Amidst the latest controversy raging over the death of Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde, erstwhile principal private secretary to Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has charged the Nigeria Police Force to unearth the identities of perpetrators of the crime.
The body urged the authorities of the force to probe allegations of complacency against Deputy Inspector-General of Police and also demanded fresh investigations into the matter.
“We are disturbed at the seeming silence on the investigation of the murder of our late Deputy General Secretary, Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde, who, until he was gruesomely murdered in his residence in Benin City, was the principal private secretary to the Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole,” stated a release igned by the NLC President, Abdulwaheed Omar.
”We are more alarmed by the public disclosure by the Edo State governor about the unprofessional manner the Police has handled the case so far. We believe freedom to life is a guaranteed fundamental right of every citizen in a democracy, and if a government that lay claims to democracy cannot guarantee this, the government itself would be seen as a major obstacle to the growth and sustenance of democracy.”
NLC, in the release, further stated, “That the Police have not been able to prosecute anyone actually confirmed to be either an accomplice or the assassin, but opted to prosecute people who confessed to have been in Police custody long before Comrade Oyerinde was murdered, rubbishes the attempt by the current Inspector General of Police at rebuilding the force.
“We believe the police know that their role in the protection of lives and property is directly intertwined with the right to freedom and right to life, which are major democratic rights without which our claim to running a democratic society would be a sham.
“We are convinced the police know who Olaitan Oyerinde’s killers are, and are buying time believing that soon, Nigerians will put the murder behind them, and become uninterested in the search for the murderers.”
After the death of Comrade Oyerinde during the campaign for last year’s governorship election in Edo state, the police and the State Security Service (SSS) had each paraded separate suspected killers of the governor’s aide, thus creating confusion.
And days ago during the launch of the Code of Conduct for men of the Nigeria Police, Oshiomhole alleged that the Police had rubbished investigations into Oyerinde’s death.
He said the Police actually killed his aide because the suspect they paraded as his killer was already in custody for armed robbery before the act, adding that the gun the Police displayed as used to perpetrate the crime had been in its custody before the incident.
