Aborishade’s killing: Lagos PDP urges IGP to take over investigation

LEADERSHIP of Lagos State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday urged the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, to direct the AIG Zone 2 to take charge of investigation into the killing of the party’s chairman for Apapa Local Government Area (LGA), Honourable Borishade Adeniyi, at a peace meeting in Eti-Osa area of the state over the weekend.

The leaders, including Prince Charles Remi Akitoye, who is former National Secretary of PDP and now a member, Board of Trustees of the party; Prince Muiz Dosumu, State Secretary of PDP; Chief Ola Apena, former deputy chairman of the party, among others made this call at a well- attended press conference which took place at the Ikoyi residence of former PDP Deputy National Chairman, Chief Olabode George.

The party chieftains, who insisted that all they demanded was justice in which the well-known perpetrators of the heinous crime who stormed the venue of the PDP meeting with guns and other dangerous weapons were brought to book, said the call became imperative because the state police command had demonstrated elements of bias as it had deliberately rushed to judgment without verifiable facts, concerning the sad incident.

Dosumu, in the prepared speech, entitled: “We Demand Justice,” said the party read with dismay and total consternation the statement issued by the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Chike Otti, about the unfortunate and condemnable incident that led to the death of Aborishade.

He described the statement as biased, skewed, distorted and a deliberate rush to judgment without verifiable facts, saying that the flawed statement gave the sickening impression that the PDP in the state was a chaotic organization where factions were pitted against each other in constant unrest.

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The party chieftain said this categorization was far from the truth, maintaining that what happened in Eti-Osa was a very disturbing incident where some sponsored murderous hoodlums intruded upon a peaceful assembly of PDP LGA Chairmen and party members and got Aborishade killed.

“The thugs, who are well known, stormed the occasion with guns and all kinds of cudgels, shooting indiscriminately with the despicable intention to maim and kill innocent members of our party who had assembled lawfully.

“It was in this murderous frenzy that Honourable Aborishade was brutally cut down while many others were variously injured. It, however, befuddles the enlightened and the reasonable mind when our members who were victims went to report the incident at the Ilasan Police Station but ironically ended up being detained and peremptorily accused as suspects. This is dubious, unacceptable, illogical and apparently a twisted turn of justice,” he said.

While urging the state police command to withdraw from what he termed “its obvious, undisguised partisan position, Dosumu said it was PDP’s stand that the IGP should direct the AIG Zone 2 to handle this investigation as confidence in the Lagos State Police Command had eroded.

“As a law-abiding organization that carries out its affairs with dignity, with civility and good faith, we demand that the Lagos State Police Command should withdraw from its obvious, undisguised partisan position.

“It is, therefore, requested that the Inspector General of Police should direct the AIG Zone 2 to please handle this investigation as confidence in the Lagos State Police Command has eroded.

“We demand justice for an innocent man brutally cut down. We demand justice for the innocent members of our party who were inflicted with various injuries.

“And finally, we demand justice for our people who went to the Ilasan Police Station to report the dastardly crime but were inexplicably detained and illogically turned into suspects.

Justice delayed is Justice denied. We demand that those who committed this murder and mayhem must be fished out and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law while the innocent must never suffer, not even for a second.

“This is our position. This is the righteous reality. Justice must prevail and triumph over evil. That is the way it must be. That is the way that is right and just,” Dosumu said.

He added, “We demand that the police conduct a thorough, unbiased, professional investigation into this murderous incident. There are several witnesses who watched the gory spectacle and who are willing and ready to identify those who committed this heinous crime. Our peace-loving members can also identify the sponsors and collaborators of the premeditated murder and mayhem inflicted on a legal and peaceful gathering.

“The job of the law enforcement agency is to carry out its investigation with independent vision, disciplined clarity of purpose, with a genuine commitment to unravelling the truth, to probe all the hidden crevices with professional candour so as to ensure that justice, fairness and equity prevail.

“Definitely, justice is denied when the innocent are stamped with the odious badge of guilt simply because the Lagos State Police Command wants to be perceived as doing their job. This is not right. This is offensive. This is not just. This is at variance with all known principles of civility and enlightened justice.”