Posted by 9jabook.com on September 23, 2009 at 10:56pm
WHEN the white Toyota Camry arrived with its six occupants and parked in front of the single storey, four-flats building painted in brown and butter colours,even curious neighbours did not notice anything to excite alarm.
Time was about 7.15 a.m. that Sunday when two children from one of the flats, ‘Lara and ‘Labake, came out to fetch water, oblivious of any lurking danger. Their mother, Blessing, had however gone to church.
The situation, however, changed when the occupants of the car disembarked and made their way for the block of flats identified as No 9, Oyeniji Street of Oduwole Estate at Akowonjo, Egbeda, Lagos.
They were led by a light complexioned, tall woman, who was dressed in a lace material.The leader of the gang was soon seen and heard dishing out instructions to the five men who were armed with guns. When the landlady of the house later came down to pick something from her shop, she was pounced upon by two members of this group.
But it soon emerged that their target was Mr. Bayo Ohu, a respected journalist with The Guardian who had been living in the building with his family for the past eight years.
Bayo, the father of Lara (15), ‘Labake (9), Moyoyin (7), Fehintola (5) and Modesola (8 months) whose apartment was close to the gate was said to be lying down on his bed and had no premonition of the tragedy that was about to befall him. Attracted by the sporadic gunshots outside, he had opened the door of his flat to find out what was amiss. That was the last action he took before he was cut down by a volley of bullets.
In spite of accomplishing their dastardly bloody assignment, the six-man gang made straight to the compound, shooting sporadically into the air after various attempts to gain entry into Bayo’s flat failed.
They laid siege for one of the children who came outside to continue fetching water. They seized the opportunity to gain entry into the apartment through the kitchen.
The child escaped and hid herself under her father’s car while others in the apartment hid themselves inside the wardrobe in one of the rooms. Bayo the main target of the attack was found in his own pool of blood at the passage of the apartment.
An eye witness who pleaded anonymity told Vanguard Metro was of the opinion that the late journalist must have had a form of contact with the gang leader during his life time. “We were at the corridor of our own house when we spotted the white car, although nobody knew their mission.
‘Lara: Witnessed Dad’s murder
They were outside for a while before they entered the compound. But suddenly, there was sporadic shootings which scared all of us. We knew something deadly was happening and I decided to peep through my window but what I saw made me to tremble.
The woman in question did not come out immediately after the operation, rather the five men rushed into the car first. She later came out of the apartment nodding her head and thumbing up for a job well done.
This shows clearly she was never a stranger to Bayo. What we do not know was if there was a business transaction or deal between both of them. From the way she dashed out of the apartment, it was obvious she was a key factor in what happened.
People should find out if he had previously had any rapport with that woman. The front seat was reserved for her and when she joined them in the car, she rejoiced before they sped off,” he said.
LARA BAYO's Eldest Daughter
Another family source said the deceased threw a birthday party for two of his children, 15- year-old ‘Lara and five-year-old Fehintola on Saturday August 29. Unfortunately that was the last family gathering this father of five girls attended before he died.
A barber who was occupying a shop in the apartment described the deceased as an easy going person. “You know all his children are girls and none of them could help to wash his car. I used to help him do this and he normally reciprocate with a token, I opened the shop today only to hear he had been killed. I shall miss him greatly,” said Damian.
When Vanguard Metro visited the apartment on Monday, there was an army of sympathisers who sat round his wife Blessing as she was lying down on a couch. She refused to utter a word. “People have been coming here to snap me, I am tired of this and nobody should snap me again,” she said after much pressure by these sympathisers.
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Posted by 9jabook.com on September 22, 2009 at 3:57am
Forty-one year-old Bayo Ohu, an assistant political editor of The Guardian was shot in the early hours of Sunday by gunmen suspected to be assasins.
Police sources said the bandits stormed the journalist’s No 9, Oyeniyi Street, Odukoya estate residence at the about 7.00 a.m. and forced their way into his apartment. They were said to had demanded for cash and other valuables which the journalist readily obliged.
After collecting the cash he had, they picked his lap-top before releasing some bullets into his stomach. He was said to had slumped and died almost immediately.
According to witnesses, men dressed in white jalabia (flowing gowns) and wearing caps, arrived in a white Toyota camry at 6.53am, and stormed Mr. Ohu’s residence. When they eventually found him with a wrapper tied around his waist, one of the armed men began to shoot at him. The assailants allegedly followed him as he stumbled back and kept pumping bullets into him.
Neighbours say during this attack, the deceased’s wife, Ochuko, had gone to church with her sister who lived in with them, leaving the late Ohu, his daughters and one other relative at home. None of them was however around the compound when the killers entered.
According to his daughter, 15-year-old Omolara Ohu, “We were coming from where we had gone to fetch water, when we heard the gun-shots and ran back. Later, we came to the compound and found blood everywhere. The neighbours now came and brought out his body. There was blood everywhere,” she said, crying.
She said a neighbour who saw the shooting told her that the initial hail of bullets left Ohu shouting: “E gba mi o! E gba mi o! (Please save me, please save me). Afterwards, she said one of the armed men was heard saying: “Olori buruku yen ti lo” (That idiot is gone).
Miss Patience, the late journalist’s sister said nothing was taken apart from his laptop and his cell phone.
“They took the laptop he uses at home, but they left his office laptop and midget recorder,” she said.
However, reports said while the attack was going on, a neighbour had put a call to the police, but the bandits had successfully made good their escape before the police arrived.
But a team of anti-robbery squad on routine patrol in the area were reported to have given the armed gang a hot chase, forcing them to abandon their get away vehicle and fled.
Ochuko, wife of the late Bayo Ohu. The deceased inset.
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Frank Mba, confirmed the incident but said it might be a case of assassination. Mba said the police had recovered the vehicle, an unmarked Toyota Camry used for the attack, assuring that a manhunt for the perpetrators had since begun.
In a related development, a team of anti- robbery squad from the Area E Command, Festac town Lagos has arrested two armed robbers in the area.
The suspects identified as Andrew Ilouere and Chinedu Nwokolie were arrested along the Lagos-Badagry expressway moments after they had successfully robbed one Paschal Anyawu.
They were said to have collected an un specified amount of money and other valuables from the victim but ran into the waiting hands of the patrol team.
Reports said when they were searched, a locally made Guardian Newspapers with some live cartridges were recovered from them.
The police image maker also confirmed the arrest, adding that the suspects would be transferred to the SCID Panti, Yaba, Lagos for further investigation.
This is the third time in as many years that a Nigerian newspaper journalist has been shot dead in similar circumstances.
In 2007 and 2008, Godwin Agbroko and Abayomi Ogundeji, both of the private Thisday Newspaper, were also shot dead by unknown gunmen in Lagos.
The two deaths have yet to be unravelled. Bullet hole at Bayo Ohu's house
Mr. Ohu joined The Guardian in 1993 after completing his national youth service in Katsina State. He was the correspondent of the paper in Katsina until 2002 when he became assistant news editor and was recalled to the head office in Lagos. He was seconded to the politics desk in 2008. He is survived by a wife and children.
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