriots to mourn the demise of Dipo, a professional colleague, an astute politician and one of the great future leaders God has endowed to our dear state.”
While expressing shock and dismay at Dina’s death, Mustapha, in his own statement, charged security operatives to be more determined in exposing the culprits behind the incident to serve as deterrent to other criminals, especially as the 2011 election approaches.
He said: “I am saddened by the death of this dogged politician, who has impacted positively on the education and health sectors, the political terrain and also built churches for the Christian faithful, among other philanthropic gestures.
“Otunba Dina had in no small means contributed his own quota to the development of Ogun State, which was why he became a household name, especially among indigent students and the downtrodden.”
Senator Mustapha prayed God to grant the Dina family, his associates, supporters and the people of the state the fortitude to bear the loss.
By Dipo Kehinde, Juliana Francis & Kunle Olayeni, Abeokuta
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